In June, Kevin Zadoyan, brother Armen Zadoyan and uncle Arthur Lusinyan replaced Stanley’s with a Mexican restaurant called Te’Kila in Sherman Oaks. They always planned to introduce a craft cocktail bar next door, and October marks the arrival of Tribute—featuring some of the highest quality drinks on the Boulevard.

The auxiliary space was originally intended as a tasting room or private event space, but the owners quickly pivoted to a full bar. The space now features grey, black and white encaustic cement tile, a red oak bar, stalagmite ceiling, velvet curtains, bourbon and cabernet fabric booths and textured burgundy stucco.

Matt Wallace, previously with downtown’s Seven Grand, Thai Town’s Harvard & Stone and Glendale’s The Famous, is bar manager. He hired bar veteran Christopher Day, previously with General Lee’s in Chinatown, and Fernando Betancourt, last with The Church Key in West Hollywood, to help execute a craft vision.

“The concept follows the name, paying tribute to everything we like about bars,” Matt says. “We want it to be a place that’s comfortable. You can come in and get a great highfalutin cocktail, and your friend can get a tall boy and shot of Jack Daniel’s. It’s all the same to us.”

Matt described the focused menu, which includes a “highball selection, something easy, some lighter stuff.” He added, “I wanted some classics to show off to the neighborhood—show we have a foundation—and some flavorful house specialties.”

The opening menu reads as follows:

Highballs

• Wray & East: Wray & Nephew overproof rum, East Imperial grapefruit tonic, lime
• Stingray: Singani 63 Bolivian Brandy, Dr. Brown’s Cel-Ray soda, lime
• House Pimm’s Cup: Pimm’s No. 1, Carpano bianco vermouth, Bundaberg lemon-lime-bitters soda, lime

Classics

• Bee’s Knees: Junipero gin, lemon juice, honey syrup
• Wisconsin Old Fashioned: Arkansas black straight applejack, sugar, Angostura bitters
• Monte Carlo: Rittenhouse rye, Benedictine, Angostura bitters
• Cuban No. 1: Cognac Park VS, Giffard apricot liqueur, lemon juice

House Specialties

• Spray & Pray: Ford’s gin, lemon juice, simple syrup, cucumbers, green chartreuse mist
• Delinquent Little Brother: Hacienda Vieja tequila blanco, Brovo pink rose vermouth, Luxardo maraschino, Miracle Mile Damn You Matt Wallace Bitters
• Paper Lantern: Aperol, Broker’s gin, lemon juice, egg white
• Canticle: Hirsch bourbon, Lucky falernum, Cynar, lime juice
• Bartender’s Choice: Please Allow Us…

Starting in November, every bartender will roll out a cocktail under a different theme as part of the R&D process and to have some fun. Chris Day will hand-cut ice for select cocktails and spirits aged over 14 years. Yes, you’ll find sword picks in drinks, which is a fun touch.

They also have a basic beer and wine selection, including Miller High Life, Almanac Brewing Co. Craft Pilsner, 2014 Mountain View Chardonnay from Monterey and 2014 Tortoise Creek Pinot Noir from Oakville.

Chef Robert Luna has constructed a tapas menu that’s completely separate from Te’kila that includes bacon-wrapped dates stuffed with chorizo, Mexican shrimp skewers and plantain tostones. Kevin describes them as “nibbles and bites. Plates you would get from next door are the size of these tables,” so expect no overlap.

Tribute debuted on October 20 and opens Wednesday through Saturday, 6 p.m. – 2 a.m.

13817 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks