Bacon Freak

Recently I met with Brad Roen of Eight-18 Wine Bar. Brad is the owner of one of the hottest wine bars in Southern California. Eight 18 has an interesting clientele as it is located in the heart and soul of the movie industry here in California. It neighbors to almost every major movie studio including NBC, Warner Brothers and Universal Disney. They provide wine lockers for select clients including Andy Garcia and Jennifer Love Hewitt to name a few.

Brad has an interesting philosophy about wine, he serves his customers, “wine without attitude.” He tells me that his bar is the perfect spot for the novice drinker to the connoisseur as he specifically hires servers who know what each wine tastes like and can tell a customer why they might enjoy it! With over 40 bottles of wine available to taste it is important to have servers who are educated on how the wine tastes so that they can match what they have to your unique taste buds. Not only is Brad passionate he encourages an environment in which people can feel free to chat about wine.

The wine bar boasts a very interesting art collection. In fact they every few months they change up their artwork. Currently they are featuring a local artist who shows 40 styles pin up girls shown in an exotic way. At the end of the month they will actually feature the artist and the pin up girls (the real models) in the wine bar. I am sure it will be a fun night!

Soon Brad will be launching a TV show called, “Love and Minds” It’s a show about his passion of wine. In the show he will be looking for the best wines while his co star Heather Meeker is looking for the best wine guide she can find! So basically he is looking for juice and she is looking for love! I can’t wait till this show comes out.

Brad is currently featuring the wine of Ryan Carr. I was excited to hear this as we here at the Coastal Vineyards Wine Club featured his wines in our club nearly two years ago. It was exciting to see how Carr Wines has grown and developed in the world of great wine!

Brad is a very light and fun guy. He tries to bring everything from a “lightly buzzed” perspective. He and I had a great conversation and he shares my passion for enjoying a great bottle of wine. Brad is the kind of guy that I am sure I will become life long friends with.

As many of my readers know, I have been on a quest to start pairing wines with gourmet bacon. Brad has agreed to help the Bacon Freak Bacon Club with this task and may even feature an event doing just that in his wine bar. We will keep you posted as that develops.

Be sure to visit one of the best wine bars in the movie capital of world – Eight 18!

Cheers!
Rocco Loosbrock
www.cvwine.com

Recently I met with Jazz of Tapas and Wine Bar in Little Tokyo Los Angeles. This is a very interesting wine bar with a décor that is different than anything you have ever experienced before. As you walk in to the place you are greeted by faux pink furry walls that open into an exotic and erotic wine bar. When Miss Cha Cha designed and decorated this wine bar she was trying to create a place that allowed for a trip down naughty lane. The bar boasts a French Maid theme and the staff plays it up by dressing the part.

This wine bar has created several trends. First and foremost is their chic retro French theme and secondly, they have popularized a drink called The Galvatron which has lead to a weekly Galvatron night! This drink has even caught the attention of websites such as Thrilllist.com and several others. This drink is made of one part Maker’s, one part Patron, and one part 151. Jazz describes The Galvatron as the ultimate dare drink – fit for the guy with balls!

Tapas and wine bar stays current with new and hot trends. The one constant is great wine and drinks along with Karaoke almost every night! You can count on this wine bar to have special events and parties and always have something entertaining scheduled such sports night, where guys can watch a game, however your drinks come to you via a sexy gal in a sexy referee outfit!

Jazz tells me that they focus on California wines and French Bordeaux’s! In fact we saw several wines that were featured in the Coastal Vineyards Chardonnay Wine Club in the recent past. To celebrate the night Jazz poured us a glass of French Maid Wine. The perfect drink to match the fun and spirit of Tapas and Wine Bar of Little Tokyo.

If you are in Little Tokyo Los Angeles, I highly recommend that you visit this wine bar. For more information visit there site at barc.biz/index.html

Rocco Loosbrock
www.cvwine.com