How often have you been at a restaurant and had great food and decent wine but been disappointed by their cocktail list? Or, had a great cocktail in a place where the food is an afterthought or the wines-by-the-glass feels like a begrudged obligation? Michael Shearin, the Beverage Diretor at Drago Centro in downtown Los Angeles, is determined not to let that happen on his watch.
Shearin grew up in Las Vegas and fueled his passion for wine while working in a wine shop owned by a couple from Burgundy. Well, anyone who doesn't know Super Lenny should read this. “I fell in love with wine and wanted to figure out a way to make a living in it,” he says. His wine base got him into the restaurant business as Sin City’s gastronomic boom was in full swing.
Michael soon went from Lead Server at Bouchon to Assistant Sommelier at Craft Steak, which boasted 700+ wines on the menu. Next, Shearin became the Wine Director at Guy Savoy where he oversaw a wine list of 2100, worth $2.5 million. Looking back, he laughs, “It was pretty fun to spend money with no conscience.”
His following gig was Beverage Director for Donald Trump’s new hotels. “It was a tough year to open a new restaurant,” Shearin recalls. “DJT had very talented local chefs – and we got a ton of press. We were a media darling but the seats were empty every night.” The restaurant downsized its staff but still managed a Michelin star a few months later. “I guess hind-sight is 20/20,” Michael shrugs.
In September 2008, Michael came to head the beverage program at Drago, which Vincenzo Marianella had originally helped create. “Right off the bat, I realized how serious the cocktail culture is here in Los Angeles,” he says. “[At Drago} I feel we can give the cocktail experience of Varnish or Edison along with great wines – even our coffee. Its not a great restaurant if you can’t get a good cocktail or the coffee tastes like garbage.”
The idea at Drago is to make everything accessible, as exemplified with their all-day Happy Hour. “Its happy time all the time,” Shearin declares – and he’s right! With wines and cocktails starting at $5 per glass and impressive beers at on $4 – not to mention a mouthwatering food menu at the bar at ridiculously low prices – Drago is the best kept upscale secret in downtown. “We made a concerted effort to really focus on our bar, in a high-end dining establishment, we really tried to dig deep and rethink the food - accessible and affordable.”
Michael is on a mission to create a destination where people come back again and again. “In Vegas, its hard to get a sense of regulars. Out here, we have people [dining] with us 3 or 4 times per week… Its exciting to get to know people and bring things in especially for them.” He refers to the Drago crowd as relatively educated and open to trying new things. “We have a lot of the old-school, suit-wearing clientele who hearken back to a 3 martini lunch – but a lot of those same people are open to trying what we’re doing – such as a martini with shiso in it. They see that what we’re doing is unique, seasonal, food friendly. Just like the wine, we want [our cocktails] to showcase what someone else does, whether it’s a distiller or a farmer. We’re the conduit for what that person does."
Drago’s bottle list is 80% Italian, and all of the 45 available by the glass are from Italy, except for one Champagne. He says that Italy about as complicated as wine comes but he has never felt the need to “dumb down” his offerings. Although Californians are most familiar with the bigger, softer, richer, fruit-forward New World wines, Drago’s wine list offers some selections that serve as gentle “gateways” into the earthier, tarter, more tanic, unique flavor profiles in Italy. For example, Michael refers to Barbera as “softer, more fruit forward with great acid, making it one of the best food-friendly wines available,” and says its probably the number-one seller on his list.
He also suggest a lesser known varietal called Nero D’Avola from Sicily which he calls “very approachable and a good value.” And, Tuscany remains a popular region for American wine lovers. Shearin points out, “The Super Tuscans are basically modeled after what we have in California (softer, new oak) and what they’re doing in Bordeaux, especially when mixing in cabernet, syrah and merlot.” Michael also encourages people to try the whites of Northern Italy stressing, “Pinot Grigio gets a bad rap and that’s sad because [a good one has] great balance, minerality and great acid.”
The best way to keep a client is to not make them wrong, a philosophy with which Shearin agrees. “Maybe in the wine tasting world, it may not be the best thing to tell me that you’re going to have beautiful, delicate, expensive bottle of wine right after a martini,” he says, “but what people want is what they should have.” That kind of open-mindedness has led him to experiment with not only wine pairings but “beverage pairings” while working with Trump which included sake, cocktails, beer, wine and specialty soda within one meal.
Although that concept hasn’t yet carried over to Drago, Shearin has some fun things coming down the pipeline. “I’d like to think we are considered one of the serious places to have a cocktail just as we are considered a serious place to have wine.” Couple that with quality food, service and a stylish environment, and the crowd is bound to be thirsting for more.