Japanese-Style Cocktail Bar Tokyo Noir Is Opening in Long Beach | Eater LA
"Look for the red lantern in the alleyway tucked behind Long Beach’s El Barrio Cantina to find a hidden Japanese-style cocktail bar opening on November 13. The new bar comes from restaurateur Jesse Duron (El Barrio Cantina) and acclaimed bartender and certified Ice Master Kevin Lee (Puzzle Bar and the Wolves). The menu is inspired by Lee’s past experience serving a cocktail "omakase" at the Wolves called Le Néant, an experience that didn’t have a set menu and instead served cocktails based around produce at its peak season; while the bar won’t serve its menu as an omakase, Lee’s menu will still be informed by California’s microseasons: "The sensitivity to nature was really such a beautiful idea for me," Lee says, and expect subtle shifts in the menu as Lee adapts cocktails to the changing weather or tweaks ingredients with the seasons. Lee is taking direct inspiration from Japanese bartending techniques, emphasizing "precision, balance, and respect for every ingredient," with exact bartending from ice-carving to a practiced shake that can remove notes of bitterness from Aperol; bartenders will even be throwing cocktails, an impressive process not found at many bars in Southern California. "My focus is really on the process," Lee says. "It's about refinement, not excess, and with each motion and each ingredient having a purpose." Ice will be imported from Japan. The opening cocktail menu features three highballs (whisky, mezcal, and scotch) plus creative cocktails such as the Kaiju (Japanese rum, Midori, creme anglaise, and yuzu), the Hibiki Old Fashioned (Hibiki, Okinawan rock sugar, and nori bitters), and a shaved-ice kakigori cocktail with shochu, guava, and grapefruit. Chef Ulises Piñeda-Alfaro will serve an izakaya-inspired food program with charred edamame, a wagyu skirt skewer, and miso-deviled eggs; in developing the pairings Duron says, "I think we’ve created a menu that balances the cocktails pretty well, and it’s not overpowering," adding, "It’s just bar bites, and everything is finger food." The Japanese influence extends beyond the menu: the space is modeled after a Tokyo-style listening bar with dark wood, red lanterns overhead, and a backlit liquor cabinet. "It’s all about the cocktails, but also creating the vibes and the atmosphere," Lee says. "Kind of combining the elements of a hip-hop listening bar." The playlist will lean on '90s hip-hop and other tracks Lee and Duron grew up on. Duron sees this as Long Beach’s moment for a showy, high-quality cocktail spot and adds, "I think LA just recently got [put on a] top 50 bar [list]. That’s what we want, that’s our goal. We want to be put on that list." Hours begin at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday, and 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday; reservations are available through OpenTable." - Rebecca Roland
