Bow & Truss Lets Sherry Shine | Los Angeles

Sherry being mischaracterized as "the sweet stuff" in The New Yorker and picked as Ed Helms' comic shot of choice in the film Cedar Rapids are two symptoms of the greater plight the wine faces.

It seems that outside a few bravely sherry-centric Spanish restaurants, the uniquely oxidative fortified wines of Andalucía only catch a break in a cocktail glass. And the new Spanish restaurant Bow & Truss is doing its part.

Finos, amontillados and manzanillas are increasingly the wine of choice for progressive bartenders, and Aiden Demarest has made those and other varied styles of sherry the focus at North Hollywood's Bow & Truss.

On a warm summer night, the Dolores Park Swizzle ($12)–made with añejo tequila, amontillado sherry, ginger and lime–is precisely the type of icy, easy-drinking cocktail you want as company on Bow & Truss' massive patio.

Sherries from the familiar producer Lustau are used in the drinks, but there are a few selections from La Cigarrera, a smaller bodega, available by the glass. If you dig the cocktails, let the salty sea-breeze flavor of La Cigarrera's manzanilla ($14 a glass) show you how sherry can shine on its own.

Bow & Truss, 11222 Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood; 818-985-8787 or bowandtruss.com