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We’ve missed the elegance and gilded setting of Genever, but the Historic Filipinotown bar is finally reopening—even if we can’t sit inside to enjoy the scenery just yet.
The gin-forward cocktail destination was one of our best new bars in L.A. in 2018 and is also one of surprisingly few women-owned cocktail bars in the city. Since its opening it’s offered both updated classics and wildly creative drinks alike, such as an arroz-caldo genever concoction topped with fried chicken skin, and while Genever has stirred up the occasional savory-inspired cocktail, one thing it hasn’t been home to is a food menu.
Bars, breweries and wineries can reopen provided there’s food sold on-site and ordered along with the libations, so Genever is teaming up with some of L.A.’s coolest pop-ups to reprise its to-go cocktail program next weekend.
Kicking off the first round of food guests is Bungkus Bagus, a bright and flavorful Indonesian street food pop-up from sisters Tara and Celene Carrara out of Glendale. Their bungkus meals come wrapped in banana leaves and serve up pandan-and-lemongrass–scented coconut rice with six-hour–simmered chicken curry; an sayur urab salad of long beans and bean sprouts with finger root; hard-boiled egg with chili paste; tempeh goreng, a fermented-and-fried soy bean; roasted peanuts; dried pork; and a fabulously textured sambal goreng that fries up spicy Thai chilies with shallots and garlic. Outside the leaf you’ll receive a bag of house-made krupuk chips, plus a cup of forbidden-rice pudding for dessert. Bundles run $30 per person, or $45 for two, and can be preordered here.
The following weekend look for chef Sharky Bernardo’s tri-tip, and the weekend after that it’s a new outfit called LA Gals by two Bestia vets. On October 9 and 10, neighborhood favorite HiFi Kitchen will be popping up with a Filipino feast, and there’ll be even more to come.
And as exciting as it is to have another location hosting some of the best new food in the city, Genever’s cocktails are a draw all on their own. The new to-go menu includes the Datu Datu martini featuring Datu Puti vinegar and house cocktail onions; a negroni made with coconut-infused Campari; a sparkling wine and gin number that involves guava, lemon and cinnamon, to name a few, and cocktails come in orders of one, two or six and run from $11 to $72.
Drink orders must also include food—which shouldn’t be a problem, considering the quality of these pop-ups—and need to be placed in advance online for pickup at the bar on Fridays or Saturdays.
Genever is located in Historic Filipinotown at 3123 Beverly Boulevard. Last call for weekend orders occurs at midnight on Mondays.