The Best LA Bar: Vandell

**Jordan Okun** (0:02)
Mad Food, I'm Jordan, Bubbles is here, and he better be, because even though I enjoy the business of booze nowadays, Bubbles is the booze boss.

**Max Shapiro** (0:14)
Thank you.

**Jordan Okun** (0:15)
Okay?
And that is what we're talking about today with a rundown of Vandell. Objectively, one of the best bars in Los Angeles. Is that right, Max? That's not subjectivity, that is objectivity.

**Max Shapiro** (0:29)
And people don't like when I say this, but there aren't that many good bars in Los Angeles. There are good bar programs inside of restaurants, but stand alone bars, not so many good ones.

**Jordan Okun** (0:44)
And why is that, Max?

**Max Shapiro** (0:46)
You know, people say it's the spread out nature of Los Angeles. I think that's bullshit. I think that we just don't have great bar culture here.
And that translates to a lack of good bars.

**Jordan Okun** (1:02)
There are tiers to this alky LA game.

**Max Shapiro** (1:05)
Sure.

**Jordan Okun** (1:07)
And Vandell, it's top tier.

**Max Shapiro** (1:10)
It's top tier.

**Jordan Okun** (1:11)
Right?

**Max Shapiro** (1:11)
Yeah.

**Jordan Okun** (1:11)
What else is in that tier? Just so we understand.

**Max Shapiro** (1:14)
See, are we talking just bars or bar programs?

**Jordan Okun** (1:19)
Let's talk just cocktail bars.

**Max Shapiro** (1:22)
Okay. Bar next door is good.

**Jordan Okun** (1:24)
Yeah.

**Max Shapiro** (1:25)
Um, just bars?

**Jordan Okun** (1:28)
Just bars. Bar Benjamin.

**Max Shapiro** (1:31)
Oh, yes. Bar Benjamin. Thank you for helping me out with that.

**Jordan Okun** (1:33)
Do you like that Thunderbolt place?

**Max Shapiro** (1:35)
I despise it, actually.

**Jordan Okun** (1:37)
Okay.

**Max Shapiro** (1:37)
I find it to be all technique, and the drinks, texturally, flavor-wise, are really off.

**Jordan Okun** (1:44)
Now, you like Mirate and you like Daisy, maybe technically restaurants.

**Max Shapiro** (1:49)
Well, Mirate is a 270-seat restaurant.

**Jordan Okun** (1:52)
Right.

**Max Shapiro** (1:53)
That's not a bar.

**Jordan Okun** (1:54)
Right.

**Max Shapiro** (1:54)
And Daisy is 170 seats?

**Jordan Okun** (1:57)
Even though it makes best bar lists.

**Max Shapiro** (2:02)
Right.

**Jordan Okun** (2:02)
Right. 50 Best names it as bars.

**Max Shapiro** (2:06)
Yes.

**Jordan Okun** (2:06)
Bar programs.

**Max Shapiro** (2:08)
It's a bar program, but these are rest...

**Jordan Okun** (2:10)
They're bar programs, but not bars. Right. Right. Right.
Like Kato, great bar program. Austin coming off a Michelin recognition for their bar program, but a bar program, not a bar.

**Max Shapiro** (2:23)
And James Beard for their beverage program, but Kato, not a bar.

**Jordan Okun** (2:27)
Right. Okay.

**Max Shapiro** (2:29)
I mean...

**Jordan Okun** (2:29)
I'm trying to figure this all out.

**Max Shapiro** (2:31)
So...

**Jordan Okun** (2:31)
It doesn't make a lot of sense.

**Max Shapiro** (2:32)
So am I. It's like, you know, I enjoy places like Bar 109, and they just got a new bar director, and Dave Kupchinski, who's one of the OGs. So the cocktails, which I thought were timid before, will come around, and Bar 109 could be in that bar category. I think Capri Club, or Capri Club, however you want to pronounce it, is a good bar. Oi Bar, good cocktail program at Oi Bar.

**Jordan Okun** (3:03)
Well, you never go, though.

**Max Shapiro** (3:04)
You know, I don't. But I have been three or four times. You remember that the cocktails were good? Yes.

**Jordan Okun** (3:10)
All right, let's go back to Vandell. Why is it top tier? What makes it? First and foremost, the drinks are delicious, but is that really the first and foremost of it all?

**Max Shapiro** (3:24)
Yes.

**Jordan Okun** (3:25)
It is.

**Max Shapiro** (3:25)
It is, yeah.

**Jordan Okun** (3:26)
Look at me. I knew.

**Max Shapiro** (3:28)
It's just like food. You can have incredible service, atmosphere, all these techniques, this incredible looking kitchen. Your food tastes like shit. You suck.

**Jordan Okun** (3:38)
The drinks have got to be delicious. Yep. They've got to be, let's see what other words I know. They've got to be balanced.

**Max Shapiro** (3:47)
There we go. There it is.

**Jordan Okun** (3:48)
Was that what you were looking for?

**Max Shapiro** (3:49)
Yeah, that's the word.

**Jordan Okun** (3:50)
Let me think. Are there any other words that these cocktails need to be?
What are they? That's it. Delicious and balanced.

**Max Shapiro** (3:58)
Yeah. And then everything else is just an add-on.

**Jordan Okun** (4:02)
Is anything more important than...
maybe not more important. What's the second most important thing? So we got the delicious balanced drinks.

**Max Shapiro** (4:13)
Yeah.

**Jordan Okun** (4:14)
What comes next?

**Max Shapiro** (4:16)