Off The Strip

I’ve been out with COVID this week as my recent excursions in Las Vegas infected me with my first-ever bout of the virus. Not that I wasn’t expecting it; if anything I was hoping to get it out of the way so I could enjoy the rest of the summer without worry. Since I’m working from home (feeling fine) on the computer today, I thought I’d tell you about a recent discovery from this last trip: Ferraro’s, a classic Italian restaurant off the strip that absolutely wowed me from top to bottom, front to back.

Some of you know that I owned a house in Vegas for a few years, so I’ve spent plenty of time out in the desert. How I missed out on Ferraro’s until this past weekend is still a mystery to me, but the important thing is I know about it now! Located on the east side of Las Vegas Boulevard, in a strip mall at the corner of Paradise and Harmon, it’s my new favorite restaurant in Sin City and my top recommendation for anyone headed in that direction. Even if you just hit the bar for happy hour, the drinks and the appetizers are top notch and the bartenders are fantastic. My wife and I spent an hour at the counter, munching on arancini and nibbling on veal-stuffed ravioli before sitting down to a formal prix-fixe dinner.

We were already buzzing from the incredible hour we spent at the bar, but when I saw the wine list my head started spinning; especially after noticing that Emidio Pepe Pecorino was marked down to cost. For those of you who don’t drink fancy Italian wine, imagine getting a discount on Weller 12 or Blanton’s, let alone a fair market price. Crazy! I wasn’t about to pass up on that. Eight years old, fresh as a daisy, and so intense on the nose, this was my wife’s first glass of the Pepe and her eyes lit up like a pinball machine. Always extremely allocated and hard to find, I would go back to Ferraro’s just based on the access to Emidio Pepe, let alone the food.

The prix-fixe menu had the choice of soup or salad, and two soups to choose from: tomato bread and white bean. We did one of each with the white wine and it was a dynamite pairing. I love hearty soups and I love them even more with a great bottle of vino.

Neither me nor my wife are ever going to turn down fresh black truffles with sage and butter if they’re on the menu. And they were. Tossed in a delicious home-made fettuccine, we were savoring every bite. Dessert was a plate of house-baked cookies with a glass of sweet Vin Santo, which we took our time savoring. While the food and drink was outstanding, the service at Ferraro’s is what really stood out to both of us. It’s an old school atmosphere with 60+ year old Italian guys in suits coming by to check on you, talking about their families, and making sure you have plenty of pepper and parmesan on everything. If you’re in the mood for a long, slow, decadent meal without the hassle of the strip, or the rushed atmosphere of the casino hotspots, Ferraro’s is the place for you.

I can’t wait to go back. As soon as I get over COVID!

-David Driscoll

Classic Achievements

Los Angeles is literally littered with burger joints. It’s the fast food capital of the world. There’s a burger spot on every corner. If it’s not burgers, it’s pizza. If it’s not pizza, it’s tacos.

As a devotee of all three foods, I follow countless local restaurants on social media, always on the hunt for the next great bite. I will drive across town for a life-changing meal, so long as it’s an outstanding version of a classic profile. I’m far less interested in fusion or extreme versions of anything. I don’t want a deep-fried taco with an extra layer of cheese, or a guacamole burger stacked with bacon and other accoutrements. I don’t want anything on my pizza other than the classic staples.

When you find something incredible that achieves new heights by simply creating a better version of a time-tested formula, it’s exciting. That’s how I felt eating at Burgers Never Say Day on Glendale for the first time. Two patties, smashed and flattened, along with ketchup, mustard, pickles, and onions. That’s it. What makes it so good? Balance and texture.

The same analogy works for booze. Some brands enter the market with a radical interpretation of a classic profile hoping to shock and surprise consumers, while others hype their crazy cask enhancements and Frankensteinian maturation process untested by most sane humans. Yet, there is nothing—and I mean NOTHING—more impressive than a brand that grabs your attention with a knockout version of a proven concept that's simply better than the iterations which proceeded it.

Enter the Cotswolds Dry Gin, without a doubt, bar none, hands down, the best gin I've tasted since Four Pillars launched with the Rare Dry some years back. Granted, it's been available here in the states for a few years now, but I'm late to the game. Since I got my original sample bottles at the end of May, I've consumed at least 25 Cotswolds gin and tonics at home after work. It makes the most delicious, most fragrant, insanely pungent cocktail that still tastes like a classic gin and tonic, and not some new interpretation of gin that I'm going to lose interest in a few weeks from now.

