Sunday, February 15, 2009

Barbarella Bar: more bosoms, less Zen

A festive group (of EatingLA readers!) enjoys Barbarella in its first week.

We stopped by the brand-new Barbarella in Silver Lake Friday night to take advantage of their 7 days a week happy hour from 4-7. Have the dingy memories of Zen Sushi finally been erased? Yes, fortunately Barbarella is a whole new and much cleaner ball game. I can't say I love the decor -- the Spanishy leather and wood seats don't look quite right with the crystal chandelier, corseted waitresses and nudie wallpaper, and the odd-shaped space is cavernous rather than cozy (especially since there's no heat yet.) But there's plenty of seating in two different areas as well as along the bar.
The beer list is helpfully divided into categories: lager, hoppy, yeasty, etc. Unlike our trip to Blue Palms the other night, there weren't really any beers I was that excited about trying, but the $4 a pint happy hour price is certainly a bargain for the likes of Green Flash IPA or Unibroue Maudite. We had two appetizers ($6 each at happy hour): crunchy fried avocado rolls, reminiscent of chimichangas with a tangy tomatillo salsa; and a hearty-sized portion of the ubiquitous tuna tartare. With a giant fried tortilla chip and a bottom layer of avocado, this dish may be cliché but it was filling and fun to eat. Kathy recommends they add fries with various sauces to the bar menu. Service was more earnest than expert, as it is still early days, but servers were generous with extra beer if service slowed down. The dinner menu is fairly brief; I'd say this is more of a lounge with snacks than a dinner destination, but either way, nearby neighbors seem happy to have a new place for drinks, with one of the bigger beer selections in Silver Lake (taps shown below), as well as fruity 10 oz. martinis and a solid wine list.
Barbarella Bar
2609 N. Hyperion Ave.
(323) 644-8000
Barbarella Bar on Urbanspoon

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

that guy on the right is really handsome. anyone know if he is single?

mattatouille said...

very nice. i must check this place out some time, especially since it's so closeby.

Anonymous said...

Yes, he's very single. Too bad he has crippling emotional issues.

YHBHS said...

lol, is this the new pick up place?

great blog as always, curious to check out this place on my neighborhood. but it is still hard to get zen sushi out of my mind...

Richard Gould-Saltman said...

OK, Pats, why do we get a headline referencing "More bosoms", a text reference to "corseted waitresses", and then you wind up with a picture of. . . . . . beer tap tanks?

Pat Saperstein said...

Sorry Richard, but beer tanks get me more excited!
But you're welcome to go check out the corsets...at least you can stumble home on foot.

Anonymous said...

I had an hour to spare before meeting a friend tonite and I came in to check out the happy hour. I ordered the tuna tar tar from the happy hour menu, which I thought was delicious. I had to order a mojito, which the bartender said was his specialty. I particularly LOVED the rasberry infused mojito. With the fresh fruit, and mint, it was devine. Next time I'm going to try another suggestion of the bartender (he was awesome), the peach mojito. I was sorry I had to cut my visit short. I'll be back soon.