Chaya Venice

In the last week or so,  I've been down in Venice covering their happy hours and I almost forgot Chaya Venice. It had been awhile since I had been there, but I remembered it being packed for happy hour. This last trip, we arrived around 5pm and it was pretty empty. But around 6pm, the place was packed.

But let me cut to the good part about this happy hour. Yes, ladies and gentlemen... it's ALL NIGHT, EVERY NIGHT! Looooooove it!!! So no wonder this place gets packed.  Definitely go early if you don't want to worry about getting a table.

For happy hour, Chaya offers 2 different cocktails (see below) for $6 and a Cold Sake Flight also for $6. I had each of the two cocktails and I preferred the Martini and it was VERY strong. ;)

              The Juicy Infusion $6                                                 Slingchi Martini $6
            Pineapple Vodka, Cranberry Juice,                                           Vodka, Lychee Juice, Lemon, Lychee Fruit
                          Orange Juice

As for the food, they offer a nice little selection... some sushi, edamame, Sweet Potato Fries, and more. See the menu at the top.  Everything we had was good. No brightly shining stars, but everything was tasty and filled me up.

One order Spicy Shrimp Roll and 

one order Spicy Tuna Roll on one dish

$5/order

 Edamame $4

 Albacore Sashimi Salad $5

 Vegetable Roll $4

Sweet Potato Fries $4

And if you didn't notice, this happy hour is vegetarian friendly! With this and having happy hour all night, I say Chaya Venice gets a gold star!

Happy Hour

Every Night, All Night!

(starting at 5pm)

$6 Specialty Cocktails and Sake,

$4-5 Small Plates and Sushi

Chaya Venice

110 Navy Street

Venice, CA 90291

310.396.1179

thechaya.com/venice

Lost and Found

Wow. Is it already Christmas time? Gees Louise!!! Where did the time go?  So, I actually have a present for you. Yes, your Christmas present is that I'm going to tell you about the secret place my happy hour crew goes when we wanna get our drink on for CHEAP.

It's a dive bar and they have some crazy cheap prices all day, everyday! It's called Lost and Found and you can get a well cocktail for just $3.75. And ALL their drinks are cuh-razzzzy cheap. Here's the breakdown:

Wells $3.75
Calls $4.50 (that means you name the brand of liquor you want)
Domestic Beers $3.25
Imports $4.50
Stella $5.50

See!! Great prices, right!?

 Whiskey and Coke

$3.75

Now, like any other dive bar they don't offer food. Well, except the Slim Jims behind the counter and FREE popcorn. But they'll let you bring in your food like pizza or something. But those Slim Jims are a might tasty snack. ;)

 Slim Jims

50 Cents! All day, everyday!

Lost and Found also has some nice amenities! There's a fire place, a jukebox, a pool table, a dart board, a nude photo hunt game, AND cocktail napkins with movie trivia (my favorite!)  The only downside is that it's CASH ONLY.

So there you go! I gave away my one of my friends' favorite drinking spots. My friends just recently introduced me to it and I LOVE IT!

 Thanks to Amber and Love for sharing their secret spot with me! 

Happy Hour:

Amazing Prices All Day, Everyday!!!

*CASH ONLY

Lost and Found

11700 National Blvd.

(Cross Street: Barrington)

Los Angeles, CA 90189

310-397-7772

Lost and Found on Yelp

Merry Christmas from Vixen and the Happy Hour Crew!

(Love, Victoria, Christopher, Alvin, and Amber)

Villains Tavern

I'm often asked what are my favorite bars. Well, I have a one or two in each area of LA, but if you ask me what area is my favorite for drinking... it's Downtown. Downtown Los Angeles is where you will find a plethora of great bars with good mixologists.  One of its newest bars is Villians Tavern.

Now many Downtown bars have a certain charm and Villains definitely fits into that category. First of all, Villains is in an industrial area and is surrounded by warehouses. The structure was originally built in the 1920's, but it has been fully decorated with such things as a large mirror framed in a Gothic church window, vintage chandeliers, and a large 14-foot high window filled with hundreds of colorful, antique bottles. Villains is a worth a trip to just go and check it out the cool scene.

Villains doesn't have an actual happy hour, but you can get a beer and a shot for $8 every night, all night which makes me very happy! So they are cool with me. Check out the huge selection:

I also found out that they have some pretty sweet deals almost every night. I went in last Tuesday and all drinks were $3 off making them around only $8. Not too shabby for a hand-crafted cocktail.

Here some of the drinks we had:

Russian Mule
Russian Standard, Mango,
Ginger, and Fresh Lime
Juice

Penicillin
New York's own, with
Honey, Ginger, and Scotch

Bluebeard
A Jameson Sour (egg
whites)with Muddled
Blueberries and Bitters














(Update 11/23/10)  And now that the weather has cooled down a bit, you must try some of Villains new Fall cocktails created my master mixologist, Dave Whitton.

