No Smoking

The old Mandrake Bar space at the edge of Culver City has a new tenant: No Smoking, a stylish cocktail bar that’s a little too expensive to truly be considered a neighborhood dive. Lowbrow touches like bar chips and $12 well drinks combine with pricey works of art on the walls and wood paneling. Reasonably priced $15 house creations include frozen ube coladas and Toki highballs (though you can find the same exact drink for cheaper at Afuri Ramen down the street). Happy hour (4–7pm) brings $10 wells and glasses of wine, plus $5 beers. If No Smoking was in Silver Lake or Northeast L.A., this opening wouldn’t be noteworthy—but in a part of town lacking in interesting cocktail options, I’ll take any decent-enough casual bar I can get.