Two OC Joints Make "Best Bars in America" List

Some lucky bastards at Esquire have been trawling the US for the country's best bars.

Their criteria?

"If it's a dive, it's Christ-this-place-is-a-dive dive. If it's an Irish pub, it's not an 'Irish' pub. If it's a cocktail lounge, it's got some Tanqueray Ten and a bottle of good rye somewhere."

Surprisingly, only two local bars ended up on the final list: the Sandpiper Lounge (aka the Dirty Bird) in Laguna Beach, which made the grade for its "stiff drinks and zero pretense", and the Beach Ball in Newport Beach, cited because the reviewer's grizzly father-in-law used to drink there (!) and because it's "an outpost of 'normalcy' in Orange County, where plastic surgery is performed on pets."

Fair enough, but surely the reviewers could've found more than two winners in the whole county, especially as cocktail bars also qualify? Baffling.

For the complete list, CLICK HERE.