Sleepy Hollow ($15)
Plymouth Gin, citrus, egg whites, cream, bitters, and nutmeg

Day of the Dead ($11)
A hot mulled Applejack Cider
 and Maker's Mark

Bartender's Choice ($11)
(You let them decide!)
Contained pumpkin puree. Yum!














Here's the whole cocktail list! Even more to choose from! My favorite of what I've had so far is The Russian Mule.













Their nightly specials are always different but here's this week's line up a previous week's line up to give you a taste of what to expect:

Tuesday -       1/2 off their Hanzo, which is a Gin Cocktail with mint,
                      cucumber, and fresh citrus.
Wednesday -  Live Blues starting at 9pm along with $6 Quarts of PBR
Thursday -     FREE Cerberus shots from 9-12 (The Cerberus is Leblon
                     Cachace, white peach, pineapple and citrus) along with
                      two live bands, Whitton and the Leftover Cuties.
Friday -         The Dustbowl Revival (love them!) making there return
                     to Villains along with two hot minute periods from
                     8:30 to 8:32 and from 9:30-9:32 where you can get any
                     of our mix and match shots for a dollar.

See what I mean!?! Some great deals! 

So definitely follow them on Facebook and Twitter for their latest happenings!

Happy Hour (sorta')

Get a beer and a shot for $8 every night, all night
plus nightly specials!

Villians Tavern

1356 Palmetto St.
(Cross Street: Santa Fe Ave.)
Los Angeles, CA 90013

villainstavern.com

Bar Food

Have you ever gotten to the point where it's a couple days before payday and you only have $10 in your pocket? Well, don't stay home... go to happy hour at Bar Food and get a free hot dog. Yep! A FREE HOT DOG! And it ain't no buy-one-get-one-free crap! It's just free! So you can get a pint of beer and a hot dog for just $3.50 and call it a day!

Check out the price of the Hot Dog...

Zero Buck-a-roonies!

I'm not sure why I haven't written about Bar Food before, because I've been coming here since it first opened. Their happy hour is everyday from 5-7pm and you can get three different beers for $3.50, wine ($6), and some tasty eats ($2-6). Oh and the free hot dog, of course! I usually have the Bar Blonde or one of the happy hour wines. (Update 11/16/10 Happy Hour drinks are all night long! Woo hoo!!)
   

 Bar Blonde $3.50

 FREE Hot Dog

Bar Burger - $6

This picture doesn't give it justice. 

It's a pretty big burger and

it's nice and juicy.

Spicy Tuna on Crispy Rice $6

Mmm... yum.

Edamame $4

It has a kick!

So you can definitely get quite a deal here. A big, juicy burger and a pint for under $10??? Sweet! And did I mention the free hot dog??? Another great thing about this place is its owner, Jason. He's always friendly every time we come in. Definitely a cool guy. So give Bar Food a try.

(Update 11/16/10 Happy Hour drinks are all night long! Woo hoo!!)

Happy Hour:

Daily 5-7pm
$3.50 beer, $6 wine, and
$2-6 food, and a
FREE hot dog!!
(Update 11/16/10 Happy Hour drinks are all night long! Woo hoo!!)

Bar Food

12217 Wilshire Blvd
(Cross Street: Bundy)
Los Angeles, CA 90025
310.820.3275

barfoodla.com

Dillon's Irish Pub

I know that lots of my reviews are for some nice restaurants, but in all honestly...some of my favorite bars are pubs and dives. Why?? Because you can usually get a good, stiff drink for cheap and the crowd is usually laid back. Oh... and did I mention they are always filled with guys? Hehehe. Yes, ladies... pubs are a great place to meet the boys!! And Dillon's Irish Pub is filled with 'em! But don't worry guys, there are also some very lovely ladies behind the bar in short little skirts.

Now Dillon's doesn't have an official happy hour but they have over 30 beers on tap and you can get any one of them for $3 a pint everyday, all day. I went in yesterday and it was packed. I can understand why... $3 a pint for any beer?? Definitely a sweet deal. There aren't any specials for food, but the prices are pretty good. Most appetizers runs $6-10 and entrees (sandwiches, burgers, pasta, and more) are $10-11. Not too shabby.

Now if you aren't beer savvy, having to choose from over 30 beers might be confusing. While I was there, I told one of the barmaids that I like a light beer, so she gave me a sample of Purple Haze. It was perfect for my taste. All the girls behind the bar were helpful and very friendly.  No snooty Hollywood bartenders here. Unfortunately during my visit, I didn't go upstairs, but that's where they have their pool table. But after visiting their website, I found out you can shoot for FREE. I love that! I'm definitely going back!

