Comments (0) Best and Fleshiest Happy Hour - 2011
Saddle Peak Lodge
419 Cold Canyon Road
Calabasas, CA 91302
818-222-3888
First of all, where else can you get rabbit confit tacos, or wild boar rillette, for $9 at happy hour? Saddle Peak Lodge, the Southern California region's most atmospheric restaurant specializing in game meat, has a kick-ass bar for carnivores. This richly appointed meat eater's lodge — set among sage and pines in the Santa Monica Mountains near Malibu Canyon — is a billionaire's man cave, and you're the billionaire. Diners sit beneath game trophies in the rustic/elegant main dining room, idling over elk tenderloin. Small groups are taken to cozy upper dining rooms like the book-lined library, where they can select from no fewer than 400 wines to go with their quail. In the bar, the fall season's happy hour is on offer Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays — but those days change with the season, so call ahead. Sit by a fieldstone fireplace in a bentwood willow chair and indulge in half-price cocktails, small plates and wine tastings. There's nothing remotely like this between Lake Arrowhead and the Pacific Ocean. 419 Cold Canyon Road, Calabasas. (818) 222-3888, saddlepeaklodge.com/events/happy-hour.
—Jill Stewart
