News from the Tar Pit: An all-new cocktail menu starting this week

The Tar Pit has named David Kupchinsky as bar manager and launched its new spring cocktail menu, now a "homage to the classics infused with with Mark Peel’s signature farmer’s market twist."

Chef-owner Peel announced in February that New York bartender Audrey Saunders would no longer be affiliated with the Tar Pit. Saunders, along with consultants Chad Solomon and Christie Pope, had instituted the bar's initial cocktail program. Kupchinsky, part of the Tar Pit's opening team, has worked with bartender Julian Cox while at Melrose Avenue brasserie Comme Ca (Cox is now at downtown Latin restaurant Rivera). Peel is putting his mark on the cocktails by collaborating with Kupchinsky on syrups and infusions.

New to the menu are cocktails such as the Prude’s Demise with Jamaican over-proof rum, kumquats, kaffir lime and pepper syrup, Velvet Falernum, lime juice and soda. Others include the Fashionista, a spin on a gin Old Fashioned, spiced with coriander, juniper berry syrup, tarragon and Marasca cherries.

609 N. La Brea, Hollywood, (323) 965-1300, www.tarpitbar.com.

-- Betty Hallock

Photo credit: Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times