Friday, November 23, 11:30 p.m.
My ongoing obsession with Vegas’ newest lounges brings me this week to Company, LAX and Noir Bar’s glamorous new straight-off-the-slopes neighbor. Though only in soft-opening mode until Friday, November 30, when celebrity investors Wilmer Valderrama, Nick Lachey and Nicky Hilton will cut the proverbial ribbon, Company has been in full swing since managing partner Steve Davidovici and executive chef Adam Sobel said the word “go.”
So I’ve gone. Twice!
Distinctly themed but not hokey, Company is a chic chalet, a cozy watering hole in an otherwise dry, chilly Mojave desert. Of course, there’s not a snowflake in sight, but I’m doing the après-ski thing in Company’s chalet-style fireside lounge (sans the fireplace, though): boots, fleece vest and all. Well—it’s more like après-Thanksgiving. Truly, the only thing missing is the spiked cocoa with marshmallows and the stomp of ski boots.
As Pure Management Group’s third foray into dining—and one of many new venues hitting the scene this winter—Company’s design is at a (decidedly snowy) peak. Real Aspen trees lead the way from dining room to lounge, where an antler chandelier dangles from the peaked roof above the slate bar. Organic elements like timber, river stone and moss bring the outdoors in. So then it’s winter all year long, you might ask? No, even summer comes to the mountains. The floral décor and decorative touches will all, Davidovici says, change with the seasons.
In Chef Sobel’s dining room, antique wooden skis adorn one wall, displayed in a fashion similar to the way newspaper bundles are stacked along the wall at Social House. Both venues were designed by New York’s AvroKO design firm. Across the way, the near-3,000-bottle wine wall (just you try to make a dent) is similarly flanked with antique toboggan runners.
In the lounge, we snow bunnies favor the sturdy black leather banquettes with faux-chinchilla pillows. I try not to slobber over the lounge’s enviable collection of flasks, another little AvroKO touch. At the bar, one long, smooth expanse of polished gray-green slate, the now-requisite corseted barmaids mix up for me and my friends a few treats from the nine-drink cocktail list ($12 each). For once not sticking to the basics I go for the unique-sounding Nocello Banana martini combining—yes—muddled banana (a little underripe) with banana and walnut liqueurs. Hmmm. It’s tasty but not really wintry.
At the bar with two future filmmakers, conversation turns to the Sundance film festival in January, and now I’m thinking more hot buttered rum and whiskey drinks. Bo orders a gin and tonic, and I smack my forehead if only to prevent me from smacking his. “I don’t like gin, and I don’t like tonic,” he drawls, figuring the distasteful combo will prevent him from overindulging. An interesting theory but not one I intend to test.
I move on to the Company Perk, which packs, along with Godiva chocolate and Stoli vanilla, a full shot of espresso. Now we’re talking! Each cocktail, while seeming traditional (Grandma’s Mint Julep, mai tai) and a little out of season, still makes good use of a dark and wintry spirit, liqueur or syrup. Even the Wild Strawberry martini utilizes a thick, garnet balsamic vinegar reduction in its sweet recipe. With just about any ingredient in the world being only a 16-hour flight away, those could be the best strawberries the Philippines have to offer! I expect that, like the décor in the dining room and the dishes on the menu, the cocktail menu will change to reflect the seasons.
“Truly cozy,” my college friend Pamela says when I take her and another young lady to dinner the next night. Sommelier Michael Shearin pops by to recommend a half-bottle of Robert Sinskey 2005 Los Carneros Pinot Noir from his expansive list. Peppery and medium-bodied, it goes down nicely with some serious girl-talk, until a sudden tap on my shoulder. Uh oh. A neighboring booth of guys have set out to woo us with a trio of too-good-to-be-true crème brulee popsicles, and then begin flirting around the idea of two booths becoming one at LAX later tonight.
Thanks guys, but I think we’ve got all the company we need.
Xania Woodman thinks globally and parties locally. And frequently. E-mail her at [email protected] and visit thecircuitlv.com
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