Tejal Rao wrote
One of the mildly bitter, mildly botanical, purple, nonalcoholic cocktails in the genre, and I’m just happy to be caught up in Ruby’s fruity gravity.
What’s better on a rainy weekend than chatting with friends and strangers on the patio, munching on giant refried beans and tearing up floppy slices of mortadella drenched in warm honey?
The crowd, the food, the game, the efficiency and the warmth of the staff, after a few hours, when my group began to lean back in the wind and put on their coats, leaving almost resisted. At least we could get one more round of drinks hot dogsor, at least, the crispy sweet candies. At least we could have hung out here forever, or at least until 10pm when they closed.
The red fruit is a wine bar in the man’s notable drag on Sun Boulevard, sharing a parking lot with the owner and Baskin-Robbins, but it’s hard to overstate the collective joy in the hall. Dedicated lesbian spaces are rare in Los Angeles (or almost anywhere) and tend to exist temporarily as pop-ups. But he would be here tomorrow night, and the night after that, and the night after that.
Emily Bielagus and Mara Herbkersman, the owners, describe Ruby Fruit as “a wine bar with a Sapphic bent,” and, more specifically, a safe space for lesbians, trans people, and nonbinaries.
The barwhich opens in February, does not accept reservations. Most evenings, even before the doors are open, people wait outside the chat line, smoking, running into friends, sipping wine by the glass.
Patrons drink at Ruby Fruit in Los Angeles. The menu at Ruby Fruits is a well-curated page, printed on both sides, that includes a few wines, cocktails, snacks and desserts. (Michelle Groskopf/The New York Times)
If you cut one of the tables, an evening at Ruby Fruits could easily turn into a proper dinner. Beyond the snackier seafood dishes, olives and grilled bread, loaded hot dogs and grilled chicken sandwiches, there are some thoughtfully composed plates – Japanese sweet potatoes grilled over charcoal, glazed with dashi butter, and smoked beets in ricotta, and a juicy chicory and lemon salad. A few desserts, including a tender olive cake and Cara Caracas orange sorbet, were made in-house.
But the beauty of a wine bar lies in its creative use of pubes and cracks, narrow shared counters and colanders, nooks and crannies where bodies and drinks aren’t really supposed to fit, but somehow they do. The team is cooperative and accommodating. The room was packed.
Although West Hollywood has a thriving nightlife and nightlife scene, it’s mostly for people of the cisgender — for the rest are. The LGBTQ communityIt is not always clear which spaces are more attractive.
Priya Arora, host of the “Queering Desi” podcast (and former Times editor) said that as a non-binary person, “bar lesbian” is an ambiguous term that could be used to promote anti-trans ideas about anyone. it is possible, and it is not possible, to be known as a woman.
“But if I see a bar that’s ‘lesbian and queer’ or ‘lesbian and trans,’ that’s not just gay,” they said. “It’s definitely a safe space, and the narrative is changing about what it means to be gay, a lesbian bar or a queer bar.
When another new queer bar opened in Los Angeles this year, it seemed that the lesbian bar was not dead, and people were building in it with intention and care, treating it as an expansive space that could make it even more interesting. inclusive
The owners describe Ruby Fruit as “a wine-spoiled wine hammer tipped to Sapphic.” (Michelle Groskopf/The New York Times)
Mo Faulk, Kate Greenberg, and Charlotte Gordon Honey opened the star-studded Love Story in February, and they welcome everyone to their lesbian and queer — especially trans — community.
The bar, which also has a nonalcoholic drink menu in mind, doesn’t have much of a kitchen, but it sells delicious appetizers and invites you to happy hour. food vendor as a guest at least. On a recent Sunday, Honey held her first drag brunch, with performances by Ignacio Daddy and Twinka Masala, among others, and Jamaican patties served by Gro Domo.
Mellis is open late, until midnight or 2 am, depending on the night, and DJs often bring the dance to life. There are also occasional comedy bars and karaoke nights, as well as pop-up markets, an Oscars watch party and a recent screening of the queer classic of 1999: “But I’m a Cheerleader.” Greenberg noted that someone recently booked their 62nd birthday there, too.
The team behind Honey isn’t sure how long the bar will be in this exact shape and form – they’ve signed the firm for three months with the hope of renewing it. What is clear is that after only a month of business, the space of the city already feels essential.
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