Drink This: Donaji

Drink This is NBCLA's weekly taste of local sips

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.

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