Islands: All Night Happy Hour

Whether you're a football fan or just like watching men in tightly fit uniforms run around the field, Islands is your go-to spot to watch the game! To celebrate the football season, Islands is offering all-night happy on Mondays and Thursdays (yes, that's at all locations). The happy hour includes appetizers for less than $5. Like their signature Beachside Sliders (4) for $3.95, Cheddar Fries (a must order) for $3.95, Spinach & Artichoke Dip for $4.95 and more. Plus you can't forget the drinks, like their Craft Beer (16oz) for $3.95, well drinks at $2.95! And you have to try their signature cocktails like the Big Island Iced Tea for $4.25.

Honestly, the last time I visited an Islands was in college but I was pleasantly surprised at the wallet friendly menu and drink selections. It's where you go for a casual night out to hang out with friends and catch a game or two. Plus who doesn't love all night happy hour?

The limited time, Makaha Maggie
with pineapple infused tequila, Grand Marnier,
fresh pineapple and agave nectar 

Beachside Sliders with caramelized onions, ketchup and pickles

No description needed, this is really good as a shot!

Steak Tacos

Islands Restaurants 

All night happy hour is available at all locations 

Monday & Thursday: 4pm-close 

Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday: 4pm-7pm

Sunday: 9pm-close 

Reviewed by Angel 

Ray's & Stark Bar

photo via LACMA

Do you suffer from lunaediesophobia? Do you feel anxious or worried every time Monday rears its ugly head?

Well fear not friends because Ray's & Stark Bar now has Staff Meal Mondays!

Sundance: mezcal, grapefruit juice, honey $8

If you live in LA or you're just visiting, LACMA is definitely a go-to place while in the City of Angels. From the well-curated retrospectives, art classes to the Friday night Jazz - it's a great place to discover a culture beyond Hollywood sets and surfboards.

Staff Meal Mondays (as the name suggests) consists of dishes that executive chef, Kris Morningstar would serve to his team. The menu changes weekly and theres a limited selection of specially priced craft-cocktails created by Brad Stewart.

The menu consists of small share plates which included smoked pork & habanero tacos, mole chips to chorizo quesadillas. The chicken tacos and pig ears were the stand out dishes for the night. Plus the craft cocktails are well prepared, balanced and perfect for a summer meal dining al fresco.

As an added bonus, admission to the museum is free for LA country residents after 3pm. Parking is also free with validation after 5pm. So make your way to Ray's & Stark Bar, mosey past the couples taking engagement photoshoots at the Urban Lights, grab a seat in the outdoor patio and shake off those Monday blues.

Sophie Denante, Cotes de Provence Rose, Chateau L'Afrique $6

Aguachile: Yellow tail tuna, spicy tomato salsa $9

Guacamole & Chips $7 (I would pass on this dish)

Pulled chicken tacos with pipian verde $8

Chips with Mole: peanut-chile sauce, cotija cheese, onions, cilantro $8

Smoked pork tacos, fermented habanero, citrus onions $8 (order comes with 3)

