Respect My Region, a West Coast culture and nightlife website, published a guide to tequila bars and restaurants in Los Angeles in early September 2026, disclosing on the page that ticketing marketplace TicketX paid for the article's creation and publication.
The guide surveys the city's agave scene, from small-production tequila and mezcal bars to classic margarita spots, and leans on outside rankings from The Infatuation and North America's 50 Best Bars to back its picks, rather than presenting itself as a blind or independent tasting survey.
What criteria Respect My Region says it used
According to the site's own description of its process, the guide was built by evaluating current menus, recent customer feedback, coverage from local and national food press, industry recognition, the depth of each venue's beverage program, food quality, atmosphere and overall value. The site also states that it confirmed every featured establishment was still operating as of August 2026. Those are self-reported methodology notes from Respect My Region; no independent audit of the underlying menu or feedback data is cited on the page.
Which outside rankings the guide cites
The clearest outside data point in the piece involves El Compadre, a longtime Sunset Boulevard restaurant. The Infatuation's 2026 margarita rankings named El Compadre's flaming margarita the strongest in Los Angeles, and the restaurant itself describes the drink as a Sunset Boulevard tradition available in more than 15 flavors.
The guide's framing of the city's serious agave scene also touches on Mírate, a Mexican restaurant in Los Feliz whose beverage program drew separate recognition in 2024. Time Out reported that Mírate placed No. 46 on that year's list of North America's 50 Best Bars, making it one of only two Los Angeles venues on the list. The other was Thunderbolt, a bar in Historic Filipinotown that Time Out reported ranked within the list's top ten that year. Those placements predate the new guide by roughly two years and are not new news themselves, but they are the kind of third-party recognition the guide points to when arguing for its selections.
How the article discloses its funding
The page carries an explicit label stating that TicketX paid Respect My Region to create and publish the article, and a second note specifying that the piece includes promotional links to TicketX and a rewards program the company runs. The article does not otherwise explain what TicketX sells or why a ticketing platform commissioned a bar and restaurant guide, and that connection is not documented anywhere else in the piece.
What this means
For trade readers, the useful distinction here is between the guide's own selections, which are sponsored copy, and the outside data points it cites, which are independently reported: The Infatuation's margarita ranking and the 2024 50 Best Bars list can be checked against those publishers' own records, even though the guide wrapping them was commissioned and paid for.