Building on our successful Wine Chat we have decided to host our first Community Wine Dinner and explore the Spanish regions of Ribera del Duero and Toro. Enjoy a four-pour tasting with 100% Tempranillo Wines and 'chat' with sommelier Ben Broidy. Then, savor a three-course dinner perfectly paired with Tempranillo, amongst your fellow 'wine-chatters'.

A few years ago in Mexico City, my chef amiga Patricia Quintana took me to visit Frida Kahlo's and Diego Rivera's famous blue house in Coyoacán, not far from the famous Floating Gardens of Xochimilco. I was awestruck by the saturated colors, exotic sights and sounds, and inspiring aura of primal romance that saturated the perfumed, humid air. By the time I saw Frida’s famous bed, I could well understand her obsession with painting her body, and especially her beating heart, literally laid open and bare. Kahlo and Rivera lived one the great love stories of Mexico and of art. This year, my Valentine’s Day menu at Playa pays special tribute to their passion.

Explore the Rioja region of Spain through a flight of four wines guided by sommelier Ben Broidy. Uncover the nuances of each glass with four different amuse-bouche, each featuring a unique take on the avocado.

Tonight at Playa (Best New Restaurant 2011, Esquire) on Beverly Boulevard, renowned mixologist Julian Cox (Rivera, Picca, Sotto, Short Order and Eater LA’s Bartender of the Year 2011) will not only debut a fresh batch of seasonal cocktails but “The Best of Playa 2011” — the most requested cocktails in the restaurant’s 11-month existence. So yes, you can look forward to the return of the beloved A Oaxacan the Clouds and Up and Atom. Woo!

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Esquire’s Chef of the Year, John Rivera Sedlar, invites you to Eat Like a Man this New Year's Eve with us at Playa.

Enjoy our a la carte menu without pretense or prix fixe pressure alongside tequila and spirits flights including:

Luxury Tequila Flight $100

John Rivera Sedlar's 6 Year Aged Anejo + Milagro Romance + Herradura Suprema

Mezcal Flight $25

Vida + Chichicapa + Joven Illegal

Other NYE specialty flights include single malt scotch, rum and American whiskey. And for the (lads and) ladies, reservations after 9:00PM will receive a complimentary glass of cava.

For reservations (suggested; walk-ins welcome)

call 323.933.5300 or email  info@playarivera.com

For all of the elaborate dishes at chef John Sedlar's Rivera, diners' highest praise was often reserved for the most humble dish on the menu: tortillas.

Gilded by pressing edible flower petals into the masa, an order of four of the char-pocked rounds is a primer on the deliciousness of restraint.

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A few years back, frustrated by the Hollywood bar scene’s love affair with frivolous drinks, Julian Cox was ready to walk away from the cocktail business. Now, the mixologist’s taking his creations on an international tour. After the successes of Rivera and the Test Kitchen, he’s re-teamed with Rivera chef John Sedlar to launch Playa, a restaurant that aims to bring “world flavors” to Hollywood. We sat down with the busy bartender during Playa’s soft open to talk wild ingredients, his “fantastic” new staff and the drinks he makes his fiancée.

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Rivera caused a sensation when chef John Rivera Sedlar resurfaced downtown in January 2009. The modern Latin restaurant built a reputation for its progressive cuisine, multi-faceted space, and Julian Cox's cutting-edge cocktails. Sedlar recently re-teamed with business partner Bill Chait and Cox to open the more casual Playa, a sequel to his exploration of urban Latin cuisine. They've occupied the former home of GRACE, which should reopen in the rectory of downtown's Cathedral of St. Vibiana later this year.

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Given the smashing success that John Sedlar has achieved at Rivera, his seminal Downtown temple of pan-Latin cookery, it was almost inevitable that the Chef would have expansion on his mind. What we have debuting tonight in the former digs of Neal Fraser's Grace (and before that, the long-lived eatery Muse, which Sedlar was fascinated by), thus, can be viewed as Rivera v2.0. It's more appropriately named Playa ("beach" in Spanish, not manwhore), and rather than being a mere carbon copy of its progenitor, Playa is a decidedly more relaxed, more casual affair, inspired by the desert environs of Santa Fe (where Sedlar grew up) and the sunny beaches of Los Angeles.

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Chef John Rivera Sedlar of Playa is striving to achieve an urban Latin experience, a dynamic combination of earth and sea, rustic flavors and textures and fresh, briny air, the fractured desert light of Santa Fe and the vibrant energy of modern Los Angeles. Chef John gives us a Valentine's twist on the normal tortilla.

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Today John Rivera Sedlar (Rivera) opens his next exploration of Latin cuisine via Playa which took over Neal Fraser's shuttered Grace.

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Playa, the second Latin restaurant from Rivera chef John Sedlar, opens this Friday, February 11 in the Beverly Boulevard space formerly home to Neal Fraser's Grace. Turn the page for details, including Sedlar's new menu items, Julian Cox's inspiration behind Playa's cocktail program, and Sedlar's first word on "Reflexiones," a Playa-esque spin on the chef's famous Spiceology, or spice-blends-meet- graphic-design.

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You knew the moment you met.

You and tequila would always have a special relationship.

And you’re ready to take things to the next level. Sealed with some pork belly. 

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