Death & Co

Start with the menu. At Death & Co Los Angeles, drinks are organised by mood and structure rather than spirit: Light & Playful, Boozy & Honest, Bright & Confident, Rich & Comforting, Elegant & Timeless. It turns ordering into a proper progression, especially if you move through signatures such as Ghost Machine, Contrabandista, Emerald Grove and Paper Wasp.

The serious surprise is the Zero Proof section. Cruise Control, Tenth Planet and Living Dead sit as a full bench of composed non-alcoholic cocktails, not a polite afterthought, and they are priced like the rest of the programme. That matters if you want the shape and detail of a cocktail bar without drinking alcohol.

Opened in November 2019 at 818 E. 3rd Street in the Arts District, Downtown Los Angeles, this is the LA outpost of the East Village original, which won Best American Cocktail Bar and World’s Best Cocktail Menu at the 2010 Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards. Add oysters, shrimp toast or buttermilk fried chicken, and settle into the menu properly.