Openings

What to Drink at La Cuevita, Open Friday in Highland Park

Inside La Cuevita
Inside La Cuevita Photo: 1933 Group

This Friday, May 4, The 1933 Group’s transformation of Little Cave into La Cuevita will be revealed to Highland Park as an agave-focused cocktail lounge headed up by Oldfield’s Jared Mort and Thirsty Crow’s Cooper Gillespie. The space has seen some new nips and tucks, as co-owner and designer Bobby Green has stripped the dark bar back to its original 60-year-old wood beams and brick walls, and dotted the landscape with Mexican curios and antiques, including stained glass, aged leather stools, salvaged marble, and century-old church doors. Signage, one of the few remaining vestiges of Little Cave, will stay though a new mural on the front will post the bar’s new name, while two outdoor patios will keep things breezy. So, more importantly, what will you drink?

Long a cool spot for late-night vampires, the drinks at Little Cave might have been the aspect most in need of a refresh. Mort and Cooper’s selection taps the bar’s new collection of mezcals and tequilas, with drinks like a “Del Maguey Crema de Mezcal” with St. Germain, ginger beer, and fresh lemon, a “Mezcalada Scorpion” with Clamato and roasted poblanos then topped with Corona and salt smoked in-house, and a combination of Bacardi eight-year with Del Maguey Vida, pineapple, cayenne, Gomme, passion fruit juice, and lime called “The Pinaleta.” There’s also a “Jalapeno Margarita” using grapefruit juice and cilantro, plus our new-favorite-before-we-even-try-it, a “Mole Manhattan” using Old OVerholt Rye, Cointreau, Creme de Cacao, chocolate chili and Hellfire bitters, and Carpano Antica.

La Cuevita opens its doors on May 4 at 8:00 P.M. 5922 North Figueroa St, Highland Park. 323-255-6871.

What to Drink at La Cuevita, Open Friday in Highland Park