The Mandrake Bar is located in the new-ish gallery district of Culver City, on La Cienega between Washington and Venice. What bar?, you may ask - it doesn't look like much on the outside, with only a white neon sign that says Bar - but the inside is a super-cool gem of a bar, away from the madness of downtown Culver City. Because it's situated between art galleries, some may think of it as an art bar, but it's not, really. It's the hang out of art gallery workers, but that's about as far as it goes. The true focus of this bar is the house cocktails, where their creativity tends to shine.

The shortlist of cocktails is as follows, and all are made with top-shelf spirits: Tequila Sunrise (with Cazadores, chambord and soda - we told you they were creative), Mint Julep (with fresh mint from their garden), Tomato Water Martini (this is not a Bloody Mary, no matter how much you want to believe otherwise), Dark and Stormy, Moscow Mule, and Rose's Garden, a fine and fancy cucumber and mint martini. If you're not really in the mood for any of this, or are an intern at the galleries, they have a veritable wellspring of Pabst. 

2692 S La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles

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First of all, Ugo has three parts – there's a casual cafe, a more upscale restaurant, and a cozy little wine bar. They’re all right next to each other, so if you mistakenly walk into one, the oh so friendly and cheerful hostesses will direct you to the right establishment. While the food at the cafe and the restaurant looks delectable, our pick is the wine bar by far.

Ugo Wine Bar is reminiscent of Chicago with its cozy interior and dimly-lit brick walls– as if there was a blanket of snow outside the cozy, brick-walled wine bar, watching bundled-up people scurry down the streets. The atmosphere also made the wine more delicious. This is the vending-machine wine bar you’ve probably heard of. Unfortunately, the vending system was broken on the night we went. We had a red, a white, and a muscato from the menu- all fine, fine wines, but the muscato was hands down the best. Sipping the wine and the atmosphere, we actually focused on tasting all the notes of the wine, doing our best Sideways impressions – more to be a part of the casual yet refined atmosphere than anything. 

If you're a bit hungry, order the Artisan Bread with Ricotta Cheese, that was indeed so nice we ordered it twice, without even looking at what else they had to offer. The different types of bread was indeed expertly paired with the cheese, and all of our wines were expertly paired with the cheese & bread. The entire experience was savory in every sense of the word. Ugo is by far the best wine bar in Culver City – while the wine is the finest we've had in Culver City, our appetizer was to die for, and the atmosphere and friendly, warm staff put Ugo over the top. See you soon Ugo!

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If you haven't yet been to Saints & Sinners in Culver City, there's no better time than now. They've started doing tequila tastings - 3 shots of small-batch tequila from makers you probably haven't heard of for $25. It's a great deal, especially considering each shot is $11 - $15 each, and that the bartender is extremely knowledgeable about each tequila and takes pride in explaining how each tequila is made. They also carry their own beers, an amber ale that's the perfect mix between light and refreshing and a full meal in a glass. They do have their mix of themed cocktails, like Holy Water and the Blue-Eyed Devil (which is delicious!), so whatever you're looking for in the way of imbibements, you'll be sure to find the best here. The decor is gilded gold and glittery (even the bathrooms!), and the speakers are usually blasting heavy metal (on Sundays!), or some other obscure tune. Next time you're in the neighborhood, but sure to stop by! 10899 Venice Blvd, Los Angeles, CA.

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