Happy Hour:
There isn't an official happy hour,
but all drafts are $3 a pint everyday, all day

Dillon's Irish Pub

6263 Hollywood Blvd.
(Cross street: Vine)
Hollywood, CA
323-315-9744

*Right across from the Hollywood and Vine Metro Center

www.dillonsirishpub.com

Palomino

So I have this super-duper long list of happy hours and Palomino has been on it forever. Recently, some friends mentioned I should try it because they have good drinks. So since I was headed out to Westwood, I thought I would finally go. I was actually pretty excited to finally try it.

We arrived around 5pm, and the place was pretty packed. This is always a good sign. We browsed the happy hour drink selection and were pretty disappointed. For $4, they offered an Apple Martini, Cranberry Mojito, Pomegranate Margarita, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, or Coor's Light. First of all, Coor's Light??? BLAH! And $4 for it??? NO thank you!! And my guy friend noted that other than the Coor's, all they had were "girly drinks". We asked the waitress if they also offered well drinks, but they don't. So we went with the Pomegranate Margarita. It was kinda small, really sweet, and not very strong. I didn't even finish mine. So no bueno on their drinks.

 Pomegranate Margarita - $4

I heard their pizzas are a great deal, so hopefully they could redeem themselves with their food. All of their pizzas are only $5 and are quite large. So we ordered the Prosciutto and Roma Tomato Pizza along with the King Crab and Artichoke dip. We started with the dip. I didn't like it. It was very mayonnaise-y. The pizza was also a bit of a let down. The prosciutto was good, but the pizza had slices of raw garlic on it. It made the pizza very bitter.

King Crab and Artichoke Dip - $7.50

 Prosciutto and Roma Tomato Pizza - $5

So why was the place packed??? Well, Palomino is walking distance form UCLA and they do have happy hour everyday, all day so I guess if you are a starving college student or aren't too picky about the quality of the drinks, you may like Palomino. But for those who are not staving college students, go across the street to the Glendon Bar and Kitchen. Their pizzas are much better and are about the same price. And they also have a much better drink selection and again for also around the same price.

So, I wasn't a fan but I do know others who really are. So, the choice is yours. Hopefully you'll like it more than me.

Happy Hour:

Everyday, All Day

Specials:

Selected Drinks $4
Coor's Light $4
Pizzas $5
Selected Appetizers $4.50 - $7.50


Palomino
10877 Wilshire Blvd.
(Cross Street: Glendon Ave.)
Westwood, CA 90024
310-208-1960

www.palomino.com

DRAGO Centro

Oh, how I love Drago Centro! Not only do they have great food and drinks... they also have happy hour all day everyday! It's like the Vixen's dream come true!!! I found Drago through my Downtown happy hour friend, Minty, maybe about a year ago.

For happy hour, they offer a choice of selected wines for $5-6 or beer and specialty cocktails for $5. I have had the Cantele chardonnay and di Majo Norante sangiovese wines and they are both very nice, but I usually tend to get their cocktails. Hand crafted cocktails are my passion, after all. I have tried all four cocktails and my two favorites are the Rye Manhattan (Pikesville Rye, Sweet Vermouth, and bitter) and the Classic Mai Tai (Appleton Rum, Orgeat, Orange Curacao, and lime). And don't worry boys... the Mai Tai doesn't look girly so don't be afraid to order it! It's delicious! The two other drinks they offer, the Aviation (Plymouth Gin, maraschino, Crème do Violette, and lemon) and the Sea Breeze (pearl vodka, cranberry, and grapefruit) are also good, I just prefer the other two. But everybody has different taste, so try them all.

 Rye Manhattan - $5

Classic Mai Tai - $5

As for food, they have a great selection. Small plates will run you $3-9 and items such as Kobe sliders, Pork belly and Artichoke Quiche, and small pizzas are available. The pizzas are definitely the best deal of them all and only run $4. The crostini is also a good deal at $3 and they are huge! (The happy hour menus is pictured above and can also be found on their website under "Small Bites".)

Kobe Sliders with Mushrooms - $7

Sausage, Rapini, & Mozzarella Pizza - $4

Pork Belly, Artichoke, & Parmesan Quiche - $5

Charcuterie Plate - $8

The food at Drago Centro is definitely good and the drinks are always strong so they definitely score high on my Downtown happy hour list.  And for those who would like to taste some of their other drinks, Drago will be having a special event, Drago's Spring Fling, this Wednesday, April 14, to release their new Spring Cocktail menu and those drinks will be $6 each. I'm not missing out on that one!!!

Happy Hour:
ALL DAY, everday!
*Kitchen usually closes around 10pm, but call ahead

Specials:

Specialty Cocktails: $5

Beer and Wine: $5-6

Small Plates: $3-9

DRAGO Centro
525 South Flower Street, Suite #120

Los Angeles, CA 90071
213-228-8998

www.dragocentro.com

Drago offers complimentary valet parking with validation.