Scotch in a Hollywood Dive Bar

If you're in the mood to taste some great Scotch, don't miss next week's tasting! Silver Lake Wine is presenting a Scotch tasting at Three Clubs next Wednesday, April 7th. Ed Kohl from Signatory Vintage Spirits, who hosted last year's Scotch tasting at the Doheny, will return next week to pour eight varieties of Scotch.

Silver Lake Wine describes the whiskeys thus:

• Ben Nevis 1992 17yr Cask Strength
• Auchentoshan 1999 10yr un-chillfiltered
• Linkwood 1995 14yr un-chillfiltered
• Glen Grant 1997 12yr 86 proof
• Isle of Skye 8yr blend
• Smokehead Islay Single Malt
• Laphroaig 2001 8yr un-chillfiltered

Details:

4/7/2010

7pm sharp

$40 (cash only) at the door

This event is by reservation only and space is limited. Call the store at 323.662.9024 to reserve your space. See you there!

Silver Lake's BYO Produce Phenom

Forage operates under a similar mindset as the Fallen Fruit collective: engage the community in the hunt for locally grown food. If you're a "home grower" of oranges, herbs, avocados, or exotic citrus, the Silver Lake restaurant is "actively foraging" for your "home crop". The chef announces via website "Forage me this!" with plans to create any number of delicious creations out of locals' "miniharvests". Once they've reported their goods by emailing Amanda, local foragers can redeem their crops for restaurant credit. Genius!

Foraging updates are also posted on the website, announcing any and all news relating to the forage process:

FORAGE RESPONSETUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2010 6:30 AM

Lemons

Status: In the Kitchen / On the Menu

Many home growers have been either reporting their lemon crop, or bringing in their lemons. The community has a lot of lemon trees. Now we have a lot of lemons. We've got lemons in the kitchen and they will be making it on to this week's menu.

Update: Lemon forager Sonja/Sonya, if you are reading this, or if anyone who knows you is reading this, we are looking for the spelling of your name. When we put your item on the menu, we want your name to be spelled correctly.

Update: Spelling of Sonya's name has been confirmed. Her lemons are on the menu as Sonya's Silver Lake Lemonade.

Update: Photo story on the making of Sonya's Silver Lake Lemonade

Update: Lemon Meringue Pie: Local lemons participate in this decadent conspiracy of tangy citrus curd and dreamy clouds of meringue, all embraced in a butter pastry crust.

Forage

3823 W. Sunset Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90026

323-663-6885

You can follow Forage on Twitter.

UPDATE: Here's a look at this week's menu highlights.

Glossy! Glossy! Easter: The Remix

So! Silver Lake's own GhettoGloss gallery is hosting LIVE AT LA CITA on Wednesday starting at 9. Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros will be there, along with Project Runway's Santino.

Cocktails and chocolate bunnies? How can you go wrong??

Cheap Eats; or, My New Favorite Restaurant/Bars That I Would Still Go To No Matter The Cost

Santa Monica

• Anisette - great food, wine, cocktails, but I love it for the decor and the nice feeling of sipping a glass of wine at the bar. Cute waiters, too.
• Bodega - $20 bottle of wine Tuesdays, and they just added a beet salad to the menu that I LOVE. Relaxed, unpretentious.

Downtown

• Cole's - even though it's a little far from Malibu, my friend and I are now regulars at Varnish, the speakeasy in the back. Cole's, though, should not be overlooked as a bar in its own right. Yes, everyone knows about the French Dip, but did you know about their extensive collection of gins and lagers? Further, there is nothing better anywhere than the baked mac and cheese and it's super cheap... like $3. Usually good music playing, too. And none of that West Hollywood riff raff. (Except maybe on Saturday's... but I don't go out then anyway anymore)

Silver Lake

• Malo - $1 tacos on Mondays, fantastic margaritas (not so cheap), and the CHEWY CHIPS!!!! ahhhhhh! More of a hipster crowd, I guess, but nobody's keeping track.

Eastern Revelry

So Tuesday night I went to the opening party at Barbarella Bar in Silver Lake. The vibe was sort of industrial glam... a giant crystal chandelier hanging next to exposed ventilation ducts. Good food, interesting scene.

Later, a short drive to Cole's to experience the wonder of The Varnish... shh! This new speakeasy from Cedd Moses's 213 Group boasts a cocktail list prepared by some of the country's best mixologists.

"This place certainly reeks of hospitality and good cheer, or maybe it's this cheese."

(Quote in honor of Jean Harlow's birthday today)

Tonight I'll be checking out some new places in Silver Lake and downtown, so my reviews will be forthcoming!

Also, I'm a bum and missed LACMA's "Vanity Fair" exhibit, so to make up for it I'm planning to check out "Art of Two Germanys" soon!

[This post was kind of lame, but I liked the quote and the picture so I went with it anyway. Tscha! -I.M.]

New Order

So, contrary to what you learned in arithmetic... 97.1 > 102.7

FM, that is.

I am, of course, talking about the state of the terrestrial radio waves in Los Angeles.

In the wake of Indie 103.1's tragic demise and somewhat comforting online reincarnation, there's been a great deal of flux in the programming of the remaining stations.

Star 98.7 now plays bands signed by labels out of Silver Lake. It has also incorporated an hour-long session of new music from 9-10PM on Sunday nights. It may be that I have just never noticed this before, but from what I can tell from the last 3 minutes of this hour ("Broken Connection" from Eulogies), they've indied it up a bit. And I like it!

89.9 KCRW (of "Morning Becomes Eclectic" fame; or, Everyone's Favorite Event Sponsor) seems to still be going strong. Today I was totally amused and absolutely LOVING Peter Gabriel's cover of Vampire Weekend's "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa." "This feels so unnatural....to sing your own name."

-->Newsflash: OMG ..... Peter Gabriel with HOT CHIP?! That explains it! :)

To continue the state of the air waves, big news on the pop front - new Amp 97.1 (you may recall these are the same call numbers as Howard Stern's show back before Sirius) is blatanly challenging Ryan Seacrest and uber-pop station KIIS FM. Good old 102.7 has long pummeled listeners with relentless poppage and is pretty much the radio version of TMZ. But now new kid on the block Amp ups the ante by promising some unfathomable number of songs in a row without commercials. Not only that, but its advertising has a soundbite of a caller dis-ing Seacrest. Wow. Ballsy.