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Everyday: 5pm - 2amLowboy is a no-fluff neighborhood cocktail bar residing in the heart of ever-expanding Echo Park that leaves the smoke and mirrors to the rest. With industry veterans at the helm, Lowboy focuses on what matters: drinks meant to excite you, food meant to fill you, and hospitality meant to keep you coming back.
OUR ARTICLE
BY: Dakota Nate Contributing writerIt’s the simple things that count, and deep down, Los Angeles knows it. (Deep, deep down)
With an oversaturated market of gimmicky craft cocktail bars, sometimes a business is so eager to find their angle that it becomes a mish-mash of themes that confuse the patron as they look over the rim of that barrel-aged, cherrywood-smoked Old Fashioned. By the guys who brought you one of Little Tokyo’s favorite watering holes, Wolf & Crane, Michael Francesconi, and Matthew Glaser have taken up shop in the old Lost Knight space to bring Echo Park a taste of “Neighborhood Everything.”
A straight-forward, no bullshit bar minus the attitude is what you get with Lowboy — oh, and hospitality and talent to the umpteenth degree.
Cool tunes fill the room, a floor-to-ceiling, color-coded bookshelf sits idly in the corner, and a sign posted beside the bar that states “Give A Damn” isn’t just a suggestion, it’s an order. Sharing a wall with Paul Pruitt from New School’s fine and fresh California eatery Adamae, and just downstairs from Bar Flores, the Latin-inspired brainchild of one of Wolf & Crane’s original MVPs, Karla Flores-Mercado, talk about occupying space. There’s something special about being able to have a multi-dimensional, multi-environmental experience without actually leaving the building, don’t you think? A straight-forward, no bullshit bar minus the attitude is what you get with Lowboy — oh, and hospitality and talent to the umpteenth degree.
The first to be built into this glorious trifecta, Lowboy takes the classics and, well keeps them relatively classic. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, you dig? You’ll still find an Old Fashioned on their menu, except it’s made exactly the way the bar gods intended — with rye whiskey, a demerara sugar cube, and house bitters. Simple, refined. The same goes for their coveted Mai-Tai made right: with rum, curacao, lime juice, pineapple juice, orgeat, and toasted pecan bitters. The Lowboy Special, A Coors Banquet “Stubby” accompanying a shot of Old Grand Dad Bourbon is perfect for the sentimental bargoer. You know, the same kind of person who insists on collecting every souvenir penny in an amusement park. You’ll also find a low-ABV selection alongside two specialty mocktails. With draft beers a’plenty ranging from $5 to $8, and a short and sweet selection of wines and canned and bottled beer, you could spend hours at Lowboy.
Perhaps one of the most popular items on their menu doesn’t come in a glass but wrapped in paper, ready to be cut in to. The Lowburger: a beef chuck smash patty topped with melted American cheese, 2000 island, red pickles, and onion jam is one of those dishes that when it gets delivered to a guest hot and fresh from the kitchen, people notice — then promptly order one for themselves. If it’s not the Lowburger, it’s one of their signature Weiner Rolls. Although simplicity is the language at Lowboy, that doesn’t mean that a single stone is left unturned when it comes down to the details. Something as complementary and pure as adding brown butter to their Old Bay Popcorn and throwing a lemon wedge on the side sheds light on the artisanal backbone of the establishment.
While you’re left with a slew of options as far as eateries and drinkeries go along the busy stretch along Sunset where Lowboy lives, there’s really nothing quite like feeling at home in a city where sometimes that’s a difficult experience to find. Don’t just take it from us, set your sights on Lowboy this evening and get happy.
