Please The Palate Pick of the Week: Office Holiday Party Pop Up at Severance Wine Bar

Written by Allison Levine on December 7, 2019

Lifestyle Cocktails

The Holiday season is here! If you are looking to get into the spirit, head to Severance Wine Bar in West Hollywood for their Office Holiday Party Pop Up, inspired by everything from Planes, Trains, & Automobiles to The Office. Drinking Champagne and Sherry based cocktails, eating some sweets while surrounded by tacky holiday decorations make the Severance Office Holiday Party Pop Up the Please The Palate pick of the week.

Owner Evan Charest was laid off from a tech job on Christmas Eve in 2017. In 2018, he opened Severance Wine Bar with the severance money he received. And here we are at Christmas time again, so what is better than drinking cocktails inspired by the one of the worst yet funniest workplaces, Dunder Mifflin.

Through the month of December, the space next to Severance Wine Bar on Melrose Avenue has been converted into a tacky office holiday pop-up. Open Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, for $20++, you will get a complimentary cocktail or a sparkling wine flight. So get into the holiday spirit!

The cocktail offerings are all Champagne and Sherry based. Each is named after a Christmas themed movie that will test your trivia knowledge. Read More +

Delicious Nikkei Cuisine at Yapa in Downtown LA

Written by Allison Levine on November 7, 2019

Food Cocktails Wine

I have been traveling so much over the past few months that I feel like I have been out of touch with the Los Angeles restaurant scene. When my friend mentioned that we would head to Yapa after our tour of Lost Spirits Distillery the other night, I was excited to try somewhere new but knew nothing about the restaurant. I was feeling disconnected until I realized that Yapa only opened a couple weeks ago! Instead of being late to the game, I am on time!

Yapa is located in Little Tokyo, just on the the border of Skid Row. Also known as Skid Row-kyo, this is where Little Tokyo, the Artist District and Skid Row converge. Yapa took over the space that was previously Seoul Sausage and is the project of Josh Goldman and Richie Lopez.

Please The Palate Pick of the Week: Singani 63

Written by Allison Levine on November 2, 2019

Cocktails

In the mood for cocktails? Try one with the unique and delicious Singani 63, the Bolivian brandy. Director Steve Soderbergh first tried Singani while making the movie Che in Bolivia and then spent seven years trying to get the spirit imported into the United States. Singani 63 has been in the US for a few years now. It is a wonderful spirit to mix in cocktails and is the Please The Palate pick of the week.

Singani was one of Bolivia’s best-kept secrets. A 500-year old indigenous product, Singani, produced since 1530, is a DO (denomination of origin) and a GI (geographical indication) and can only be made in the Bolivian Andes from Muscat of Alexandria grapes planted at a minimum of 5250 feet elevation.

Muscat of Alexandria is an aromatic white grape. It is typically used for dessert wines but in Bolivia it is used to produce singani, an unaged distilled spirit. As Singani is not a recognized category outside of Bolivia, it is categorized as a brandy.

On its own, Singani 63 is aromatic with a light perfume of florals and grape must. On the nose it is sweet but on the palate it is medium-bodied with a lush mouthfeel and a touch of spice.

When it comes to cocktails, I recently enjoyed cocktails at the Ever Bar at the Kimpton Everly Hotel in Hollywood. They feature two cocktails, a punch and a sour, with Singani 63. And in both cocktails, the aromatics of the Singani 63 shine through.

Barry (Singani 63, Stolichnaya Vodka, Lemon, Raspberry, Blackberry)

Singani Sour (Singani 63, Aperol, Lemon, Cherry Bark Vanilla Bitters, Egg White on a photo of Steven)