West Hollywood: La Fete Is Now Open Next to Norah
Contributed by on Jun 21, 2018
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Le Julep
Norah has a little sister! La Fete opened next door to the restaurant a few weeks ago. La Fete’s space was Norah’s private room but now it has its own separate entrance and still shares the bar with Norah. Barman Dave Kupchinsky is the mastermind behind the French inspired drinks.
I tried almost all the drinks on the new menu starting with Le Julep. Instead of going with the usual mint flavor, this dry vermouth drink features fruit including cherry and raspberry. Yet it’s amazingly NOT sweet. That’s because of the Salers aperitif and verjus classes up this tipple.
Le Julep – dry vermouth, Salers aperitif, cherry eau de vie, house raspberry thyme cordial, verjus
ODB martini
I love that La Fete has three martinis on the menu including the ODB. The ODB (old dirty bastard) martini is my new favorite dirty martini. Olives are featured in just about everything including the use of a house brine tincture, the vermouth and the best presentation of an olive salt (called dust here) rim. You’ll never want a dirty martini made from questionable olive juice from a fishy looking open container on a bartop again.
Le ODB – Botanist gin, house brine tincture, olive-infused vermouth, golden olive dust
Le Rose Fraise
Having just got back from Chile, I’ve been on a hunt for pisco drinks and although I can’t be sure if this pisco was Chilean, Le Rose Fraise is still a very lovely drink.
Le Rose Fraise -rosé, pisco, house strawberry balsamic cordial, lemon
Tuxedo martini
A friend told me of the martinis he tried, Le Tuxedo was his favorite. I do love that each martini comes with a sidecar which means it’s a double pleasure sort of drink. Grab one martini and a friend to share! Or don’t. I don’t share martinis either. Plus, each are served with a dish of olives. Perfect.
Le Tuxedo – Sipsmith VJOP gin absinthe, dry vermouth, maraschino, orange bitters
Pastis #2
La Fete also has a pastis line up. You can get a classic pastis but I opted to try the Pastis #2 which features kaffir lime cordial.
Pastis #2 – pastis, kaffir lime cordial, soda
Le Spritz
It’s hot, isn’t it? Just in time for summer comes Le Spritz. With a great rhubarb sage gastrique, this is a nice spin on a spritz using Lillet rose.
Le Spritz – Lillet Rose, house rhubarb-sage gastrique, Fever Tree tonic, Cava
Sugar Snap martini
Actually, I don’t know if my favorite martini was the ODB or the Le Sugar Snap. I really enjoyed how vegetal this martini was.
Le Sugar Snap- sugar snap pea infused Plymouth gin, dry vermouth, blanc vermouth, Kina aperitif
Le Daiq
I love drinking daiquiris and I like this variation using rhum and calvados.
Le Daiq– Rhum JM, Calvados, Genepy des Alpes, house triple lime cordial. lime
Side Piece
Is the most French cocktail the Sidecar? Well, it certainly uses a very French spirit, cognac. This version called the Side Piece uses lemon verbena keeping it Franco-Californian.
Side Piece – cognac, Cointreau, lemon verbena
8277 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90046
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