Muddy Leek

Cute, quaint and some really good cocktails. Located a few blocks from Helms Bakery, Muddy Leek opened in December of 2012 and we were recently invited to experience their  Muddy Hour. 

Owned by Chef Whitney Flood and his wife, Julie Retzlaff, the restaurant is described as a "hyper seasonal." Here you'll find hand crafted cocktails, freshly baked bread and well-priced happy hour dishes to match. The space itself is modern with touches of rustic, garnished with fresh flowers and blackboard specials plus a small outdoor patio.

 
Chef Whitney takes pride in knowing exactly where his ingredients are sourced, supporting local farmers including Windward Farms, Scarborough Farms, Coastal Farms and more.

During happy hour dishes are $5-$9, drafts are $5 and house wine is $6. Specialty cocktails run around $12/$13 even during happy hour. Still, the refreshing and very well-balanced cocktails, created by Bar Manager Lance Kanawi were the highlight of the night!



  

The Blind Lemon Jefferson
rye, lemon, bitters

Venison Corndog 
with house beer mustard

Dried Olive Croquettes
harissa and black olive oil
(The best dish of the night)

Leek Pizzetta
bacon and potato
 (The flavors we're delicious but the crust was a bit tough)

Italian Mule
vodka, amaro meletti, lime, ginger, soda
(My favorite cocktail of the night)

The Merguez "Hot Dog"
garlic aioli on a grilled baguette

Chicken Fried Bacon
bib lettuce and tomato chutney 
(Fried chicken + bacon... can't go wrong)

Sr. Calarita
mezcal, jalapeno, cucumber, lime
(A nice smokey yet refreshing libation)

A look above

Happy hour dishes

Specialty cocktails - no HH pricing

Muddy Leek
8631 Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232
(310) 838-2281
Happy hour menu

Lunch Tues - Sat 11am to 2 pm 
Happy hour Tues - Fri 4 to 6pm
Dinner 5 to 10pm
Parking: Street/meter

www.muddyleek.com
twitter.com/MuddyLeek

L'Epicerie Market

Are you ever out shopping and would like a quick glass of wine and a nice little snack?  Well, if you are in Culver City L'Epicerie Market is great for that.

L'Epicerie has a daily happy hour from 4-7pm. They offer four types of wine, three beers, and small bites for just $3. Awesome price!

The items on the food menu are small bites but are really good. I had the Pickled Vegetables, Field Mushrooms, and the Chicken Confit.

Farmer's Market Pickled Vegetables in Champagne Vinegar $3

I love Champagne Vinegar so this was great.

 Field Mushrooms with garlic and parsley served with bread $3

Chicken Wing Confit $3

It first sight I though maybe these won't be good but they were delicious.

And it won't be happy hour with the wine! 

And a healthy pour for just $3.

I sat at the counter like I normally do, but there are some table available. I'm not sure if happy hour is also offered at the tables so check before you grab one. 

This is a great happy hour if you are looking for a quick bite, but it can't substitute dinner. But you can get three glasses of nice wine for less than $10 so I'm a fan. ;)  And you can shop in the market when you're done. That's definitely an added bonus!

Happy Hour 
Daily 4-7pm

L'Epicerie Market

9900 Culver Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232
310-815-1600


lepiceriemarket.com

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 
 

Fraiche - Culver City

The other day, my friend Amber and I went to Ugo Wine Bar for happy hour, and afterward we thought we'd go to Fraiche for a drink. It was about 30 minutes before their happy hour ended (7pm) so we thought we could sneak in one cocktail. Well, our drinks was so good that we went for a second round just before 7pm. Yowza! Those were some good drinks.  In fact, we went back two days later to try the rest of the cocktail menu. And check this out... ALL of their specialty cocktails are just $6!!! WOW!

 The Babe

Bacon Infused Bourbon, Maple Syrup, Bitters, Burnt Orange
(All Specialty Cocktails $6)

Frisky Sour

Bourbon, Lemon, Egg White, Chili Chocolate Bitters

 Penicillin

Scotch, ginger, Honey, Lemon, Islay Scotch Sprtiz

 The Left Hand

Bourbon, Campari, Sweet Vermouth, Chili Chocolate Bitters, Flamed Orange Peel

 Turkey Dinner

Clove Infused Wild Turkey, Cranberry Juice, Cynar, Candied Orange Peel

 Ben's Breakfast

Allspice Dram, Egg, Nutmeg

 

 The Good Apple

Granny Smith Infused Vodka, Fennel and Clove Infused Simple Syrup, Lemon

 The Grape

Vodka, Elderflower Syrup, Grapes, Lime

 Poison Ivy

Vodka, Basil, Honey, Cayenne, Smoked Sea Salt, Lemon

 St. Tropez

Gin, Lime, Lavender Oil, Cucumber Ice Cube

Now this menu is different from the last time I was at Fraiche and that's because Kiowa Bryan is now in charge of their bar program. Kiowa is formerly of SoHo House where she trained under Varnish's Chris Ojeda. No wonder this girl has mad skills! 