Using a 100% wheat base spirit and a 15 hour botanical soak, part of Cotswolds secret is the single shot distillation which sees a single heart cut captured at 83% ABV, rested for five days, then diluted to 46% with no chill filtering. Beyond a little lime and pink grapefruit peel, there's nothing out of the ordinary in the botanical recipe. It's a juniper and lavender-focused gin that sources from locally-grown herbs and spices in the British Cotswolds. But, man, it is just outstanding. Why is it so good? Balance and texture.

There’s a reason some recipes have stood the test of time. Improving on them isn’t easy, so when you see it done right, you have to tip your hat.

-David Driscoll

A Sad Day For The Liquor Industry

Back in the summer of 2018, I had reached a tipping point with the Bay Area and it was time to put up or shut up. Not one to remain quiet for long, I decided to put up, so my wife and I packed our things and moved to Los Angeles. The guys at Pacific Edge importation and distribution had offered me a gig as their sales director and I was excited to learn a new position and a new geography. There was only one looming problem: I didn’t know anyone in LA and, on top of that, I didn’t know where anything was. No problem, they said. We’re gonna put you in the car with Dean Berger for a few months. You’ll know everything after that.

Dean Berger wasn’t just the nicest and most selfless person in the booze business, he was a throwback to a lost era of salesmanship. The kind of guy who walks into the building with two boxes of donuts for the staff. The kind of guy who calls you on his way home to ask about your family and genuinely wants to know. The kind of guy who’s familiar with every lunch spot, in every neighborhood, in every town between Ventura and Palm Springs, from Bakersfield to San Diego. More importantly, the kind of guy who makes friends for life wherever he goes, and who knows everyone by name no matter where he is. You could walk into an Italian deli in Simi Valley and they all know Dean. A taco shop in Hemet? They all know Dean. A Chinese restaurant in San Gabriel? They all know Dean.

When I got the news yesterday that Dean had passed unexpectedly, I was devastated. After spending a good hour in tears, connecting with friends and colleagues to let them know the news, I began searching my phone for old pictures, combing through our text history for forgotten memories. I realized that I had over 100 unopened voicemails from Dean because I would invariably just call him back rather than listen to them. On one of them he talked for an entire two minutes about smoking ribs in his backyard. On another, he asked about my cat and what he was doing that day. My boss Vic, the owner of Mission and one of Dean’s oldest friends, sent me a video of Dean singing happy birthday to him just a few weeks ago. “I’ve been watching it all morning,” Vic said to me; “I’m in so much pain.”

For those of you who don’t work in the liquor industry and have never met Dean, it’s hard to truly explain in a few paragraphs how beloved he was in our business and exactly why he was so important to us. What I will say is that I would not be with Mission today if it wasn’t for Dean. I wouldn’t be thriving in Los Angeles if it wasn’t for Dean. I wouldn’t have the friends I have today if it wasn’t for Dean. Even now, when my wife discovers a cool restaurant or specialty grocer she wants to visit, my usual response is: “I’ve been there already with Dean.” The months I spent driving around Southern California with him were some of the best times I’ve ever had. The friendship we developed during the course of that experience is something I treasure.

I only knew Dean Berger for three and a half years, but he was one of my best friends. I can only imagine how his companions of ten, twenty, or thirty years are feeling today. The stories they must have and the tales they could tell are probably legendary at this point. It’s only been twenty-four hours since I learned Dean was gone and I already miss him so much. He was a rare source of joy and light in a world that has become increasingly dark. I know I speak for dozens of friends and colleagues when I say we will think about him and remember him fondly for as long as we live. We lost a true booze industry icon this week. There will never be another like him.

-David Driscoll

100 Years Of Horses

A photo of jockey Russell Baze on the wall at the Derby in Arcadia

In 1934, a gentleman named William Kyne purchased an airfield in San Mateo, CA and turned it into a horse racing course called Bay Meadows. For decades, it was home to some of the most famous thoroughbreds in history, including Seabiscuit, and for about five years I was able to thoroughly enjoy its nostalgic atmosphere. My girlfriend at the time (now my wife) and Russell Baze’s daughter were roommates, so we spent a number of incredible evenings down at the track. We’d walk through the stables, gossip with the trainers, and soak up the scene: old school gamblers with vintage comb-overs, $2 beers that went through you like water, betting sheets littering the floors like confetti.