Quesadilla - house made duck fat tortilla, chorizo, queso Oaxaca $13

Pig Ears - creamed hominy, arbol salsa, sunny egg $12 (My favorite dish of the night)

~~~Visited by Jenni~~~

Ray & Stark's Bar at LACMA 

rayandstarksbar.com

lacma.com

5905 Wilshire Blvd. 

Los Angeles 90036

Admission to the museum is free to LA county residents Mon-Fri.

Parking in the LACMA garage is free after 5pm with validation. 

Mohawk Bend on Mondays

CRAZY CHEAP ALERT!!! CRAZY CHEAP ALERT!!!

Have you heard??? Every Monday, Mohawk Bend in Echo Park as an awesome deal of All-You-Can-Eat Pizza for just $12 and it's ALL NIGHT!
And how many choices do you get??? Over 10! And some pizza are vegan-friendly. This is one deal you shouldn't miss.

Click to enlarge

Along with AYCE pizza, selected pints are just $4 and their flights are served all night. Typically, Mohawk "Flight Time" runs from 5-7pm, but is extended all night in the Ramona Room on Mondays. Each flight is $9 and consists of four 4-oz California brews.

They also offer a Monday Night Cocktail at a discounted price. The night we went, it was The Hershiser (rum, lime juice, orgeat, grenadine, vanilla bean syrup, blue curacao float).

 The Hershiser - $9 

Now you can stuff your face with a crap load of pizza, but since you only spend $12... leave room for dessert!

Well, here was my dessert. ;)

So grab your calendar and put a big "Mohawk Bend" on every single Monday. I know I did!!

"Mohawk Mondays"

$12 All-You-Can-Eat Pizza
$9 Beer Flights
$4 Pints

Mohawk Bend

2141 W. Sunset Blvd.
Echo Park, CA 90026
213.483.2337

www.mohawk.la/
facebook.com/mohawkla
twitter.com/mohawkla



*Food and drinks were hosted

Sushi Roku

Dear Mr. Roku,

Vixen here! I just had happy hour at your Pasadena restaurant and it was awesome! GREAT selection and prices!! I can't wait to visit your Santa Monica location since I'm always on the Westside. And all of your happy hours are daily!? Sweet!! Mr. Roku, you are awesome and I love you. Wanna meet for happy hour??

Sincerely,
Victoria V.


That's the email I just sent to Sushi Roku and I meant every word of it. (No response as of yet.) If you are a sushi person, you gotta go here. All three locations have happy hour daily, but the Pasadena location has the best hours... Wednesday-Saturday it's 5-7pm but on Sunday-Tuesday it goes till 10pm! Whoop whoop!!!

The menu is lengthy so props to Mr. Roku: $3 hand rolls, $5 cut rolls, appetizers starting at $3, and $5 drinks. Check out the menu:

See!? Tons to choose from, right!? And everything was really good! Even the cut rolls were thick and were made with lots of fish. My only recommendation to my future husband (Mr. Roku) would be to put a bit more scallops in the Scallop Roll. Other than that, I was one happy camper!

 Spicy Tuna on Crispy Rice 

$3 - NOT a typo!

Albacore Tataki w/ Ponzu Sauce $3

 Scallop Roll $3

Spicy Tuna Roll $3

A selection of cut rolls - $5 per order

The drink selection is good. Beer, sake, and wine PLUS their Fusion on the Rocks and well drinks. I started with the Fusion on the Rocks. It was tasty but a bit small. It went down pretty fast. Next time I'd get that with some cold sake. The beer they offer (Kirin Draft) is $5. That's a bit much for happy hour unless it gigantic. I'll check that out the next time I go and report back.  Unless YOU'd liked to find out for me and report back. I could you some Happy Hour Helpers!

Fusion on the Rocks and Hot Sake - $5 ea.

Sushi Roku definitely gets two thumbs up by me!! 

Happy Hour

Sushi and Apps $3-5

Drinks $5

Locations:

Santa Monica: M-F 5-6:30pm, Sa-Sun 4-6:30pm - 1401 Ocean Ave 90401 (310) 458-4771
L.A. Mid-City: Daily 5-7pm - 8445 W 3rd St.  90048 (323) 655-6767
Pasadena: W-Sa 5-7pm, Sun-Tu 5-10pm - 33 Miller Alley 91103 (626) 683-3000

sushiroku.com

Canal Club

A couple weeks back, I asked readers on my Facebook Page what their favorite Venice happy hour was and I got a lot of responses that they loved Canal Club. So off to Canal Club we went!! And they were right!  The food selection was great with more than 20 items that are $5 or less, plus there was a good amount of drinks to choose from.  Canal's happy hour is daily, but 4 nights out of the week (Sun-Wed) they have ALL NIGHT happy hour. No wonder it's such a popular place.



 