So you MUST MUST MUST check out Fraiche's happy hour soon.  Normally I like happy hours that offer food specials, but because Fraiche's drinks are so good I don't care. Plus, the drink prices are so amazing, it all kind of evens out.  I had an AMAZING Truffle Burger with egg and it was deeeeeelicious.

Truffle Burger ($14)

w/ onion fondue, boschetto, truffle aioli

And every Wednesday starting at 9pm, Fraiche has "Pre-Prohibition Night" offering with select half-price classic cocktails and 1920s-priced bar bites.

$1 bites include: oysters, shrimp, anrancini, soup shooter, tuna tartare, cheese Panini and buratta crostini and $5 cocktails include Aviation, Daquiri, Clover Club, Sidecar, Old Fashioned, French 75 (gin or cognac), El Presidente, Sazerac, Manhattan, Bijou. And 50 cents for the Fish House Punch.

And since I'm currently reviewing Culver City bars, I'll be back very soon. Very very soon.

Happy Hour

Daily 3-7pm: $6 Specialty Cocktails, $3 Draft Beers, $4 House Wine
Wednesdays 9pm-close: $1 bites and $5 cocktails

Fraiche

9411 Culver Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232
310.839.6800

fraicherestaurantla.com

Waterloo and City

Okay you foodies that love happy hour... do I have a place for you!!! Waterloo and City in Culver City has a great selection of drinks and upscale food for happy hour. It's so nice to see a menu that doesn't just consist of sliders and calamari. Instead you can order such items as Wild Mushroom Pizza with Truffle Oil or Foie Gras Mousse.  (Is your mouth watering yet?)

Waterloo and City offers small plates ($6-12), pizzas ($9), and drinks ($4-5) daily from 5-7pm. I was happy to see that they had a nice selection of cocktails, along with wine, beer, and well drinks. We tried the Westside, the Sangria, the Dark and Stormy, the Aperol Spritz, and a well vodka/diet. The tastiest drink to me was The Westside. I thought it could have been a bit stronger, but others thought it was fine. (Guess that's the boozer in me... hehehe.) The Aperol was okay, but surprisingly my well vodka/diet was pretty strong. I liked that the drink menu was definitely both male and female friendly.

The Westside
gin, lemonade, mint, fresh watermelon

Dark and Stormy
Goslings Rum and Ginger Beer















Aperol Spritz
Aperol, Sparkling Wine,
Club Soda, Orange

Sangria
Brandy, Wine, Fresh Fruit

Well Vodka and Diet
(so you can see the size)
















Now on to my favorite part of this happy hour... the food! Waterloo has a fantastic selection. We ordered two pizzas: Wild Mushroom with Truffle Oil and the Moroccan Spiced Lamb. The Wild Mushroom was AMAZING. Love, love, love, love, loved it!!!! The Lamb was eh. For small plates we ordered the Chicken Liver & Foie Gras Mousse and the Tuna Tartarte. Both were delicious. Along with the bread that was served, we were stuffed after that. I was bummed because there was much more I would have liked to try. Seriously! Look at that menu above. YUM! Guess I'll have to go back.

 Wild Mushroom Pizza

with smoked mozzarella and truffle oil

$9

Chicken Liver and Foie Gras Mousse

$7

Tuna Tartare with Avocado 

topped with a Fried Stuffed Piquillo

$8

Waterloo and City is definitely a great spot for happy hour if you are looking for a unique food menu, or if you are meeting up with friends or a cute date! And they actually just opened their Wreck Room complete with couches, a Pac-Man table, a vintage pinball machine, a pool table and a dart board. Between the food and the Wreck Room, I would really actually love to live there. Seriously.

Happy Hour:

Daily 5-7pm

Eats $6-12

Beer, Wine, Wells, and Cocktails $4-6

Waterloo and City

12517 West Washington Blvd.

Culver City, CA 90066

310.391.4222

waterlooandcity.com