Though the tiki cocktail was invented in Los Angeles, when it comes down to it, Angelenos don't consume a whole lot of its signature spirit: rum. Outside of select tiki bars such as Trader Vic's and Tiki-Ti, our interest in rum drinks doesn't go much further than the mojito. L.A. likes vodka and whiskey, says Craig Trager, who owns five bars including the Well and NoBar. If it weren't for his $3 margarita special at El Bar, which has a Mexican theme, he says he'd even have a hard time pushing tequila. "I order more vodka and Jack Daniels than anything."

Mark and Jonnie Houston, 31-year-old twins who grew up locally, intend to change that -- along with a slew of other tried-and-true night life conventions. With their East Hollywood bar La Descarga, which opened Tuesday night with a festive bash, they not only specialize in vintage rum cocktails, but they also have a rum education program that takes place on an enclosed patio, also known as their cigar room. "We don't want to play it safe," says Mark. One of their most sinful drinks, which mixologist Pablo Moix made in the video above, is the Bad Spaniard; it’s made with sweetened condensed milk and an egg yolk.

What’s next for the Twins, who’re making over Hollywood’s seediest bars and turning them into night life destinations? Read the rest of the story here.

--Alexandra Le Tellier

It was just a little over a year ago that theme-bar hero Bobby Green and his 1933 Group opened the kitschy truck-stop-inspired bar Stinkers in Silver Lake. Now, according to Green's publicist, Green has grown tired of his own handiwork and wants to trade up to something a bit classier than fake skunk butts that emit steam when a bartender pulls the cord of a big-rig horn.

If you are a fan of all things Burt Reynolds, Trans Am and Peterbilt, you can dry your tears. Green plans to auction off the bar's '70s-themed decor (along with its lovable skunks-drinking-Schlitz-beer dioramas) on Feb. 9. Viewing begins at 8 p.m. and the live auction kicks off at 9. A portion of the night's proceeds will benefit the Santé D’Or Foundation, a local animal rescue and adoption agency.

The Tea Room at h.wood is an exclusive one-room club within an already exclusive nightclub. Like a glammed-out Russian nesting doll, it is tucked inside the stolid concrete frame of h.wood, which is at the far end of the Hollywood & Highland complex in the tawdry heart of Hollywood.

It cracks its doors only on Wednesdays, when a rush of sultry young women and slender young men with intricate tattoos wait in line for admission. Very few will get in, however.

The Tea Room, which is owned by nightlife veteran Loyal Pennings and a duo of driven 29-year-old entrepreneurs named John Terzian and Brian Toll, trades inaccessibility for its hot-spot cachet.

It's called the Tea Room because it serves "prohibition tea," which is basically alcohol-infused tea, out of teapots, just like some speak-easies did during the 1920s.

The tea idea came naturally enough.

Back when the Tea Room was just a storage room for h.wood, Cher came to the club on a regular basis.

"She doesn't drink and she always wanted tea," Terzian says.

To read the rest of Jessica Gelt's story and view a photo gallery, click here.

Photo: Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times

Last night, Mark Peel and Audrey Saunders opened up Tar Pit, the newest on the scene of old-fashioned cocktails with an updated market-driven twist.

Tar Pit serves what they call "neo-classical cocktails" such as the Jamaican Firefly (dark rum, housemade ginger beer, lime juice and simple syrup) and (pictured at right), the Gin Gin Mule (gin, mint, lime simple syrup and housemade ginger beer). The bar also serves a small selection of Peel's cuisine, featuring dishes like duck rillettes and Stilton, vitello tonnato (hard cooked egg, capers, cornichons, and albacore tuna sauce), fried oysters and duck sliders.

The dining room menu has heartier options including braised pork cheeks and ears on orchiette pasta, coq au vin blanc, gnocchi with escargot and wild boar meatballs.

The space boasts classic Art Deco opulence with a custom made black marble bar, gorgeous chandeliers, and metal dividers between booths with custom cutouts of palm fronds. But amid the sleek 1940s-style design is an element of playfulness--think Tiki figurines tied down with bondage gear (It will soon be the vessel for their Night Marcher cocktail. Photo after the jump.) and paper menus adorned with cartoons of mammoths tippling in the La Brea Tar Pits.

Check out photos of the space and some of the libations after the jump.

Restaurateur Franck Alix, who owns the 3rd Stop bar and co-owns the 1739 Public House in Los Feliz with Jessie Singh,  is taking over the Louise's Trattoria space on Melrose. He plans on calling his new place Melgard Public House (it's located on the corner of Melrose and Gardner), and he hopes to open before the new year. His partner in this venture is Michel D. Keller, former director of operations for Wolfgang Puck catering.

Alix says he intends to stick with the same straight-forward approach that he uses at 1739: There will be a large selection of beers on tap (varying in quality from Pabst Blue Ribbon to Delirium); pizza will be served (most likely gratis during happy hour); the food will be no-nonsense American pub grub (fish and chips, macaroni and cheese, burgers); brunch will be served on weekends and lunch on Fridays; and there'll be enough flat-screen TVs to keep all sorts of sports fans satisfied.

Melgard Public House, 7505 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles.

-- Jessica Gelt

Photo: The fish and chips at 1739 Public House. Credit: Alex Gallardo / Los Angeles Times

You can find plenty of places in Los Angeles to drink an apple cosmotini or an organic artisanal rosemary-and-mint mojito, but for craft beer Los Angeles can be a humbling city. Not long ago, beer aficionados had few options for finding quality suds in L.A. These days...

