The Must: A must try

I’d already found a favorite local pub near home and now with The Must, I’ve found one within stumbling distance of my job in Downtown LA.

I was already predisposed to like The Must: Proximity, cheaper than The Edison, nifty drinking-head logo, and they were the ones who gave me a $60 bonus gift certificate for my KCRW membership.

With several co-workers in tow, I set out to try as much of The Must as possible given the $60, Happy Hour pricing ($3-8 for food & drink) and the fact that it was Dine LA Restaurant Week, which Andrea and Robert took advantage of.

Since I like to try as much as possible the first time around, I began with the scallops off the regular starter menu. This was my favorite dish of the night by far. Seared and then pan-roasted, the scallops were still naturally sweet. And wow, this is not that vomitous creamed corn that I couldn’t stand as a child. The fresh corn was firm and sweet, and the jalapeno added just enough bite for taste without that overwhelming jalapeno flavor. I think leftovers of this dish could be made into a lovely chowder.

Co-worker Brill can’t resist mussels anywhere, so she took a stab at the Hefeweizen moulle frites: one pound of P.E.I mussels and heirloom tomatoes in a rich Bayhawk Hefeweizen beer broth. It was actually a fairly hearty dish considering the giant grilled crostini and crisp black truffle fries on the side.

Don’t know how I neglected taking any good pictures of wine, but I tried two of the Happy Hour offerings: the ultra-fruity Bonarda Maipe, which was far too easy to drink down, and the Terra Andena Carmenere, which was much fuller and drier and made me crave steak. The wine menu gives handy summaries of the flavors, and our server was able to elaborate on the descriptions. For beer, I took a taste of the Victory Prima pilsner on tap, which was exactly the light and crisp flavor I’d want to balance out a nice salty dish.

]The Must is also known for their sangrias, and I had to go for the black sangria, a mix of cabernet, black cherries, blackberries and blueberries. It was … alright. I didn’t mind the chunkiness at all, but it was still a bit sweeter than I wanted it to be. I may give it another go when I’m not hell bent on trying everything on the menu and can be a bit more consistent.

Beer snob co-worker Todd was present too, so I browbeat him into telling me what to order beer-wise. He kept raving about the Hair of the Dog “Fred.” I was hesitant since the menu described it tasting of “leather” and “orange liqueur.” Leather? No problem. It was the liqueur portion I was worried about. Remember, I’m Low-Sweetness-Tolerance Girl.

But, as his insistence I gave it a try. It was incredibly complex and had a nice, heavy mouthfeel. The flavors were a decent combination (I “get” the leather part and kind of liked it!), but after a few sips I knew that the usual issues I had with sweet wouldn’t let me finish. My body didn’t want any more. And no, Todd, it wasn’t that I was drinking it too fast instead of sipping it intermittently through the night. I know my palate. It wouldn’t have wanted it later.

Of the Happy Hour eats, the standout was the soup: creamy yellow curry and roasted cauliflower. Oh my and yum. It really did have that smoky Indian curry flavor, and I’m getting to be a big fan of the nubby texture from cauliflower soups. Soups are so underrated and so effective.

We’re talking Hanh here so of course I had to try the mac & cheese. Great flavors, especially with the added bacon, and firm elbow mac … but why was it dry? Where’s the stretchy/soupy cheese? Robert, who got the mac & cheese with his Dine LA prix fixe didn’t have my problem. His was cooked with plenty of cheese to spare. Head scratcher why my batch was lacking.

The much vaunted school house tater tots are exactly what you think they are. Tater tots are one of my favorite forms of potatoes and I admit that I’m almost the anti-snob when it comes to them. Ore Ida tots from the frozen section? I’ll help you spill them onto the cookie sheet!

These were very similar. Nothing fancy or special. Maybe I would have appreciated a bit of different seasoning, maybe a drizzle of truffle oil. The Must tried to shake things up with their dippers though: a decent smoked pepper ranch and a Velveeta wine fondue. Sorry, I have to hate on the Velveeta. That runny faux product is not cheese. Blech!

As you can see, I took home the leftover dish of olives because they were just that good. Super briny and marinated in lots of lemon. Pucker fest! Dehydration imminent.

The Must is best known for walking its guests through tasting various wines, an experience I didn’t get to do this time around. Not to worry. I’ll definitely be back since The Must is welcoming in all the ways I like: Smart and polite servers, an open and friendly space, well-prepared food with some thought put into it, a wide selection of drinks (including fun sodas, french press coffee, etc.), a sense of humor (I’ll get into that at a later date) and prices that don’t have me skimping on groceries for the month.

The Must Bar
118 W. 5th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90013
213.627.1162

Tagged as: beer, gastropub, Happy Hour, macaroni & cheese, Restaurant Week, Review, sangria, wine, wine bar