In 2008, however, San Mateo decided it needed more housing for the growing tech community and demolished the aging Bay Meadows facility. Seventy-five years of iconic Bay Area memories were destroyed to make way for cheap track homes and corporate apartments, centered around a new Whole Foods and chain restaurant strip. As I mentioned in my last post about iconic Southern California steakhouses, the San Francisco peninsula doesn’t have room for its history anymore. Nothing new can be built unless something old is torn down. That’s why a 100 year old, horse-themed steak house along Route 66, near the historic Santa Anita racetrack that continues to operate today, gets me all excited. As Cinderella’s Tom Keifer once sang, you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.

When jockey George Woolf purchased the Derby back in 1938, he intended for it to be a hangout away from the track, where the horse racing community would gather before and after the races. That same year, Woolf would ride Seabiscuit to glory, which only made the Derby that much more attractive to patrons. In 1946, Woolf was killed after being thrown from a horse at Santa Anita, but the Derby lived on. A century after its initial founding, the walls are lined with thoroughbred iconography, a tribute to its lasting legacy.

I didn’t have any trouble making a reservation for two on a Friday night, but I’m glad I planned ahead. We walked into the Derby at 6:45 on the dot and it was absolutely slammed, families waiting in the lobby, a packed lounge full of locals, and servers running everywhere like ants in a colony. There was a couple leaving as we entered the bar, so we moseyed up to the counter and ordered a cocktail. My wife asked the bartender if Russell Baze had any representation on the wall, and he explained with a smile that Baze was a bit too Bay Area for the Derby, but did indeed have a photo in the hallway. We ordered a second round before dinner and continued to check out the vibe.

After a few drinks, we took a seat at our table and were treated to complimentary garlic bread from our server. One thing I truly love about the SoCal steakhouse scene is how many restaurants pride themselves on their own unique interpretation of this simple starter. Whereas the Smoke House does a sourdough loaf cut in half with cheesy powder along the top, the Derby slices its bread into sandwich style servings for a softer texture. I cannot stress enough how incredible the Derby’s garlic bread is, with its buttery richness and concentrated decadence.

The signature side dish is also an important staple of the historic steakhouse, and the Derby’s paramount accessory is the Romanoff potatoes: cheesy, buttery, lava-hot starch with bacon bits intermixed. My wife savored each and every bite along side her shrimp scampi.

I went for the bacon-wrapped filet mignon with onion rings, along with a heaping glass of Bordeaux to wash it all down. Every bite was an utter joy.

After stuffing our faces with bread pudding for dessert, we decided to cruise down the old Route 66 through Arcadia. Outback, BJ’s, and other national chain establishments are indeed speckled along the historic roadside, but not at the expense of the Derby. After 100 years of continuous operation, this institution is more than holding its own.

Drop by Mission on your way over and grab a bottle of wine to have with dinner!

-David Driscoll

3+ Year Old Single Barrel Organic Tequila For $39.99

Boy, do we have the deal of the summer for all you Tequila fans out there, thanks to some warehouse spelunking we did this past winter!

While meeting with the Tres Agaves sales team earlier in the year, we learned they had bottled a single barrel añejo expression for another client, but due to a cancellation had yet to find a home for that cask. After we saw the price and then tasted it, we jumped all over it. With an autoclave onsite in addition to brick ovens, and a roller mill press rather than a tahona wheel, NOM 1522 Hacienda de Oro might be short on romanticism for all the agave nerds out there, but with an organic certification and clean production this single barrel of Tres Agaves is both diffuser and additive free: the starting point for any discussion about quality Tequila.

Barrel #105 was aged for 42 months and 23 days, making it an extra añejo by definition as it’s over 3 years of age. With a yield of just 192 bottles, this Tequila is brimming with butterscotch and vanilla from the oak with just the right amount of spice. The palate brings more herbaceous notes of black pepper and the finish is super clean, dry as a bone. Nothing about this new single barrel expression is going to change your life, but in the new recession/inflation era it's a pretty nice value for those who drink Tequila regularly and utilize it in a number of ways. You can sip it, pour it over the rocks, throw it into an old fashioned cocktail, or even a Cadillac Margarita, and know that you didn’t overspend in the process.

