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

Vu

So I have been a bad, bad blogger recently. I've been going to so many happy hours lately that I haven't had time to write them up here. (Horrible, right!?) But last night the girls and I headed over to Vu in Marina Del Rey to try out there new happy hour. In fact, the restaurant just opened early December and they are still in their "soft opening" stage. I was excited to try it because I had heard their small plates were only $5!

Vu (pronounced "view") has happy hour Monday-Friday from 4-7pm. The bar area is large with lots of seating including a big communal table in the middle. The drink selection was okay with $6 wells, 2 selections of wine for $6, and Sam Adams and Stella for $4. The Stella was the best value hands down.

                       Draft Stella $4                                                      Selected Wine $6


For food, Vu offers a nice selection of small plates for $5 that are very tasty but some plates were a bit too small for the price.  We tried three different items and the Risotto Croquettes were the best value.

 Risotto Croquettes $5

 Chicken Liver Pate $5

w/ apple cider jelly

Beef Tartare $5

w/ pickled celery root and sous wide egg yolks

We loved all three selections but the servings of pate and beef tartare were a bit too small for $5. We wanted to try other things but we were a bit afraid those things would also be small. 

Here's the full happy hour menu:

And I guess the waitstaff noticed what a shutterbug I was and the chef sent out an order of "Reconstructed" Caprese Salad for us. "Thanks, Chef!" You get three to an order and they were deeeeelicious!

"Reconstructed" Caprese Salad $7

Balsamic-injected cherry tomato 

inside basil-infused mozzarella

*3 per order and compliments of Vu

My final thought? Although the happy hour food was a bit pricey for what you get, I'd come back for dinner some time. Check out my friend, Minty's take on Vu's food on the regular menu. The food looks amazing and she has lots of pics!

 

Happy Hour

M-F 4-7pm
Sundays 8pm-close
$5 small plates and $4-6 well, wine, and beer

 

Vu 

(found in Jamaica Bay Inn)
4175 Admiralty Way
Marina del Rey, CA 90292
(310) 823-5333

Vu's Website

Mignon

***Update: All glasses of wine are just $5 in the month of December!***

One of my favorite little wine bars is Bacaro LA and now Barcaro's owners have opened up another wine bar called Mignon. And YES they have happy hour!!!

Mignon's happy hour is Mon-Fri 5-7pm and all day Sunday (Love!). All glasses of wine are $2 off (which will start at $6) and selected small plates for $5. You can also get 1/2 sandwich or tartines for $5 also.

“Mignon” means cute or dainty in French and this wine bar fits that description. It's a small, little place and seating is only at the bar. I like this because you can talk about the wines with the sommeliers. The only downside of it is that it might be hard to converse if you are sitting with a large party.

Our sommelier, one of the owners in fact, was very helpful when choosing our wine. He asked what we like and what we were interested in having. And since you are sitting at the bar, he pours you a taste to make sure you like it. Nice. I went with a Beaujolais and a Sangiovese.

                                           All wines by the glass are $2 off. 

And now for the food! Man, we feasted! Here's what we had:

pate de campagne
I really liked it!

Famer's Market Melon and Prosciutto
Simple yet good.

Chicken Liver Crostini with Red Onion Confit
The onion confit made it for me. They should bottle that up and sell it!

Goat Cheese Crostini with grilled radicchio and balsamic
Another favorite!

Mac and Cheese
It was okay. Probably won't order it again though.

Prosciutto with Fig Mascarpone
A tasty dish.

Autostrada
Salami, mortadella, and prosciutto with provolone and spicy pepper relish
Loved it!

Olive-oil cured Tuna
w/ rouille, fennel, and orange
It was nice. The orange was a nice addition.
(1/2 sandwich is $5, but we got a full one for $10)





Here are Mignon's full menus. Anything with an asterisk (*) is $5. Click on picture to enlarge.

So the next time you are Downtown and would like a little vino or some tasty bites... head on over to Mignon. I'll be back!

Happy Hour

M-F 5-7pm
All Day Sunday

Mignon

128 E. 6th St
(Cross St: Los Angeles St & Next to Cole's)
Los Angeles, CA 90014
213.489.0131

mignonla.com