Best of L.A.: Happy Hour

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Ortega 120

1814 S. Pacific Coast Highway
Redondo Beach, CA 90277

Category: Restaurant > Mexican

Region: South Bay

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More About

• Staten Island
• Silver Lake (Staten Island)
• Nicole Campos
• Food and Cooking
• Eating Out

BEST HAPPY HOUR

If you’re going to plonk down $14 for an ArcLight ticket (although even that seems a bit of a bargain these days, when you factor in reserved seating and the like; Grauman’s Chinese is now peak-priced at $12.50!), it’s nice to be able to find cheap, tasty and filling eats before your movie. Look no farther than Boho, the cozy corner lounge at Sunset and Ivar, with the pretty chandeliers and kitschy décor, which looks like it was swiped from some Midwestern granny’s basement. At Happy Hour during the week, all draft beers (and the selection is superb, with both domestic microbrews and imported varieties), plus the entire pizza menu is 50 percent off. Oinkster guru Andre Guerrero slings some savory pies here, including a surprisingly tasty Korean number served with kimchi and chili sauce. Fontina + kalbi = crazy delicious! Who knew? 6372 W. Sunset Blvd., L.A. (323) 465-8500, bohorestaurant.com. Mon.-Thurs., 4 p.m.-7 p.m., half-price on all pizzas priced regularly at $10-$14, half-price on all draft beers.

—Nicole Campos

BEST HAPPY HOUR THAT JANE WOULD BE FONDA

Barbarella, the Silver Lake bar that tends to fill up with people who don’t live in Silver Lake (what is L.A.–speak for “bridge and tunnel crowd”? Maybe “310s”?) is actually a welcoming spot at the blue-plate-special hour, when seats are plenty, the TVs show cheesy ’80s videos you can actually hear, and the lovely tuna tartare is half price. Better still, the 10-ounce martinis are only 6 bucks and come in such silly versions as Key Lime Pie and Creamsicle. Try the Cucumber. 609 N. Hyperion Ave., Silver Lake. (323) 644-8000, happy hour daily 4-7 p.m.

—Libby Molyneaux

BEST CHEAPO HAPPY HOUR

Even before last fall’s economic crash and burn, Hurry Curry was recession-ready with its 3-to-6 p.m. happy hour, replete with drinks and a nosh at bargain prices — and a time slot many a wandering, thirsty, unemployed Westsider could embrace. Hell, Hurry Curry’s happy hour practically counts as lunch when you get up at noon. Located in West L.A.’s little Tokyo, Hurry Curry’s strip-mall digs (between the Tomato bank and a crepe shack) are modest and cozy. The menu includes cold or hot sake selections, apple-sake martinis, pomegranate-sake martinis and mellow-and-sweet yet strangely perfumed lychee-sake martinis (Hurry Curry only has a beer-and-wine license), all for three bucks. All items on the appetizer menu are $3 as well. Fried chicken with a spicy mayo sauce, battered calamari, crispy gyoza, soft and salty edamame — they’re all here, real cheap. Go on, unemployed Angeleno, order up five helpings of that sweet, glossy meat, and still have enough left over to throw down a couple Sapporos (also $3). 2131 Sawtelle Blvd., L.A. (310) 473-1640. Mon.-Fri., 3-6 p.m.

—Wendy Gilmartin

BEST OTHER HAPPY HOUR FOR LIP-SMACKING DEALS

Don’t let the fact that Fergie and Josh Duhamel pop in for Laker games make you think the Dakota Lounge has an uppity attitude. The place is unpretentious and feels like the neighborhood bar you wish was in your neighborhood. Owners Alex Fieglein and Sabrina Roark, Hawaii transplants, have had a good thing going with the prime-time club crowd for the past year and recently started offering a happy hour where you can enjoy comfy couches, big-screen TVs and signature drinks at bargain prices. Fieglein touts the signature Onolicious, made with Centario rum and Dr. Pepper, and the Blue Makua, a lip-smacking concoction of UV Blue Raspberry vodka and soda water, both $5. Food here includes renowned sliders, either Hawaiian-style or shrimp (three for $7), homemade potato chips and homemade ranch. Even cooler, this happy hour runs seven days a week. Amazing deals are also offered during NFL games, including $3 omelets and $3 Bloody Marys made from a recipe Fieglein brags about like a proud father. 1026 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica. (310) 393-8200, dakotalounge.com. Open daily 5-9 p.m.

—Libby Molyneaux

BEST HIGH-FLYING HAPPY HOUR

Nestled near Los Angeles International Airport is the Proud Bird restaurant, whose banquet rooms and lounge are housed in a sprawling complex with an architectural style that might be called Hacienda Montalban. From the outside, the restaurant resembles a combat aircraft museum — real World War II Mustangs, Messerschmitts and Spitfires spread their wings alongside replica MiGs and Spads from other wars in the parking lot and out in back on long lawns. There are monuments to the Tuskegee Airmen and the Flying Tigers and, for sound effects, there is the constant roar of jets from across the street at LAX. (The restaurant’s meditation tea garden and koi pond in front, while soothing, seem a little out of place here — especially with gas-flame torches belching fire on the nearby walls.) Once past the wall-to-wall galleries of aviation photos and memorabilia inside, you soon find yourself drowning in buckets of well scotch for $3.75 a drink (forget drink umbrellas — these pours require diving boards), or knocking back a Guinness at $4 a pop. Appetizers on the bar menu are cut in half to $5 during this time and, if both the tempura fried shrimp, calamari, and shrimp cocktail have the consistency of Tater Tots, you probably won’t notice after your third cocktail. (Talk about 12 o’Clock High.) 11022 Aviation Blvd., L.A. (310) 670-3093, the proudbird.com. Mon.-Fri., 4-7 p.m.