SOMERVILLE — La Brasa is one of those places that does a lot of things well. It’s not just a restaurant and bar serving a complex variety of foods from different regions. It also has diverse cocktail offerings, a daytime market featuring locally sourced produce, cheeses, and all the delicious things you’d want to put in your belly, and the place does all of this with style. The open space, wood tables, and relaxed setting evoke a sense of old-Hispanic flair. A long bar runs along one wall, offering the perfect meeting spot, with carbonated cocktails on draft, dispensed from a beautiful repurposed vintage refrigerator.
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Oaxaca flocka flame recipe
General manager Brad Tinkham says he celebrates Somerville’s “unique characteristics and the variety of its community, which is reflected in our drinks,” with deep-rooted Mexican influences, Asian-inspired infusions, and familiar European amari. “We wanted to create a dynamic cocktail program with the collaboration of the bartenders,” says Tinkham, so drinks are added to the menu as a team effort, rather than one person’s vision.
Cocktails are updated every few weeks, from classics for the faithful to a colorful series of house inspirations. The menu is compact, but allows the diner to spot the variety of style. One, the Oaxaca Flocka Flame, is an ideal introduction to some of La Brasa’s flavors. This is a mezcal drink that has a bit of its smoke (ubiquitous in the fashionable Maguey spirit, maguey being the plant from which mezcal is distilled), subdued with the sweetness and heat from ancho chili liqueur (made in Mexico for almost 100 years). The liqueur is lit with muddled dried guajillo chilies, then swiftly cooled off with the citrus. A spicy addition to a delicious catalog of drinks.
Raul Zelaya can be reached at [email protected].
