2 days ago
The Suave Cocktail Bar Companion to Melrose Hill's Corridor 109 Is Open
is the Lead Editor of the Southern California/Southwest region, and has covered dining, restaurants, food culture, and nightlife in Los Angeles since 2008.
Ask Brian Baik what he would've opened in 2020 — when he relocated from New York City to his hometown of Los Angeles — what his first-ever restaurant would have been, and he probably wouldn't have answered with a bar. But on July 29, Baik will debut Bar 109 with bartender Kayla Garcia overseeing the drinks and general manager Jon Tran. The bar will open in the front portion of his forthcoming tasting menu restaurant, Corridor 109, which has been in development for years.
Garcia was most recently at Kumiko, which just won the 2025 James Beard Award for Outstanding Bar and is currently number 10 in the North America 50 Best Bars. Kumiko is known for blending elements of a classic Japanese whisky bar with a beverage omakase. Garcia was also at Thunderbolt's Hollywood offshoot Night on Earth before landing at Bar 109.
Ichigo Punch at Bar 109.
Oolong Boulevardier at Bar 109.
At Bar 109, Garcia will serve updated versions of classic cocktails, like the gently salted Marine Layer, a type of martini mixing gin, Manzanilla sherry, dry vermouth, saline, and white kelp. The Ichigo Punch blends summer ingredients of strawberry and basil with vodka, mezcal, clarified milk, and junmai sake. A Korean-inflected Chic Hey (named after sikhae) employs malted barley, fermented rice, and non-alcoholic kombucha for a spirit-free sipper. While at Kumiko, Garcia earned a sake sommelier certification, and she compiled a standalone sake menu alongside the greater wine list, which was curated by master sommelier Michael Englemann.
As for food, Baik will serve a bar bites menu for probably the first time in his career, which has mostly occupied the world of New York City fine dining. Start with a smoked salmon dip with Ritz crackers and then ogle the massive shrimp cocktail using some of the largest shrimp (U-10, meaning under 10 shrimp per pound) on the market. A fried fish sandwich inspired by Japanese nanbankan comes with hefty tartar sauce and pickles between potato buns. A wagyu hot dog heavy on Dijon mustard comes with pickled pepper relish.
For Bar 109, Montalba Architects designed a sleek, mostly black-painted space anchored by the striking Forest Gold marble countertop with tendrils of rusty brown running across its surface, an element that Baik said he went 'all out' on in terms of cost. Three elliptical tables allow for groups to congregate and potentially take in some pre- or post-dinner drinks once Corridor 109 opens. But unlike the likely pricey dinner that will await those folks, Bar 109 won't take reservations and is intended to be a casual neighborhood hangout open until midnight.
Debuting on July 29, Bar 109 will be open Tuesday to Saturday, 6 p.m. to 12 a.m., and is located at 641 N. Western Avenue, Los Angeles, CA, 90004.
Food and drinks at Bar 109.
Marine Layer cocktail.
Coconut Swizzle, a non-alcoholic cocktail at Bar 109.
Kayla Garcia, Brian Baik, and Jon Tran at Bar 109 in Los Angeles.