With such a great selection, it was hard to choose what to get. But our girl, Amber, had been there before so she did the ordering. We went with the Sliders, a couple orders of sushi, and the Chipotle Cheese Fries. Why Cheese Fries at a sushi restaurant??? Well duh.. it's something fried and topped with cheese!
No more explanation needed.  ; )

I was happy with everything we got. Next time though I'll order the Brie and Grape Quesdilla. It's one of Amber's favorites!  But check out the sushi rolls below. No skimpy rolls here!

Chipotle Cheese Fries $3.50

S.T.S.T Roll $4.95

Spicy Tuna Roll $4.50

 Monday's Special 

Grilled Slider $2.50

I know it sounds like a lot for one slider, 

but they are GOOD!!! 

With all this great food, I had a Ginger Martini. (I looove ginger!) It was a decent drink of a sushi restaurant. It comes in a Mini Martini glass, so a beer or wine might be a better value.  Other happy hour drinks are Kirin Beer, House wine, and a couple other cocktails for $5 each.









Along with Canal's happy hour specials, they also have some nightly deals.  We picked Monday to go for their tasty sliders!! See a picture of a slider above.

So if you haven't tried Canal Club, put it on your to-do list. I'm so happy I did!

Happy Hour

Thurs - Sat 5-7pm
Sun - Wed 5pm-close
$3.50-$5 sushi rolls and other eats
$5 Kirin, House Wine, and selected cocktails

Canal Club

2025 Pacific Avenue
Venice, California 90291
310-823-5397

jamesbeach.com/canal

Ugo Wine Bar

A few months ago I saw that Ugo's happy hour was something like "Free Passed Appetizers".  Whatever it was, it didn't sound like we needed to rush to check it out. But about a month ago,  one boozer member of our happy hour crew, Christopher, decided to scope it out. As soon as he got there, he texted me pics of the menu right away.  The selection of food was awesome and the next day we planned a trip for all of us to head out there.

Ugo's happy hour is Monday through Friday from 4-7pm (and happy hour food is all night on Mondays) and offer pizzas, paninis, appetizers, and wine. And the ingredients to some of their items are re-donk-u-lus! One of their pizzas is drizzled with White Truffle Honey.  Soooooooooo good! My friends have been telling people that I licked the honey off the plate once the pizza was gone, but I beg to differ. ; ) 

 Quattro Formaggi $7

Pizza w/ mozzarella, parmigiano, pecorino, romano, gorgonzola dolce 

and drizzled with white truffle honey

SO GOOD!!!

 Bowl of Crack - No Charge

The White Truffle Honey was practically like crack and we couldn't get enough of it so we got extra!

Alto Adige $7

Speck, grana padano, hard cooked egg, mozzarella, grilled asparagus, 

rosemary, and black truffle paste

The Alto Pizza was also incredible. So which pizza was better??? It's a hard call because they are so different, so order both! Especially since they are only $7 each. We were also quite surprised how large they were for that price. Another good deal was their paninis. Only $5!! We had the Portobello Panini. It couldn't compare to the pizzas but it was still a winner.

Funghi Freschi $5

Grilled portobello mushrooms, grana padano, and sun dried tomato pesto

 We tried three of the appetizers and they were okay, but next time I'd rather save room in my belly for my pizza drizzled with Crack.

 

 Datteri Rapieni $4

Medjool Dates stuffed with gorgonzola, bacon, and rosemary

I wished the dates were wrapped in bacon. 

 Veal Meatballs $6

Burrata e Pomodoro $8

Burrata cheese and fresh heirloom tomatoes drizzled with olive oil

See? Great food selection! We also liked the wines they offered, which ranged from $5-10. I liked the Malbec. Here are both the food and wine happy hour menus.

Now the restaurant next door, Ugo Cafe, also has a happy hour so we hope to be trying that soon, too.  I breally hope theirs is as good as the Wine Bar though. We'll see!

Happy Hour

M-F 4-7pm
*HH Food goes all-night on Mondays

$5-10 wine, $5 paninis,

$7 pizzas, and $4-8 appetizers

Ugo Wine Bar

3865 Cardiff Avenue
Culver City, CA 90232

cafeugo.com/winebar.html