To be clear: this is an organic, single barrel, 3+ year old Tequila for $39.99—less expensive than many top blanco Tequilas, let alone reposado or añejo. We’re not splitting hairs here, comparing it to Don Julio 1942 or Fortaleza. We’re too busy drinking and enjoying it.

-David Driscoll

Historic SoCal Steakhouse Addiction

Grabbing drinks at Musso & Franks

There are two things you need to know about me in order to understand my addiction to historic Southern California steakhouses:

First off, I’m from the Bay Area, where nothing new can be constructed unless something old is torn down. Many of our exemplary old school restaurants were wiped out by the modern food movement, or a lack of interest from the incoming tech crowd, long before COVID ever hit. To live in a massive urban sprawl where hidden relics from the past can live on is one of the most precious gifts I can think of. Nostalgia isn’t yet an endangered species in Southern California.

Second, because I’m not from LA I have a passionate curiosity about its glitzy antiquity that many natives seem to take for granted, and I’m constantly on the hunt for it. While my friends are prepping for their 8 PM dinner reservations downtown, I’m pulling up to some steakhouse bar at senior hour for conversations with complete strangers. Last week, I shared drinks with James Dean’s former stuntman at the Smoke House around four in the afternoon. We talked for more than an hour about 1960s Hollywood and the best dive bars in the valley, splashing gin martinis across the counter in the process. If you want the most authentic stories from LA’s past, you need to get there before sundown.

When I ask locals my age and younger where I can soak up some of that throwback vibe—somewhere the Rat Pack might have once visited—they invariably blurt out Musso & Frank’s; a fine selection in its own right, but clearly the default answer for 99% of the Angelenos I socialize with. Ask for a second recommendation and they often draw a blank. If they’ve heard of the Dresden, it’s because of the film Swingers, not because they’ve ever been there for dinner. If they’ve heard of Tam O’Shanter, it’s because I invited them there.

After putting in my time at the bar (and in the car), I’ve discovered Southern California has a much larger and more expansive world of historic steakhouses than I could have ever imagined. Not surprisingly, many of them have Rat Pack connections to boast as well, which always make for a fun anecdote. If you’re in the mood for low lighting, red leather booths, stained glass windows, and stiff drinks, I’ve compiled a list of some of my favorite places outside the Hollywood lexicon that weave quite the fabric between Sherman Oaks and Palm Springs. You’ll be eating like Sinatra and drinking like Deano, as you move east from the city.

Barone’s - Valley Glen

Most people know Barone’s as that old pizza place on Oxnard, or the place where they filmed Pam & Tommy (and not Licorice Pizza, as numerous websites claim), but don’t sleep on the steaks as they’re some of the best in town. Slathered with peppercorns, green onions, and bacon bits in a brandy sauce, the “famous” premium choice New York is the perfect foil for the renowned square pie that put Barone’s on the map. The bar makes a mean Negroni, and the dirty martinis can compete with any place in the valley. Open since 1945, you get plenty of atmosphere for your dollar, as well. The last time I was there, an older gentleman was eating alone in the bar, blasting Perry Como on his cell phone while eating a plate of spaghetti.

The Smoke House - Burbank

I’ve eaten at the Smoke House so many times since moving to Burbank that it’s a wonder my colon still works! Open since 1946, the banquet-sized dining room is packed just about every night of the week with family celebrations of all types (there were no less than twenty instances of “Happy Birthday To You” when I was there last month). The lounge is legendary and the martinis come with a side buddy on ice. Don’t let the old school ambiance distract you from the food, however, because everything on the menu is legit, from the world famous garlic bread, to the jumbo shrimp cocktail, to the chicken piccata and the double-portion chateaubriand. If you can squeeze in the wedge salad as well, it’s worth it. A combination of blue cheese crumble on top of the creamy dressing makes for an extra decadent affair.

