Rivera: 4 Star Cocktail Program

This mainly for the bar - I have yet to have a full meal from the kitchen. However, S. Irene Virbila just recently awarded Rivera a swell 3 1/2 stars, a mark matched only by Spago and the now defunct Bastide, and bested only by the newly 4-starred The Bazaar by Jose Andres and Joel Robuchon at the Mansion in Las Vegas. Actually I was stunned when I first read on Tuesday afternoon that Virbila had awarded the restaurant 3 1/2 stars, as they were anticipating anywhere from 2 to 3 stars.

Rivera is a comeback for Chef John Rivera Sedlar, an innovative chef in the decade of which I was born (hence, I don't know much about him). However, based on many accounts, including Jonathan Gold, Sedlar was not only talented, but a groundbreaking chef who revolutionized Southwestern cuisine. Rivera is his new take on Southwest and Mexican cuisine, with flecks of avant-garde/molecular gastronomy as well as some of his old approaches (like the dusting of "messages")



My impetus for coming here was the excellent cocktail program, helmed by Julian Cox, a suave gentlemen, lanky but dapper in the truest sense, who concocts delicious potions from market-fresh ingredients. One thing you'll notice is Cox's aggressive, furious shake, which successfully chills, dilutes, and binds the seasonal cocktails.

Since Sedlar was a rep for Patron Tequila during his ten-year hiatus, Rivera has a stellar tequila program, including a special tequila membership that includes two bottles of five-year aged anejo from a Sedlar-picked source that are encased in a glowing auburn display in the back "supper-club" dining room.

In addition, the bar program offers daily choices of infused tequila, such as the "tequila de mujer" a sweet Madagascar vanilla tequila, a grapefruit-anise tequila, pomegranite cinnamon, and blood orange tequila. A tasting of three only runs you $12.

Trio of infused tequilas priced at $12 for three

The cocktails are equally stellar, with the Purple Rain, a vodka-based (though we always ask for gin instead) drink with mint, violet flowers (or pansies depending on what's available), and a sour element. It's refreshing yet florally complex. I also had the Greenpoint, a rye-based drink with yellow chartreuse in what could be the perfect martini glass.


Julian crafting Purple Rain and the final product.


Greenpoint cocktail and the eastside cocktail

Everything at Rivera is perfectly polished. The attention to detail abounds as the "R" shaped plush chairs with the attached flipout drink holder shows. The stemware and cocktail glasses are impeccable. The wine is dispensed from an automatic machine (though we detected a corked glass and was quickly given a replacement upon request). And the decor is simply stunning. The Staples Center and LA Live looms in the distance as the sweeping dining room with sleek lines and dim lights gives what could be the best place to get a drink in Downtown at the moment. Don't get me wrong, I love my other Downtown cocktail lounges such as The Varnish, The Association, Seven Grand, or even Cole's. But none of those are so able to capture the zeitgeist of LA's scene as well as Rivera's cocktail lounge.


Greenpoint and "tequila de mujer" - Rivera communal dining table

On a final note, from Thursday through Saturday, from 10:30-12PM, Rivera offers expertly crafted $8-$9 drinks as well as small plates around the $10 range. We had a dish of the enfrijolada, two dark tortillas pancaked over succulent roasted duck meat, sauced with a chipotle cabernet bordelaise, and topped with a poached egg. Bar food scarcely gets better.

I've been frequenting the bar area for Julian's cocktails on more than a handful of occasions and I can confidently say the while the restaurant garners 3 1/2 stars (at least per Virbila), I award the cocktail program 4 lucid stars.

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Addendum: On other visits, we've had the whole gamut of cocktails, such as the now-famous Blood Sugar Sex Magic, a rye based wonder that exudes sharp bell pepper flavors with a sour but refreshing finish. The Last Word, a gin-based classic and one of Julian's favorite cocktails, was well made by the other bartender Christine (not choisauce). Julian's also concocted a superb hot toddy, perfumed with clove and cinnamon and based on a lemon and bourbon foundation, might be the perfect cold remedy. The excellence just flows like their enomatic wine dispenser, or perhaps like the jiggered pours from the skilled hands.