Happy hour at Coucou, a bistro with locations in West Hollywood and Venice, is a choose-your-own-adventure experience called Apero Hour.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Fine dining at happy hour prices. L.A.’s 9 best early menus go beyond wings and sliders
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- Happy hours are banned in some states, but not California.
- At these nine L.A. restaurants, happy hour is about more than discounted drinks and snacks.
- Smart diners are enjoying happy hour prices at some of the city’s best restaurants serving Tex-Mex in downtown Los Angeles, sushi in West Hollywood, fish tacos and margaritas in Pasadena and even Michelin-starred fine dining in Santa Monica.
There are happy hours that function as post-work gatherings, fueled by discounted pitchers of beer, buckets of chicken wings, sliders and the sort of commiserating that can only happen between colleagues. If the beer is cold and the chicken wings properly sluiced in hot sauce and ranch dressing, this happy hour can be the happiest of hours.
But it wasn’t until I was seated at the bar of Josiah Citrin’s Citrin in Santa Monica that I understood a happy hour’s full potential. Here, happy hour is known as Glass Off, a 90-minute stretch of food and drink specials at the bar. Instead of a truncated list of fried foods intended to coat your stomach while you sip on discounted wine, you’ll find tasting-size portions of some of Citrin and fellow chef-partner Ken Takayama’s signature dishes.
Those spot prawns with young turnip and green tomato finished with a nori sabayon that normally cost $52 an order? You can enjoy a smaller portion at the bar for $22. The $49 risotto studded with Dungeness crab, artichoke and peas with aged Parmesan and Meyer lemon? During Glass Off, you can taste a portion of it for $24.
At the following restaurants, happy hour is designed to give diners a glimpse at a kitchen or bar’s full potential, at a more accessible price point. It’s not simply about ordering as many discounted drinks as possible during a limited window. That’s the sort of thinking that prompted the state of Massachusetts to ban happy hours in 1984. It’s prohibited in six other states, and allowed but highly regulated in a handful of others.
In the great state of California, happy hours abound. Just make sure you indulge responsibly.
Here’s a list of my current favorite happy hours. Save me a seat at the bar, will you?
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Bar Amá
Downtown L.A. Tex-Mex $$
(Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Times )
When my office was downtown, you could find me at Josef Centeno’s Tex-Mex restaurant multiple times a week. His nachos are still my favorite in the city, with a tower of freshly fried chips layered with queso, avocado and crema. Nachos constitute a meal, and possibly an entire food group at Bar Amá. But the Super Nacho Hour is for far more than nachos. You can order a taco built on fresh tortillas, or sweet potato-filled tacos dorados with mole. My current favorite may be the squash blossom quesadilla assembled on a perfect, mottled tortilla with a side of morita chile crisp. To drink, there’s special pricing on wines by the glass, beer and micheladas, but it’s hard to beat an $11 margarita.
Super Nacho Hour is available Tuesday through Saturday from 5 to 7 p.m. and Sunday from 4 to 6 p.m. in the dining room and all evening at the bar.
Super Nacho Hour is available Tuesday through Saturday from 5 to 7 p.m. and Sunday from 4 to 6 p.m. in the dining room and all evening at the bar.
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Camélia
Downtown L.A. French-Japanese-California $$
(Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Times)
Charles Namba and Courtney Kaplan introduced Golden Hour at their Arts District restaurant during the temporary downtown curfew that followed the recent immigration raid protests. After the curfew was lifted, the Golden Hour stuck around. It’s a short menu of oyster, fries and a crab sandwich you can only find during this limited window at the bar. Soft-shell crab tempura is given the fried chicken sandwich treatment on a brioche bun with arugula, a slice of ripe tomato and pickles. The vodka or gin martini is ice-cold and garnished to your liking. Or you can opt for a very good glass of French bubbles.
Golden Hour is available daily at the bar from 5 to 6 p.m.
Golden Hour is available daily at the bar from 5 to 6 p.m.
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Coucou
West Hollywood French $$
(Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Times )
Apero Hour at Coucou is organized like a choose-your-own-adventure happy hour, with a list of cocktails, wine and food items priced at either $12 or $13. Diners can choose one beverage and two dishes for $33, or order as you please off the menu. The cocktail list is a mix of classics and Coucou signatures, like the Hippies in Paris. It’s a wellness shot masquerading as a cocktail, made with turmeric, ginger, galangal, lime and Citadelle gin. The food ranges from small bites to more substantial appetizers, with fried, merguez-stuffed olives; tuna tartare; and a smear of farmers cheese with ribbons of smoked salmon. The Venice location offers the the same specials, though if you’d like to sip your martini on a sunlit patio, head to West Hollywood.
Apero Hour happens daily from 5 to 6 p.m. throughout the restaurant and bar.
Apero Hour happens daily from 5 to 6 p.m. throughout the restaurant and bar.
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Citrin
Santa Monica Californian $$
(Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Times)
Happy hour at Citrin, known as Glass Off, is a chance to sample Josiah Citrin and Ken Takayama’s modern California cuisine in a more affordable, approachable setting. The food mirrors much of the Michelin-starred restaurant’s dinner menu, only servings are half the size, and in most cases, less than half the price. Sweet corn agnolotti is plump with summer corn, dressed in a lemon sage sauce with aged Parmesan. Lobster Bolognese is sheathed in a quenelle of brown butter truffle froth. Each of the dishes comes with the same at-the-table finishes you’d receive in the dining room. Seats are first come, first serve and diners are typically elbow to elbow a few minutes after the doors open. For the chance to sample Citrin and Takayama’s food for less than $100 per person, it’s worth waiting for a seat.
