Brad Japhe

What defines a gastropub? Simply put, it’s a restaurant-bar, serving chef-minded cuisine alongside craft beer. In 2016 Los Angeles, these sorts of establishments are so bountiful as to dilute the term's value. What isn’t a gastropub, at this point? But subdivide the category, and you’ll arrive at a more meaningful......

The pisco sour has long been a mainstay on drink menus throughout Los Angeles. Made with egg whites and lime juice, it has a thick mouthfeel and a refreshing finish. Yet the cocktail doesn't do much to express the base spirit itself. For a while, nobody seemed to mind. But......

As one of LA’s oldest continuously-operating bars, Fairfax Irish tavern Tom Bergin’s is hallowed ground to many local drinkers. One of them, Derek Schreck, loved the place so much that when the landmark shuttered unexpectedly in 2013, he opted to purchase the Irish pub rather than see it razed. To......

Food trends come and go, but steakhouses ought to be forever. A special-occasion dining experience long before the term "foodie" ever entered the lexicon, the steakhouse remain the finest testament to American exceptionalism — and their recent resurgence in L.A. (see The Arthur J, Steak & Whisky, Baltaire) suggests that fine......

Lavender is a therapeutic flower traditionally used to ward off everything from indigestion to insomnia, acne to alopecia. It's also increasingly making its way into craft cocktails. The familiar fragrance makes lavender easy to nose. Its impact on the tongue, however, can be intense.  When the team behind Plan Check......

As a proud carnivore, I have no intention of relinquishing meat. Yet, it certainly wouldn't hurt to cut back — and that's made easier by the city's gifted chefs. With beets, they may have stumbled upon a meat substitution that transcends a mere trend. In fact, beets just might turn......

The boulevardier is making a comeback and it's about damn time. As central as Manhattans and negronis are to the contemporary cocktail scene, it’s a mystery why their spiritual lovechild long languished in relative obscurity. Drinks historian David Wondrich traces the easy-drinking combination of American whiskey, Campari and Italian vermouth......

The whiskeys Van Winkle are lauded as the best bourbons by some and dismissed as over-aged hype by others. One thing is for certain: the line of aged spirits — which range in maturity from 10 to 23 years — are increasingly difficult to find. When they are found, they......

It's difficult to imagine a more American pairing than bourbon and jerky. The former is our native spirit, born of bluegrass. The latter conjures images of rugged cowboys roaming the open prairie. On the palate, they make perfect stablemates. The oak-imbued sweetness and spice of an aged whiskey meets its......

Sure, the L.A. dining scene is teeming with restaurants offering exceptional wines and craft beer from across the globe. But after adding libations to the bill, prices can soar into the stratosphere, turning an ordinary night out into a wallet-sapping affair. Luckily, there are a handful of eateries across our......