Rivera Restaurant’s Tequila Chairs

Downtown L.A.’s Hot New Latin Restaurant Features Custom Armchairs in Which to Enjoy Mexico’s Most Regal Beverage

Guests at Rivera, Chef John Rivera Sedlar’s new pan Latin restaurant in the booming downtown Los Angeles development surrounding LA Live and the Staples Center, will have the privilege of savoring premium tequilas and Sedlar’s unique range of Seasonal Tequilas on Tap™ infusions while sitting in a true work of art: the Tequila Chair.

The oversized chair features a sculptural bronze frame whose striking form is composed of the restaurant’s bold “R” logo, which also appears on Rivera’s 200-foot-long street façade. Cushions upholstered in rich caramel-brown leather the color of a well-aged extra añejo tequila make the experience of sitting in the chair especially welcoming.

A separate cabinet in the adjacent “Playa Bar” dining room will also feature Sedlar’s rotating “tequila de mujer” (woman’s tequila), a tribute to the madres, abuelas, and tias around whom Latin culinary culture revolves. Served from curvaceously feminine carafes, these special infusions will include such offerings as pineapple-vanilla, rose blossom and honey, and passionfruit and jamaica (hibiscus blossoms).

To celebrate these unique spirited creations, Eddie Sotto has designed a special setting in which to appreciate them: 8 custom-made bronze-and-leather “tequila chairs,” which have pride of place in Rivera’s “Samba” lounge. The arms of these dramatically oversized, ultra-comfortable seats hold special trays from which guests can sip tasting flights of 2-ounce glasses of Sedlar’s latest tequila offerings. (Note that the average 2-ounce serving of a seasonal tequila infusion will contain the equivalent of approximately 0.5 ounce of pure tequila.)

Rivera’s Devotion to the appreciation of tequila includes yet another form of expression as well. The restaurant will offer its own house tequila, grown and distilled for it in Mexico. Guests will be able to store there under lock and key their own personalized bottles of Rivera super añejo tequila, an extra-aged variety comparable to the finest Cognacs. “We’re offering some of the finest tequilas to be found anywhere,” says Sedlar, “and I’ve designed a menu to be the perfect complement to this warm, evocative spirit.” The restaurant, a collaboration between Sedlar and his partners—Eddie Sotto, a Walt Disney Imagineering veteran and revolutionary environmental designer for clients including EuroDisney, Universal Studios, and NASA/Kennedy Space Center; and Bill Chait, founder of the Louise’s Trattoria chain and president/managing partner of Spark Woodfire Grill in downtown Los Angeles. That location puts it in the heart of the city’s most vital, exciting, fastest-growing neighborhood, one block east of the new Nokia Theatre and Staples Center.