Glass Off is available Tuesday through Saturday from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the bar.
Glass Off is available Tuesday through Saturday from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the bar.
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Doto
Silver Lake Japanese $$
(Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Times)
Doto is the all-day cafe that opened in the former Jewel space in Silver Lake earlier this year. In the morning, Jared Joe Dowling is making mushroom breakfast burritos with shiso salsa. For lunch and later into the evening, there’s a smoked lamb shoulder and bento boxes. During happy hour, it’s easiest to spy the Japanese influence Dowling gleaned from years spent cooking with Yess restaurant chef Junya Yamasaki while the two were in London. The fish tacos are filled with wild cod tempura and kombu pickles. Japanese cucumbers are sliced into tiles and dressed with chile and sesame oil. And the Tokyo fried chicken is some of the finest karaage in town, crisp and sticky with burnt citrus-spiked honey.
Happy hour is available throughout the restaurant and bar daily from 3 to 5:30 p.m. and from 9 p.m. to close.
Happy hour is available throughout the restaurant and bar daily from 3 to 5:30 p.m. and from 9 p.m. to close.
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Fitoor
Santa Monica Indian $$
(Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Times)
At Fitoor in Santa Monica, the bar and lounge occupy the entire right half of the restaurant. There’s room for your date, closest friends or an entire office suite. For two hours at the bar, there’s a long list of dishes priced between $5 and $12 and cocktails, mocktails, wine and beer for $7 to $12. The Raitini, or the martini you’ll likely spot on every table, transforms the popular yogurt Indian condiment into a gin cocktail. It’s on the sweeter side, but well balanced, with notes of cucumber, mint and lime. The papad sampler offers a taste of the restaurant’s house-made papadam and chutneys. And the chicken tostadas come two to an order, with charred chicken heaped onto crisp shells with cabbage slaw and mustard aioli.
Happy hour is available Monday through Friday between 3 and 5 p.m. at the bar.
Happy hour is available Monday through Friday between 3 and 5 p.m. at the bar.
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Pez Coastal Kitchen
Pasadena Mexican Seafood $$
(Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Times )
The bar at Bret Thompson and Lucy Thompson-Ramirez’s Pasadena restaurant is a cheery place. The decor skews sunny, beachside resort and there’s enough seating at the bar and in the lounge area for a crowd. The game (Dodgers, Lakers, whatever you’re watching) is always on. The Cocktail Hour menu features some of Thompson’s most popular dishes, showcasing his in-house cured, smoked and dry-aged fish. Beer-battered sea bass shatters into a warm corn tortilla with chipotle aioli and smoky salsa negra. Dry-aged kingfish ceviche crowns a crunchy tostada. And the steelhead trout rillette is a playful take on both spicy tuna crispy rice and a smoked trout dip. Thompson transforms a square of forbidden rice into a cake that’s equal parts crunch and chew. Then he adds a dollop of rillettes and finishes the cakes with plenty of trout roe. The libations, like the menu, may change, but you can usually count on a margarita and variations on an Old Fashioned.
Cocktail Hour is available at the bar Tuesday through Friday from 4 to 6 p.m.
Cocktail Hour is available at the bar Tuesday through Friday from 4 to 6 p.m.
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Redbird
Downtown L.A. American Californian $$
(Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Times)
A Tobin Shea cocktail drinks like a three-course meal, the experience starting on the nose before hitting your lips and floating over the entirety of your palate. The longtime beverage director at Redbird creates libations specifically for happy hour, with drinks that change every six to eight weeks. If you’re lucky, you might catch the Maple Leaf, a bourbon cocktail fashioned with spiced pear liqueur, oloroso sherry, lemon and maple. Or the Mulligan Milk Punch, a combination of Suntory Toki whisky, blood orange aperitif, mint, white cacao, orange juice and cream. And while some of the cocktails may be fleeting, you can always count on a Freezer Martini. As the name suggests, the gin and dry vermouth are cold enough to keep your glass extra frosty. The shishito peppers, blistered and tossed with crunchy quinoa and shaved bottarga, are the ideal accompaniment to any drink.
Happy hour is available Tuesday through Friday from 5 to 7 p.m. at the bar.
Happy hour is available Tuesday through Friday from 5 to 7 p.m. at the bar.
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Uchi
West Hollywood Japanese Sushi $$
(Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Times)
The happy hour menu at Uchi in West Hollywood is a robust selection of temaki, nigiri, both hot and cold dishes and a full $120 tasting menu designed for two. To appreciate Uchi at its finest, skip the sushi and prioritize both the cool and hot “tastings.” The crispy pork belly are served as nuggets of pork doused in a sweet chashu sauce with fried vermicelli noodles. Dry-aged fish wings are slathered in a chojang-jerk marinade and drizzled with habanero hot honey. There’s even a coffee macaron ice cream sandwich with miso caramel for dessert. The drink specials are just as extensive, with a handful of cocktails and mocktails, beer, wine, sake and nonalcoholic wines. The Hachi no Hiza sips like a punchier Bee’s Knees, made with Ford’s gin, rosemary, yuzu and honey. And if you’re not imbibing, there’s a nonalcoholic version called Mitsu Mitsu that replaces the Ford’s with Ritual zero-proof gin.
Happy hour is available daily from 5 to 6 p.m. throughout the restaurant and bar and all day Sunday through Wednesday at the bar.
Happy hour is available daily from 5 to 6 p.m. throughout the restaurant and bar and all day Sunday through Wednesday at the bar.
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