28 Mar Where to Drink on Venice Beach: Rose Cafe

West Coast (Cocktail) Swing: Rose Cafe, Venice

Today we kick off our series, the West Coast (Cocktail) Swing. The Left Coast is not the right coast to live on, BUT it holds it own with its glorious weather, laid back atmosphere, and abundance of healthy-living vibes (the juice stop on every corner is appealing, right?).  And of all places to have family, the suburbs of Los Angeles is definitely not the worst. A family wedding meant 10 days in So. Cal, and you can imagine that for us it was 10 days of exploring the greater L.A. imbibing scene. We left the East Coast during a cold, rainy spell; so it perhaps unfairly made every glorious LA cocktail establishment with its open windows and massive patios look like a decent stop on the way to heaven.

We start today with the Rose Cafe in Venice. The Rose Cafe is absolutely everything we ever dreamt of in a cocktail establishment. There’s a bakery that will leave you drooling, a chrome-finished espresso machine, a looonnng, crisp-looking bar, and, not one, but two patios, one covered and surrounded by greenery that you could easily spend a whole afternoon in. Seriously, you’ll want to eat breakfast, brunch, lunch, and dinner there. I’d like to think this is California’s version of an English Pub. Open all the time. A place for all. It was lovely, and I wanted to stay all day.

What We Ordered

The Rose Cup: Lemon, lime, mint, cucumber, strawberry, bonal, bourbon, seltzer

What We Thought

OMG this drink is to die for. It’s literally like sipping a rose, and I’m certain that if there was a signature cocktail in Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ it would be this.

We’re always wary when fruit is listed on a cocktail menu, not because we a) hate fruit or b) think it’s a terrible addition to a cocktail, but because the likelihood that a restaurant is writing “strawberry” on their menu and then using an artificially flavored syrup behind the bar is high. The bartender assuaged my fears, telling me that the lemon, lime, mint and strawberry are all freshly squeezed and/or pureed in house. I ordered enthusiastically and again, was not disappointed.

It was so light and fresh, and still so interestingly complex from the Bonal and Bourbon. It completely upped the ante on its cousin the Pimm’s Cup (take that you Brits. We have outdone your pub and your drink).  Oh, and did we mention the pineapple cup it was served in? Venice, c’mon. You’re making our East Coast life look dismal.

I imagine all the google geniuses across the street in their palace of an office sipping on this during their 3 o’clock ‘creativity break.’

Can I drink this at 3 o’clock as well in my concrete blockade government office? Please, pretty please?