LA bars

Has there always been a giant neon sign? I never noticed! The "front" area is called "Chop Suey Cafe"- the taps have different beers.

 

Whoops, I was wrong. It says "Chop Suey" vertically and "Far East" horizontally under it.



But they serve all the taps to all the customers. I never knew it was called Chop Suey Cafe. I always just referred to the whole shebang as Far Bar. TIL!

 

Spice Table looks great! I could use a different take on Singaporean food. Plus their beer list (while small) looks good to me. http://www.thespicetable.com/menu/drinks/

I've never heard of any of them except for Tiger and North Coast.

 

Definitely try the Alesmiths, and skip the Tiger.

 

Yeah, I can totally get Tiger here. But there are soooo many more interesting beers out there...why waste my time with light Asian lagers?

 

Hey there ya'll. Yes, the entrance to Far Bar can be confusing indeed! Our main entrance is the alley door about 15-20 feet to the right of the Far East/Chop Suey signs(look for Far Bar triangle floor signs). The whole building is actually Far Bar, but the lounge is only open for overflow Thurs-Sat nights (and private/special events). The patio and the main bar on the side of the patio are open seven days a week11am-2am Mon-Fri, Noon-2am Sat and 11am-2am Sun. The reason the Far East sand Chop Suey signs are still up is because the building is national historically landmarked building( Far East restaurant 1930s-1994) and they have to stay put. All taps/food menu are available in both rooms. Say hey if you swing on through, I'm usually there Mon-Fri.

Cheers!
Jimmy

 

Hey Jimmy, good seeing ya tonight! Always happy to support and spread the word about your fine establishment!

 

If you're in to Belgian beer, make sure to check us out at Little Bear (www.littlebearla.com)

 

I checked out the website. You should really think about putting up a draft/bottle list for people to check out on there.

 

the website has the draft and bottles as of today.

 

Thanks guys again for the recs. Here's a bit of rolling commentary

Day One: Stuffed Sandwich

Has got to be the most unique drinking place I've ever been to. Intriguing combination of the best beers in the world with the most...functional, low-brow and unpretentious food and surroundings. I'd say I'm a fan

Their current tripel flight was a real challenge for a lightweight like me. But what I came away with was that my fave tripels are still the Belgian ones like Karmeliet although the American attempts were certainly worth trying.

I did manage to also finish 1/2 a bottle of Epic Brewing's Sour Apple Saison which was excellent! They have a staggering bottle selection here and the glassware is to my mind very reasonably priced.

Great place, would love to come back on a Wednesday when there's the informal beer geek meetings. Too bad I didn't get to meet the infamous Sam.

 

Update: I went to Far Bar twice cuz I liked it so much. Nice cozy space. During lunch time it's great cuz there's no crowd. It must get packed in there at night. The Far Bar Burger was awesome. I asked for medium-rare but it came closer to rare, which I totally didn't mind. It's impossible to get a restaurant in Canada to cook you a medium-rare burger! Tasted great with my "session flight". My previous "IPA flight" ended with the great Green Flash Palate Wrecker, which had a creamy mouthfeel and arresting bitterness.

Anyways, the bartenders at Far Bar are pretty friendly and knowledgeable about beers, which is a plus. Compare that with the servers at Haven in Pasadena...they just seemed content to just serve. Didn't dig the sports bar feel of Haven, but they do have great food (mac 'n cheese!) and great tap list. Their newly introduced house IPA shows that they know how to brew. I also enjoyed the Alesmith IPA but was severely disappointed in the DFH Aprihop.

I LOVED Beer Belly in Koreatown and wished I could've visited there multiple times. Small space, great cheap food and small solid selection of beers. Great bartender.

Barbara's @ The Brewery was ok...a bit hidden and remote and the staff gave off a bit that cliquey hipster, too-cool-for-school kinda vibe. Must be great if you live in the area and know the people.

Overall I had a great time in LA. So much to see and not enough time! Thanks for the recs!

 

I like that you guys put what's "on deck" on the site as well. That's a pretty cool thing to do. You may want to re-consider labeling the category "Pale Ales" since a Pale Ale is a very particular style...since most of them are Tripels and Belgian Pale Ales you may want to go with some combination of the two (or just Belgian Ales)

 

Glad you appreciate that feature. About the bottle selection, titling the category which we call pale ales as "Belgian ales" would be far too general, and probably a bit confusing, as all of our bottles are Belgian or Belgian-style ales. Hence the decision to categorize based on color (pale vs dark). Perhaps "blonde" might be worth considering versus pale, though we could definitely debate the "particular"-ness of pale ale as referring to style. Thanks for the input.

 

no problem. cheers!

 

Glad to hear you liked the Far Bar and Beer Belly! Both great spots.

 

Barbara's at The Brewery is probably my favorite LA bar but I will agree knowing the people that live/work there makes it that hidden home type of feel. It's the best going there late when its more empty, Mike takes control of the stereo and I get blissed by excellent beer and bad ass RnR!

If your still around my favorite beer bar is hands down Beachwood BBQ! Amazing food and always a great rotating of taps. Their beer is delicious and the guest taps are always changing and new stuff. And you can get half pours of everything no questions asked. Both locations are great, the Long Beach is much larger. I know its a bit of a drive but its much worth it.

 

Huh, interesting. Never heard of Barbara's. I'll have to check it out sometime.

Is it just beer or do they serve food as well?

 

They do serve food, but a really small ever-changing menu. When I was there, there was only 4 entrees, 1 soup and a couple desserts.

 

It used to be (and maybe still is) Barbara's West which is a catering company. In any event, they do serve pub-ish type food. Food is okay; beer list is awesome.