We're pathologically social. We're professional leisurists. We're burrito lovers, bar flies, art whores and music nerds. We dish the good dirt, and we'll risk a parking ticket for a cheap sample sale. Sometimes, we blog drunk.
La Isla bonita?
Of all the bars I've been to, I've never been as confused by a place as I was by Isla, the new Sunset Strip cantina located in the former Tangier spot. I should preface by saying that there are some cool features, notably a retractable roof and also floor-to-ceiling windows that offer a prime view for people watching and slide open to let the air in (and cigarette smoke out). But features do not a bar make.
As you can see from the Romanesque columns on the cantina's exterior, Isla is having a bit of an identity crisis. It's more baffling inside, as if someone in Russia, whose only experience with Mexican culture was through glossy catalogs, designed a theme restaurant at an airport. Picture it: polished black tables and matching high-back chairs, standing gold ashtrays, black tile floor... None of it is very "Mexican" except for the yellow sponge-painted walls.
The cocktail menu's a lot like the décor. Isla's signature drink, the Islarita, knocks it out of the park. The Colada martini, on the other hand, comes garnished with a layer of coconut shavings and tastes like a liquid cupcake. But where you can really see the owners' probable cultural confusion (they never called me back so I couldn't ask) is the Spanish Cosmo. If Salma Hayek had been my date, you know she'd gone off on them about difference between Mexico and Spain.
But here's where I'm ultimately most bewildered and why I'm probably having a hard time cutting Isla some slack: They charge $220 to $750 for bottle service. That's some serious audacity! The servers may wear red pleated mini skirts, but that's as "Hollywood" as it gets here. I bet if they focus on making it more of a neighborhood bar like Red Rock next door, they'll succeed.
—Alexandra Le Tellier
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