East Hollywood: Harvard & Stone

We celebrated Gastronomnom‘s birthday at a new bar in East Hollywood called Harvard & Stone. It’s been open for less than two months and is from the same folks as La Descarga. I happen to love La Descarga and was looking forward to checking out Harvard and Stone.

Walking around H&S, I was reminded of San Francisco’s Rickhouse. It’s a bit smaller than Rickhouse but it also has two stories and similar old timey decor. Perhaps you could think of it as a larger Thirsty Crow though I liked the cocktails at H&S much more.

I ordered the Walnut Manhattan to start (Woodford Reserve bourbon, Carpano Antica, Nocello, bitters). I loved this cocktail. The nutty flavors were really great and it was a nice spin on the classic drink.

The back bar at Harvard & Stone is known as the R&D (for research and development). This is a “test kitchen” of sorts for cocktails. Every night is a different spirit and different drinks. This particular night was all about Death’s Door. I ordered the Norma Jean which was a delicious spin of a Negroni. The bitterness of Campari was tamed in this tasty libation.

After a delightful gab with the bartender about my liquor of spirit (bourbon), he came up with a citrus cocktail featuring my favorite whiskey.  I needed to slow down a bit as the night was winding down (or up for some).

Harvard & Stone

5221 Hollywood Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90027-4908 – (323) 466-6063