Vincenzo Marianella is perhaps best known for Copa d’Oro, the stylish cocktail bar he ran near Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade that closed in early 2019 after a decade in business. He was also the opening bartender at Hollywood fine dining destination Providence and worked at the exclusive Doheny in Downtown Los Angeles before founding MyMixology. With his company, he’s consulted on programs including SHOREbar and Fia in Santa Monica and currently runs Forma’s inspired cocktail program in Venice.
Marianella is originally from a small Italian village called Tolmezzo, which sits at the base of the Alps, northeast of Venice near the Austria and Slovenia border. Growing up, his father bought homemade amari and wine directly from friends by the demijohn (aka a carboy) that would carry 3-4 gallons and last the season. His dad also kept a garden and infused grappa with herbs and fruit, including blackberries and wild mountain berries. Alcohol was a part of life in Friuli, though it took many years for Marianella to become interested in the bottles’ contents.
Forma's Italian Connection cocktail. Photo: Courtesy of Vincenzo Marianella
He’s currently behind the bar four to five nights per week at Forma, which builds on the success that Chef Piero Topputo and GM/partner Mario Sabatini have enjoyed on Santa Monica’s Montana Avenue. “In places like Forma, casual, friendly restaurants, drinking shouldn’t be difficult,” Marianella says. “I like menus where people can understand most of the ingredients. I also want to keep everything as fresh as possible and to get as many palates as possible.”
Italy helped inform several Forma cocktails. The Italian Connection is a whiskey sour featuring bourbon, a house-made Lambrusco cordial, fresh-squeezed lemon juice, and organic pasteurized egg white. “I use sweet Lambrusco to make it so I can balance it out with tartness from the lemon,” he says. “It’s very easy to drink.”
S.B.N. (pictured at top) is a “dry, floral, slightly bitter aperitivo,” a gin-based drink featuring Amaro Montenegro and Amaro Nonino, which both come from Friuli, plus orange bitters. Marianella has visited Nonino’s distillery several times over the years.
Forma's Ninja Negroni. Photo: Courtesy of Vincenzo Marianella
Ninja Negroni adds Japanese influences to an Italian classic, combining Campari with Toki Japanese whiskey, Nonino, orange, and Peychaud’s bitters. Marianella explains, “I really love the floral and sweetness of the Nonino aperitivo combined with bitterness of Campari. Dryness from the Toki blended perfectly. To give it character and body, I just added two different types of bitters.”
Still, The Hot Stuff is far and away Forma’s bestseller, a breakout tequila cocktail that incorporates Aperol with heat from ginger and jalapeño, brightness from lime and grapefruit, and freshness from mint. The Hot Stuff was also a happy accident. “A guy wanted a cocktail with tequila and he wanted spicy, and he didn’t want a spicy margarita, so I came up with that one,” Marianella recalls. “He got six of them that night. I said, ‘Okay, this one goes on the menu.’ I think we sell three times what the second one sells.”
The Hot Stuff is yet another reminder that even though Marianella is a seasoned bartender who has created modern classics over the years, sales figures can still take him by surprise. “We had a spritzer called Sorrento Spritzer that I thought would have killed, but it wasn’t really selling that much,” he says. Gin stirred cocktails like S.B.N. don’t sell as much as he expected or as well as they did a couple of years ago. Simultaneously, the espresso martini is stylish again after 20 years even though it’s not even listed on Forma’s menu. “I’m shocked that people still drink that,” he says. “Don’t get me wrong. Whatever cocktail they drink makes me happy, but it’s interesting how the palate is changing again.”
Cheese is a major focus at Forma, where they mix pastas in big cheese wheels for flavor and theatrics. They also stock one of L.A.’s deepest cheese bars. That said, Marianella isn’t a big proponent of pairing cocktails with food. “People should drink everything that pleases their palate,” he says. “I’m always a little bit skeptical on pairing cocktails with food from the menu. The problem is, even though there are ingredients there that cut down the strength of the base spirit, they are still pretty strong. It might numb your taste buds.” He’s done many cocktail and food pairings in his career, particularly at Providence, but, he says, “You’ve got to be careful.” He prefers cocktails before or after dinner, but if somebody does request a cocktail pairing with their food, he’ll assess what they’re eating and create something custom that falls under “Only For You” on the menu. In general, Marianella favors drinking low ABV cocktails, wine, or beer with meals.
Vincenzo Marianella. Photo: Courtesy of Vincenzo Marianella
“The experience is the food,” Marianella says. “The cocktail is just the garnish for the experience.” That’s a surprising revelation from a career bartender, though he provides context. “Every place that you work for is a different environment,” he says. “If I work in a bar, a cocktail lounge, it would be one kind of approach to the cocktail program. If I work in a restaurant, it’s a different kind of approach. Now, if I work in a five-star hotel versus a dive bar, the approach is going to be different, depending on which one is which. And if I work in a restaurant, and it’s a Michelin-starred restaurant versus a casual place, the approach will be different too. The only thing in common is always great product and quality ingredients.”