81
STAR-ADVERTISER / 2016
Bar Leather Apron co-owner Justin Park pours a cocktail at the bar inside Topa Financial Center.
One of the smallest watering holes in Honolulu continues to make a big splash in the global cocktail community. Less than a year after opening its doors at the Topa Financial Center, Bar Leather Apron was named one of Playboy magazine’s Best New Bars in America.
With room for just 25 customers at a time, BLA opened in January to plenty of hype and more than a few disgruntled guests who couldn’t comprehend the need to make reservations in advance for seats at a bar. The concept was designed as an ode to the tiny bars owners Justin Park and Tom Park (no relation) admired so much during trips to Japan.
“Some of our favorite bars are in Japan,” said Tom Park. “That’s something that always happens when a small bar gets recognized. So it’s good and bad … (but) we’re happy to get Hawaii on the international map. That’s the goal.”
Under the direction of award-winning mixologist Justin Park, Bar Leather Apron quickly scored coveted media coverage in national and international media outlets like the New York Times and Vogue Japan. Within a few months they had been nominated for the Playboy award, which takes 50 of the top new drinking establishments nominated by top bartenders, drink writers and industry insiders along with readers of the magazine and narrows it down to the top 10 bars.
“For me, it feels good because all the work we’ve put into this place, we’re starting to get noticed,” said Justin Park. “Some of the bars on that list are bars that I’ve visited and checked out because I heard they were doing cool stuff. Just to be recognized with people I think are leading the charge with cocktails, to be on that same list is pretty awesome.”
The complete top 10 list:
» Columbia Room, Washington, D.C.
» Dante, New York City
» Suffolk Arms, New York City
» Whitechapel, San Francisco
» Occidental, Denver
» Bar Leather Apron, Honolulu
» Sweet Liberty, Miami
» Compère Lapin, New Orleans
» Greenriver, Chicago
» Old Glory, Nashville
Read what Playboy has to say about each of the bars at playboy.com/features/best-bars/2016.
FINALLY!! Something locally newsworthy AND positive!!
You GO guys!!
really…who makes a reservation to go to a bar??? You get the urge to drink with friends…you go. I give a year and it will be gone like the rest of the vendors who tried their luck at the Topa.
Self-important types with lots of time on their hands. And those small bars in Japan the owners referenced? People don’t need to make reservations for those.