Bar Harry Toluca Lake serves comfort food, Debbie Harry inspired cocktails and a Camp Funtime patio. See the menu, hours and how to book.
The Meatball Wedge at Bar Harry layers Wagyu, veal and pork meatballs with burrata, red sauce and herb salad on a hoagie. That is one of the dishes on the opening menu at Bar Harry in Toluca Lake, the new cocktail bar, restaurant and backyard campground from owner Richard DiSisto. Chef David Lopez cooks American comfort food with twists, and Bar Director Johnathan Fite pours a list that borrows from Debbie Harry’s New York years.
Out back, Camp Funtime has fire pits, an Airstream bar and a DJ booth made from a boat cut in half. The bar opened in early October, according to the release, and it is open seven days a week.
The menu
Lopez’s résumé includes Alba, American Beauty, Mastro’s Steakhouse Beverly Hills and Chi Spacca. His opening menu starts with fried squid in lemon, jalapeño, toasted sesame, seaweed and kimchi aioli, plus a toro larb.
Harry’s Sliders are built on Margaret River Wagyu with Gruyère, garlic aioli and pickles.
The Heritage Wings come three ways, buffalo, nude and nam jim jeaw, with ranch and pickled cucumber.
The Crispy Fish Sandwich puts halibut, herbaceous tartar sauce and American cheese on a potato bun.
The Blockbuster Chicken carries Bar Harry’s signature special sauce.
Chicken Parmesan, Steak Frites and The Bodega round out the larger plates, and the sides are corn ribs, beef tallow fries and Potater Tots. There is a kale salad and a classic Italian chopped salad for balance. The release lists no prices.
The cocktails
Fite spent time as bar manager and principal bartender at Employees Only Los Angeles, which the release describes as recently closed. At Bar Harry he runs the bar for both rooms. The Funtime Old Fashioned pairs chocolate bitters, demerara and bourbon with a charred marshmallow and graham cracker. The Cheesecake Sour blends strawberry cordial, lemon juice, bourbon, graham cracker and cream cheese milk-washed with graham aromatics.
The Chelsea Hotel mixes Aperol, rosé, Lillet, Pamplemousse and gin under a dehydrated orange wheel, a nod to Blondie’s ties to the Hotel Chelsea. The Bunny 68, named for the year the release says Harry became a Playboy Bunny, combines champagne syrup, vodka, soda water, acid solution and passion fruit foam. The list also includes the Bugs Bunny, with carrot and rosemary shrub, dry vermouth, lemon juice and mezcal, and Call Me, with lemon-poppy coconut cream, pineapple gomme, rum and mezcal. The Bronx uses orange bitters, Nonino, Cynar and Suntory Toki. Wine, draft and canned beer, a spirit selection and two mocktails, the Sour Fizz and the Pomegranate Buck, fill out the rest.
Camp Funtime
Behind the front room, Camp Funtime is built to be lived in. Picnic tables and booths, fire pits, vintage camp signage, a hanging canoe and oars, and a 1970s rotary phone mounted at every table. The DJ plays from the boat above, and the release says the soundtrack runs from the 1960s through the early 2000s, with guests free to sing, dance, drink and dine under it.
The idea started with a vintage summer camp T-shirt printed with a fictional Camp Funtime, photographed on Debbie Harry in the late 1970s. DiSisto and his longtime design partner, Murphy Michaels, designed the camp and the front room, per the release. The front room is dimly lit, with vintage 1960s princess phones, booths, high-top tables and a wall mural of Harry.
The Debbie Harry Theme
DiSisto’s muse is Harry as the young, independent artist she was before Blondie’s fame, and it names CBGB and Max’s Kansas City as the downtown New York clubs the bar draws on. It is not DiSisto’s first bar in that spirit. Sherman Oaks bar, Tunnel Bar, as a craft cocktail lounge with a brick replica of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel arching over the bar and portraits of 1970s New York rock legends on the walls. Bar Harry is his most ambitious project, after more than two years of development
Hours and reservations
Bar Harry opens at 5:00 pm every day. It closes at 11:00 pm Monday, Tuesday and Sunday, at midnight Wednesday and Thursday, and at 1:00 am Friday and Saturday. Reservations go through 818.505.3040, [email protected] or BarHarryLA.com. The bar is on Instagram at @barharryla, Facebook at @BarHarry and TikTok at @barharry.
Frequently asked questions
What food does Bar Harry serve?
The release describes American comfort food from Chef David Lopez. Dishes include fried squid, toro larb, Harry’s Sliders, Heritage Wings, Blockbuster Chicken, a Crispy Fish Sandwich, Chicken Parmesan, Steak Frites, The Bodega and the Meatball Wedge, with corn ribs, beef tallow fries and Potater Tots.
Is Bar Harry open late?
According to the release, it closes at 1:00 am on Friday and Saturday and at midnight on Wednesday and Thursday. On Monday, Tuesday and Sunday it closes at 11:00 pm.
Who is Bar Harry named after?
The muse is Debbie Harry, specifically the young artist she was before Blondie’s fame. The owner is Richard DiSisto.
How do I contact Bar Harry?
Call 818.505.3040, email [email protected] or visit BarHarryLA.com. The bar is on Instagram at @barharryla, Facebook at @BarHarry and TikTok at @barharry.
