Big changes are coming to kick some life into Pasadena’s cottage-bound restaurant The Raymond. With a history that stretches back nearly 125 years to the founding of the original Raymond Hotel, new GM Chris Mangandi is making the wise move of bringing L.A.’s hot mixologists of the moment, Marcos Tello and Aidan Demarest, to The Raymond’s bar in an effort to re-haul its libations, or as a press release puts it, “create an entirely new cocktail culture.” The space is currently renowned for its wine selection, so a move towards trendy cocktails means a younger audience is possibly being sought. Mangandi is hoping to both honor the spot’s history and refresh its reputation by working with the bartenders’ new consulting company Tello Demarest Liquid Assets, which doesn’t even have so much as a complete website yet. Expect the emergence of this new program in late summer 2010.
1250 South Fair Oaks Ave. Pasadena. 626-441-3136.
