Smart diners in Los Angeles take advantage of happy hours at top restaurants across the city, including Tex-Mex downtown, sushi in West Hollywood, fish tacos and margaritas in Pasadena, and Michelin-starred fine dining in Santa Monica. Some happy hours offer tasting-size portions of signature dishes at bar-only events, such as a 90-minute Glass Off featuring reduced-price portions of spot prawns and Dungeness crab risotto. These programs aim to showcase a kitchen or bar's full potential at accessible price points rather than simply promoting discounted drinks. Several states ban or regulate happy hours, while California permits them.
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.
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.
Collection
[
|
...
]