Drink This: Donaji
Drink This is NBCLA's weekly taste of local sips
Rivera
The Donaji, at Rivera downtown
Your job: get to the bar. Our job: Help you find that perfect drink. This week, NBCLA's "Drink This" journey takes us out for...
Donaji: Mezcal is the kick in this colorful specialty; citrus is the sweetness, as is the agave nectar; the Chapulin salt is the headline-maker; and the dropped-in pomegranate seeds look like tiny red balloons floating against an autumn sky.
Place: Rivera downtown
About the "tiny red balloons" bit: Rivera works a '60s-cinema sexiness; balloons, held in some Paris or Barcelona park by a beautiful starlet, were a movie staple of the decade. We think the image is a good fit with the restaurant's vintage vibe.
About the Chapulin salt: There's salt in the mix, of course, and wait for it: cricket. Julian Cox, the man at the shaker, calls it an "Oaxacan delicacy"; you'll call it a story you'll tell again. How often does one imbibe insect?
Price: $14
Also on the drink menu: La Picosa, which contains serrano chile, in addition to tequila, mango, and honey.