Damon’s - Glendale

Ask any Angeleno about the area’s most iconic tiki bars, and you might hear mention of Damon’s. Yet, almost no one to whom I’ve spoken about the Glendale institution seems to know anything about the table side-tossed salads, the succulent twice-baked potatoes, or the incredible array of broiled meats, from shrimp brochettes to sizzling steaks. Open since 1933, the locals at the bar all know each other by name, and they’re decked out in Hawaiian shirts with neon blue cocktails that brighten up the dark interior. No matter what time of day you walk into Damon’s, the mood is the same. Fish tanks and tiki iconography galore with outstanding service.

The Magic Lamp - Rancho Cucamonga

No amount of preparation can prepare one for the almost maudlin reaction that occurs when entering the Magic Lamp. Located along the historic Route 66 in Rancho Cucamonga, the combination of red tile stacked on red brick, with red stained glass windows alongside red leather sofas, all surrounding a central fire pit, creates an emotional overstimulation that cannot be overstated. No single photo can do it justice. Built in 1955 after the previous establishment burnt down, the Magic Lamp both looks and feels like it hasn’t changed a day in almost seventy years. Classics like beef stroganoff over egg noodles and New Zealand rack of lamb are difficult to turn down amidst the overwhelming nostalgia, as are the super tender tournados of beef. Even if you just sit by the fire while sipping on a gin and tonic, the drive is well worth it. There’s no where I’d rather be on a Saturday afternoon.

Sycamore Inn - Rancho Cucamonga

Believe it or not, just a block down from the Magic Lamp along the old Route 66 roadway sits one of the oldest restaurants in all of California: the Sycamore Inn. Dating back to 1848, the Inn’s history is a fascinating one, but its legendary connections to the Rat Pack are what keeps steakhouse fanatics like myself coming back. The lore is that Sinatra, Dean, and Sammy loved the Sycamore Inn because it was exactly halfway between Los Angeles and Palm Springs, making it the perfect pitstop on the way to and from the desert. Marilyn Monroe was also a patron. The jumbo artichoke and ribeye are to die for, and the drinks are everything you’d imagine, but it’s the smoked bleu cheese and bacon mashed potatoes that will haunt your dreams.

Melvyn’s - Palm Springs

Of all the Rat Pack destinations in Southern California, no restaurant feels as Rat Pack-y as Melvyn’s in Palm Springs, located at the Ingleside Inn. Sinatra’s face adorns the cocktail napkins, the menus tell you which dish was his favorite, and all the servers still wear tuxedos as they prepare the Steak Diane table side, over an open flame. The bartenders are a wealth of information, and the loyal patrons even more so! I actually learned about the Magic Lamp from a woman sitting next to me in the lounge, and the Sycamore Inn from the couple sitting next to us at dinner. If Palm Springs is the pilgrimage for midcentury-loving, martini-guzzling, Hollywood-obsessed, steakhouse enthusiasts like myself, then Melvyn’s is certainly its mecca. Open since 1977, it’s not as old as the other destinations on this list, yet it’s perhaps the most satisfying in its nostalgic bliss. The pacing of the meal is slow and leisurely, the service is attentive and personal, and the entire experience feels luxurious from front to back. After chasing the ghosts of Hollywood’s past across the desert, Melvyn’s has you feeling like the movie star. Start with the bacon-topped deviled eggs and a cocktail; finish with the bananas foster. Leave in utter bliss.

-David Driscoll

New Library Bottles From Burgundy

Those of you who know and love Burgundy need no explanation about what's happened to the market over the last few years. As if the competition for the Côte d'Or's best wines wasn't already fierce enough, being locked up at home during the pandemic only strengthened the resolve of our hobby's fiercest collectors, while creating thousands of new Burgundy enthusiasts who made time to find a new passion. As you can understand, when the opportunity to find drinkable, reasonably-priced Burgundy with both age and press arrives, we don't spend much time thinking about it. We act!!

Domaine de Bellene was started by Burgundy bon vivant Nicolas Potel back in 2005, after having made wine previously as a negotiant merchant using the maison label. As Clive Coates wrote in his tome The Wines of Burgundy, Patel has always been a savvy winemaker, who "seemed to have a knack for securing parcels which had eluded his peers," and noting "the range of wines was impressive, both for its breadth and for its high quality." Today, we have a series of library offerings from both the domaine wines and the maison wines, all of which have fantastic press and have been cellared to perfection. We've tried every one of them, and we 100% vouch for their quality.

Check out the full selection here and click on each wine for scores and press.

-David Driscoll