The Tar Pit (Closed)

Address: 609 N. La Brea Avenue, (@ Clinton St), Los Angeles, California, 90036, United States
Tel: +1 323 965 1300
Website: view The Tar Pit (Closed)’s website
Door: Make reservation
Style: Lounge bar
Food: Set menu

Review

Luxuriously appointed, if windowless, the Tar Pit has something of an Art Deco feel mixed with a Middle Eastern hotel. A lengthy brown and black marble bar counter is fronted by plush leather stools, while banks of gold-coloured leather tub chairs and booths lining the room's perimeter. Marble floors and Venetian chandeliers add to the glamour.

Audrey Saunders of New York's Pegu Club fame originally collaborated on this venture with chef Mark Peel. The drinks choice lists a small selection of Classic and Original drinks. The former are intriguingly obscure, (no usual suspects here) including the Maiden's Prayer #2 (gin, Lillet, apricot and applejack) and the Cameron's Kick (Scotch and Irish whiskies, orgeat and lemon). The latter tend to be robust combinations of powerful and flavourful products, including the Final Folio (gin, cognac, fernet, ameretto and rhubarb bitters) and the Viejo Bandido (mezcal, agave, chocolate chilli bitter and flamed grapefruit).

Alas, Audrey's no longer involved in the project, drinks are bizarrely made out of sight rather than behind the bar, and it's hit and miss with regards to whether you get a damn good drink or a highly questionable one.