Steep After Dark

On our list of the best cocktail bars in Los Angeles.

Tea-infused drinks take over this Chinatown tea house after 5pm: chrysanthemum vodka with cucumber and a drop of sesame oil, black tea whisky cut with a housemade Sichuan peppercorn syrup, a white negroni built on shoumei. Samuel Wang and Lydia Lin dim the lights, put out a short bar-bites menu, and pour an oolong cream soda or salted plum shandy for anyone not drinking. The night side started in 2020 as a pop-up in the Mandarin Plaza courtyard, and ticketed food pop-ups still run once or twice a week.