Black Market Liquor Bar
Chef Antonia Lofaso creates an ever-pleasing menu of small plates, complemented by creative cocktails.
Black Market Liquor Bar Restaurant Review:
About the restaurant: Don't expect a restaurant called Black Market Liquor Bar to broadcast its presence too prominently. Once you've found the unmarked entrance to this hip Studio City gastropub, you'll have a choice of several seating options, including booths, high-top tables and a bar facing the open kitchen.
Food & Drinks: As the place’s name also implies, cocktails are a key part of the experience. Kick off with the Grassroots, a concoction of rhum agricole, spinach, romaine and cucumber, or the Bourbon-based Fade to Black accented with walnut bitters. Friendly staff can help steer you in the right direction. Enthusiastic and jovial chef Antonia Lofaso, who appeared on "Top Chef," creates an ever-pleasing menu of small plates that are meant for sharing. She'll put you to work peeling your own lemon pepper shrimp, which arrive on a wooden board with a jar of Crystal's aïoli. Fresh ingredients shine in the shaved fennel salad with feta, pomegranate seeds and tarragon, which we favored over the fried cauliflower. Oxtail ragù is perfect on those cooler Valley nights. Creamy ancho chili chocolate pudding delivers a wonderful kick, but if total decadence is what you're looking for in a dessert, you'll find it in the deep-fried fluffer-nutter sandwich. Brunch items range from short rib with salted potato, poached egg and crème fraîche to smoked ocean trout with pickled baby vegetables and quail egg. There's a short wine list as well as several craft beers on draft, plus more by the bottle. Water is filtered by the environmentally friendly Natura system.
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