24 Aug Please The Palate Pick of the Week: Santa Teresa 1796 Rum Dinner at Verse Restaurant in North Hollywood

I hurried back to LA after a few days in the Central Coast so that I could make it to a dinner at Verse in North Hollywood. Having eaten a delicious meal at Verse a few months ago, I did not want to miss another meal there. The menu was specially curated for the evening as it was paired with cocktails with Santa Teresa Rum as we enjoyed live Latin jazz music performed by LA-based band La Verdad. This combination is the Please The Palate pick of the week.

Verse, located on Lakershim Blvd. in North Hollywood, is a modern day supper club. Verse was created by 18-time Grammy-winning mixer Manny Marroquin. The space is like a large recording studio and includes 52 speakers for a fully immersive environment blending acoustics and conversations. The food, with Chef Oscar at the helm, brings together flavors from around the world to offer “Angeleno” cuisine. And Chef Oscar created a perfectly paired menu to enjoy with Santa Teresa Rum cocktails created by the bar team.

Santa Teresa is a Venezuelan rum brand with over two hundred years of history. Founded in 1796, Hacienda Santa Teresa is located in the Aragua Valley. Today the 4th generation of the Vollmer family runs the distillery. To commemorate Santa Teresa’s bicentennial in 1996, Alberto Vollmer Herrera, a member of the 4th generation of the family, challenged the company to create a rum that would represent the family’s heritage. Santa Teresa 1796 was born. Santa Teresa 1796 is a rum with blends up to 35 years aged in bourbon oak barrels and then further aged in the Solera method. The Solera method is a process of aging with fractional blending so that the finished product is a mixture of ages, with the average age gradually increasing as the process continues over many years. This means that the original cask of Santa Teresa from 1796 has never been emptied as it is topped each time with a slightly younger rum. This process is repeated for every bottle of Santa Teresa 1796. The rum has a notes of nuts, leather, vanilla, cinnamon, chocolate, wood, and spice and we enjoyed it in a variety of cocktails.

Solera Sunset – banana-infused Santa Teresa Rum, Giffard Pineapple Liqueur, Midori, house-spiced ginger, kaffir lime, and smoke.

Compressed Melon (yuzu, sour apple pop rocks, orange blossom honey)

Yuzu Daquiri – Santa Teresa Rum, yuzu, Kombu simple syrup

Peach Cream Colada – Santa Teresa Rum, peach puree, Liquid Alchemist Coconut Syrup, creme fraiche, mint

Fruits de Mer (Shigoku oysters, P.E.I. Mussels, Octopus)

Kingfish Tartare (peaches, creme fraiche, corn flowers, smoked Ikura)

Rumhattan – Santa Teresa, Noilly-Prat Sweet Vermouth, Frangelico, walnut bitter, sesame oil

Uni Risotto (Santa Barbara Spot Prawn, Grana Padano, chives)

Coffee Cured Wagyu Filet (potato fondant, roasted cherry tomato, green onions)

Amara Chocolate Tartlets with a Santa Teresa deconstructed tiramisu cocktail

We finished the meal with the very special taste of the newest innovation from Santa Teresa, a rum with a coffee cask finish.