A handful of new beer bars, such as recently opened Stout in Hollywood and soon-to-open the Surly Goat in West Hollywood are making the city more amenable to suds sippers. And after 18 painful months of red tape and construction (mostly red tape), the Eagle Rock Brewery just last week began brewing, making it the only dedicated commercial brewery operating within Los Angeles city limits. Co-founder Jeremy Raub hopes to release the brewery's first three beers by the end of the year.

Read the full story here.

--Elina Shatkin

Photo: 30 taps prominently line the copper bar at Stout, a new beer bar in Hollywood. Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times.

Now that New York bartender extraordinaire Audrey Saunders of Pegu Club has teamed with Mark Peel and Jay Perrin of Campanile to open the Tar Pit, what's in store? Cocktail flights, food-and-drink pairings, Sunday brunch, housemade sodas and more.

And if you thought the name Tar Pit made it sound, well, dumpy, there's a reason (besides the reference to the La Brea Tar Pits).

"We drew inspiration from the old black-and- white movie 'My Man Godfrey,'" said Saunders. "William Powell is homeless and living on the city dump. He goes to work for Carole Lombard’s crazy family as the butler, rebuilds his fortune, then returns to the city dump to open the Dump -- a nightclub. When someone enters the Tar Pit for the first time, they'll be able to connect the irony in what the name represents, as opposed to the actual feel of the space." This place is no pit.

"The beverage program is neoclassical and tips its hat to the 1940s Hollywood bar scene," she  said. "It will encompass everything from old classics to new creations. We will also be developing an in-house carbonation program for housemade sodas." 

Cocktail flights also will be offered, in which you pick any three drinks from the cocktail menu and create your own flight (each is half the volume of a standard drink).

And get this:

 

More Umami Burger: Umami Burger opened its second location Friday in Los Feliz, an Adam Fleischman-Steven Arroyo collaboration in the former Cobras & Matadors space on Hollywood Boulevard. The kokeshi-doll-accented restaurant serves the same roster of burgers as at its original La Brea Avenue location, including its signature Umami Burger (parmesan tuile, shiitake, special sauce, etc.), SoCal Burger and Manly Burger, among others. The adjacent Japanese beer bar is called Salaryman. 4655 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, www.umamiburger.com.

Coming to the Valley: Raphael is expected to open in Studio City this month. Owner Alon Raphael calls the 60-seater "fine dining casual, leaning more toward fine dining." Chef Stephen Burkalis, who had worked at the Water Grill in downtown Los Angeles, says the small menu (six or seven appetizers, nine entrees, six or seven desserts) is Japanese- , French- , Italian- and California-influenced. 11616 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, (818) 505-3337.

Melrose Avenue Chinese: High-end Chinese restaurant Philippe made its Melrose Avenue debut over the weekend in the former Dolce space, in all its red-white-and-black Deco-disco glory. Philippe already has restaurants in New York, Mexico City and Miami, with another on the way in Las Vegas. Signature dishes include satay, "Mr. Cheng's noodles" (hand-pulled noodles) and "nine seasons spicy prawns." The restaurant has attracted the wrath of Michael Chow (a.k.a. Mr. Chow), the former employer of Philippe co-owner Philippe Chow. Mr. Chow filed a lawsuit against Philippe in Los Angeles last month. 8284 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, www.philippechow.com.

-- Betty Hallock

Photo credit: Andy Lai / Philippe

On Wednesday night at L.A. Live, nightclub and restaurant impresario Sam Nazarian opened his fourth Katsuya in 3½ years. The man who's attempting to transform Gladstone's into something other than a tourist trap, where the foil-wrapped leftovers and the views of the Pacific are far more impressive than the food, beamed with pride as he took the stage.

Preceded by taiko drummers and a short speech from Lakers point guard Derek Fisher, who was attending on behalf of the charity After-School All-Stars, Nazarian officially announced that on Oct. 27, SBE will open an outpost of its Hollywood nightclub, Hyde Lounge, in the Staples Center.

Scheduled to coincide with the first Lakers game of the 2009-10 season, the $1.3 million venue will hold 175 guests and feature food items from Katsuya as well as other SBE restaurants. But not anyone can get in. For the first year, Hyde will be open only to those with suites or court-side seats. Memberships will be available in the second year.

Nazarian was joined onstage by Fisher, sushi chef Katsuya Uechi and AEG Chief Executive Tim Leiweke, where they performed a kagami-biraki, a Shinto ceremony that involves breaking the lid of a sake barrel with a wooden mallet and then serving the sake. Amid Nazarian's relentless drive to dot Los Angeles with flashy, self-consciously exclusive venues, it was a brief moment to honor tradition.

[Pictures after the jump.]

The 7,000 square feet of opulence that was the ill-fated nightclub Goa will re-open later this week as the sleek sports bar Capitol City. Aiming to broaden the sports bar's appeal beyond the traditional clientele of dudes, more dudes and the occasional bored girlfriend, proprietor Curtis Nysmith is going out of his way to brand Capitol City as a lounge. It has couches! And a menu! That includes Sicilian meatball sliders, house-smoked pork ribs, an ahi tuna salad, bacon mac 'n' cheese, lamb lollipops and such standards as nachos, wings and burgers.

We get it. This isn’t just a place for bros to watch USC shame Ohio State into submission. This is a place where a girl can kick off her gladiator stilettos and sip a cosmotini while petting her mini-labradoodle as he nips at the inside of her imitation Louis Vuitton tote bag. In all seriousness, one of the signature cocktails is the Pussycat, made with black cherry vodka, raspberry liqueur and a Champagne floater.

[More pictures after the jump.]