Perlas of Wisdom
A New Guadalajara-Style Drinking Hole

Drinking is getting awfully fancy in this town.

And that's great. Really. But lately you've been after a little more authenticity, and a little less...pinkies-out.

Welcome to an unassuming Guadalajara-style den of concrete and serious imbibing—Las Perlas is scheduled to soft-open this weekend.

They've got lots of rare, small-batch Mexican mezcal here—it's strong stuff made from agave plants, like tequila, but involving a lot less industrialized machinery. You can get a tasting of just about anything in stock for five bucks, and it'll come sloshed into a clay cup. (You may not have guessed, but this is a Cedd Moses enterprise—the man who brought you the Varnish, Seven Grand and Tony's.)

They've also got weird tequilas and plenty of Mexican beer—the whole of the menu is scrawled upon the big chalkboard—but nothing that isn't from south of the border. Meaning: no vodka, no whiskey, no gin. So this is most definitely not the place to bring a date who wants a Cosmo.

Their cocktails, though, really are something to behold. The showstopper is probably the 400 Rabbits, with mezcal, egg whites, lime, port wine reduction and muddled blackberries, all shaken and poured over crushed ice with bitters, a float of pinot noir and an edible flower.

There are no rabbits in it, as far as we can tell.