Eye candy: Tar Pit opening shots
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Last night, Mark Peel and Audrey Saunders opened up Tar Pit, the newest on the scene of old-fashioned cocktails with an updated market-driven twist.
Tar Pit serves what they call ‘neo-classical cocktails’ such as the Jamaican Firefly (dark rum, housemade ginger beer, lime juice and simple syrup) and (pictured at right), the Gin Gin Mule (gin, mint, lime simple syrup and housemade ginger beer). The bar also serves a small selection of Peel’s cuisine, featuring dishes like duck rillettes and Stilton, vitello tonnato (hard cooked egg, capers, cornichons, and albacore tuna sauce), fried oysters and duck sliders.
The dining room menu has heartier options including braised pork cheeks and ears on orchiette pasta, coq au vin blanc, gnocchi with escargot and wild boar meatballs.
The space boasts classic Art Deco opulence with a custom made black marble bar, gorgeous chandeliers, and metal dividers between booths with custom cutouts of palm fronds. But amid the sleek 1940s-style design is an element of playfulness--think Tiki figurines tied down with bondage gear (It will soon be the vessel for their Night Marcher cocktail. Photo after the jump.) and paper menus adorned with cartoons of mammoths tippling in the La Brea Tar Pits.
Check out photos of the space and some of the libations after the jump.
Lighting up the Flame of Love cocktail
Flame of Love (bay leaf infused vodka, fino sherry, flamed orange peel)
Tied up tiki head
Jamaican Firefly (dark rum, house-made ginger beer, fresh lime juice, simple syrup)
The Pit’s partners: Mark Peel, Jay Perrin, Audrey Saunders, Christy Pope and Chad Solomon
See the full Flickr gallery, including interiors, here >>>
--Krista Simmons