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. 

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

NEW HAPPY HOUR EVENT!!!

Vixen's Awesome Happy Hour

~~~THE GUEST LIST IS NOW CLOSED~~~

Join us for an awesome happy hour at 

The Capital Grille on Wed. May 4th from 5-7pm!

What makes this event awesome?  

All the happy hour food is FREE from 5-7pm. 

Yep! Just pay for your drinks and The Capital Grille will handing out food items from their bar menu. Happy hour drinks include $6 wine & specialty cocktails and $5 beers (I gotta double check on the beers, though.) Tip is NOT included so don't forget to tip the bartenders.... they are amazing!

Wanna see what their drinks and food looks like? Check out my recent visit.

This special Vixen's Happy Hour is a private event for my readers and their friends and will be held in the UPSTAIRS bar for the first 75 people. After that, the doors will be closed. So don't lag people!

Happy Hour ends at 7pm but you are welcome to stay as long as you'd like. We will!

***Don't forget we'll be in the UPSTAIRS BAR* AND VALET PARKING IS FREE with validation!

*Happy hour is available in the downstairs bar but no free food will be handed out there.

Special Thanks to The Capital Grille!

8614 W. Beverly Blvd.
Suite 157, Los Angeles, CA 90048

The Capital Grille

I'm not sure if you have noticed, but I don't "rate" the happy hours I put on my blog. That's because people have different taste. A happy hour I like, you may not like. But if I were to rate The Capital Grille, I'd give them 5 stars! No, 10 stars!!!!!!  This place is amazing! We just went last night and I LOVED it!

The Capital Grille has happy hour Monday-Friday from 4:30-7pm offering small plates, signature cocktails, and wine for just $6 each.  Now if you are more of a "quality over quantity person" like myself, you'll love this happy hour, too.

I actually went to Capital Grille last week for dinner and John, the bartender the awesome bartender, filled me in that they were starting a brand new happy hour the following week. So I marked in my calendar and we popped in last night.  As soon as we saw the happy hour menu, we were impressed. Lobster and Crab Burgers? Mini Tenderloin Sandwiches?? HELLO!

I really loved everything we had but my favorites were the Lobster & Crab Burgers, the Tenderloin Sandwiches, and the Prosciutto Sandwiches. Soooooo good. The Tenderloin was sooo tender. Guess, that's why they call it a "tenderloin". : )

Lobster and Crab Burgers

 Mini Tenderloin Sandwich

Mini Mozzarella, Crisp Prosciutto, and Basil Sandwiches

-served with a Tomato Salad

Shrimp Cocktail

Truffle Fries
Mmmmm.... truffle!

Capital Grille's drink selection is also wonderful. Check out the menu. (Their Classic Manhattan is also offered during HH but it's not on the menu.) We tried to sample as many cocktails as we could (for research purposes only) but only got to 6. There wasn't one I didn't like but my favorites were the Stoli Doli, The Bohemian, and the Mojito de Uvas. The Mojito was made with rum and topped with Champagne. Great mix! Love's (my friend) faves were the Stoli Doli, The Grapefruit Buck, and The Bohemian.

*click on picture to enlarge

Top Row: Stoli Doli and The Bohemian
Middle Row: Grapefruit Buck and Mojito de Uvas
Bottom Row: Adults Only Arnold Palmer

So this just became my new, favorite happy hour in Mid-City West. Not only was the food and drinks great, but the service was top-notch. Bartender John was behind the bar once again and was really through about telling all the customers about the drinks and food. We were highly impressed. Even the ambience was great! They offer happy hour in both the downstairs and the upstairs bar, but the upstairs is part-patio and is beautiful. I loved it and you will, too!

Happy Hour 

Vixen's Tip of the Day:
If you can't decide between two drinks,

order both!

M-F 4:30-7pm

Drinks and Food $6

The Capital Grille 

8614 W. Beverly Blvd.
Suite 157, Los Angeles, CA 90048
(310) 358-0650

thecapitalgrille.com/LosAngeles

Tasca Wine Bar

Tasca Wine Bar has been on my radar ever since I heard what a great All-Night-Happy-Hour they have on Sundays and Mondays. But recently I met Tasca's sommelier (wine expert), David, at a show he was performing at Dragonfly called Drunk Talk (hilarious show!). We met and chatted after the play (which takes place in an actual bar). Tasca came up in our conversation as well as their happy hour. So, I decided to put Tasca at the top of my list and I'm so glad I did.

Tasca's happy hour is Tuesday-Friday 5:30-7:30 and on Sundays and Mondays happy hour is all-night! During happy hour selected wines and beer are $3-7 and small plates are $3-8. Check out the great selection of small plates!

*Click on picture to enlarge

As always, we started with drinks. My friend went with the Red, while I ordered up some bubbly! Both were excellent, especially for the price.  Other options are white wine, Sangria, or beer. Later in the evening I tried the Sangria. Normally I don't order Sangria in wine bars, but I noticed that many customers were drinking it so I ordered a glass. It was well made.

 
Sparkling
$7









Reds or Whites
$5

 Sangria
$4










The food was definitely good and I was impressed with the selection. We liked each plate we ordered but my favorites were the Wild Mushroom Risotto Fritter with Truffle Oil, the Ceviche, and the Angus Burger. And if you get the shrimp or the Ceviche, make sure to ask for bread to sop up the delicious sauces that they come with.

Wild Mushroom Risotto Fritter with Truffle Oil

$4 - My Favorite Small Plate

 Ceviche $5

 Sauteed Shrimp in Garlic Sauce $5

 Chicken Liver Mousse with Truffle Oil $3

 Grilled Angus Burger with Gruyere Cheese $8

Now here's a tip for you gentlemen out there... if you are single GO TO THIS HAPPY HOUR. The place was packed full of cute girls. My friend was the only guy in the joint! (Poor him, right!?) So either sit at the bar or out on their patio and make some new friends, IF ya know what I mean!
*wink wink*

Happy Hour

Sun & Mon 5:30-close (10pm)

Tues-Fri 5:30-7:30

Drinks and Small Plates $3-8

Tasca Wine Bar

8108 West 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90048-4309
(323) 951-9890

tascawinebar.com