LA restaurant launches 'water menu' with $20 bottles

Water menu will be launched at Ray’s & Stark Bar in Los Angeles A Los Angeles restaurant is making waves for announcing plans to launch a 23-page water menu that will serve 20 “varietals” of water as well as an H20 “tasting menu” for $12. Starting next week, Ray’s & Stark Bar at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art will serve up a separate booklet menu that features premium bottled waters from 10 countries accompanied by lengthy descriptions akin to tasting notes of fine wines.
What could you possibly need to know about water? Apparently, notes include everything from mineral content and the “terroir” of the water’s source.
It’s a concept developed by the same “water sommelier” who created a luxury bottled water pitched as the “champagne of water" earlier this year. Sourced from the mountain springs of northern California, Beverly Hills 90H20 claims to be ideal pairing for fine foods and wines for its “silky smooth” taste.
"Water has a significant impact on the way we taste food, just as with wine and spirits,” said sommelier Martin Riese.
“We are already accustomed to pairing food with wine or beer, but many people don't know that water is just as important to the entire dining experience.”
At the LA eatery, the water menu will include mainstream premium brands like Fiji, San Pellegrino and Evian, along with domestic mineral waters sourced from the US.
The Chateauneuf-du-Pape of the menu? A 750 ml, $20 Canadian brand Berg described as meltwater from a 15,000-year-old glacier in Greenland creating a water “virtually untouched by man with little to no trace of minerals.”
But just as restaurants significantly mark up the prices of wine, Ray’s has also marked up the prices of grocery-store water brands. A 750ml bottle of Evian, for instance, is priced at $8 while a 750 ml bottle of Perrier goes for $9.
The restaurant also proposes a water tasting menu for $12.
One of the best known and most cultish water bars in the world, meanwhile, is Parisian fashion destination Colette, where the basement offers an extensive water menu divided into still and sparkling offerings and likewise spanning the world.