Sarah BennettForget working for the weekend because weekday dining just got a lot more interesting thanks to dineLA.'s first-ever Happy Hour Week, which starts Monday and runs for five days through May 1.
An offshoot of dineLA's popular restaurant week, Happy Hour Week includes more than 135 restaurants, including Plan Check, Bouchon and The Church Key, which have happy hours we already love.
It also includes more than two dozen spots that don't normally offer discounts on selected food and drinks for a few hours each day. Here are five of our favorite L.A. restaurants that created special happy hour menus just to serve for the five days of Happy Hour Week.
Head cheese banh mi; Credit: Courtesy of Black Hogg
Black Hogg
The Silver Lake restaurant known for its meaty and buttery “dude food” created a seriously affordable (think: $5 burger) happy hour menu, which it says it will continue to offer after Happy Hour Week ends. Dishes like popcorn bacon — cubes of bacon, breaded and fried, served with maple crema — are available for cheap alongside dineLA exclusives like a headcheese banh mi and sambal olek jidori chicken wings. Wash all the fat down with a Korean Happy Meal, the week's special cocktail composed of a shot of soju in a kimchi sangrita, served with a can of OB Lager. 2852 W. Sunset Blvd., Silver Lake; (323) 953-2820; blackhogg.com; happy hour runs Tuesday-Friday, 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Onion soup poutine; Credit: Courtesy of Terrine
Terrine
To kick-off the start of its new late-night menu, Kris Morningstar's Terrine on Melrose is turning next week's after-hours menu into its first ever happy hour with special pricing on onion-soup poutine ($11), truffled chicken liver toast ($9) and a croque cubano with smoked ham and capicola ($11). The real star of this happy hour, though, might be head bartender Ryan Wainwright's $10 Plymouth martini. 8265 Beverly Blvd., Beverly Grove; (323) 746-5130; terrinela.com; happy hour runs Monday-Thursday 9-11 p.m., Friday 10 p.m.-1 a.m.
Chicken pot pie; Credit: Courtesy of Redbird
Redbird
Named for the Roman Catholic cardinals that used to occupy the room above the rectory (the restaurant has taken up residence in Vibiana's rectory itself), Neal Fraser's Redbird is a look into the longtime L.A. chef's soul. Get a taste of his decadent offerings with the small but sturdy Happy Hour Week menu, which is only available for one hour and includes Fraser's chicken pot pie, flavored by chicken heart and chanterelle mushrooms, and vegan posole with chicanitas, lime and smoked tofu. 114 E. Second Street, downtown; (213) 788-1191; redbird.la; happy hour runs Tuesday-Friday, 5-6 p.m.
Sotto
Sotto might be well known for its char-flecked pizzas that come out of an Italian-imported oven (the installment of said ovens in the Pico-Robertson restaurant is a thing of lore), But there are no pies on Sotto's first happy hour menu. Regardless, you should probably be indulging in its other examples of rich Italian cookery, like the braised pork meatballs, crescenza-stuffed fried zucchini flowers and swordfish belly spiedini, all of which are offered as $8 bar bites next week. Cocktails like Lil Italy (a Manhattan variation) are also only $8, as are glasses of the house red and white wines. 9575 W. Pico Boulevard, Pico-Robertson; (310) 277-0210; sottorestaurant.com; happy hour runs Monday-Friday 5:30-7 p.m.
Flourishing; Credit: Cafe Gratitude
Cafe Gratitude
All three L.A. locations of vegan-centric Cafe Gratitude will be having special happy hour menus next week that offer half price on the $18 popular antipasto plate along with drinks and dishes that only will be served for the duration of Happy Hour Week. With new-agey names like Giving, Flourshing and Abundant, the eats include an einkorn and kamut pizzeta, braised asparagus arancini and a Mediterranean sampler plate, all for around $6 each. Wash it all down with drinks a white-wine spritzer ($6) or a kale-cucumber-celery juice ($5). Various locations; cafegratitude.com; happy hour runs Monday-Friday 3-7 p.m.
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