LindsSays: Happy Hour

Showing posts with label Happy Hour. Show all posts

So I'm not quite sure what the deal with pasta is. Is it clean? Is it not? Some people say whole wheat pasta is fine, some people only eat rice noodles, some people use gluten-free. You know what I did? Bought the cheapest out of those 3 options- which happened to be the gluten free version. I recognized all the ingredients so I figured what the hey, why not give it a shot?

Also I know bacon isn't necessarily clean but it's paleo right? I try to stick to 80/20 (clean/not clean) so it fit into my week perfectly.

Ok and can we just talk about something? I've been cooking clean for almost a year now. Which means Harrison has only eaten clean dinners for almost a year. There have been maybe 3 times that he (ok we) hated the dish- 3 out of probably 300 is a pretty good average - yet every single time he is super skeptical and all like "ok I mean I'll try this to be nice" and 5 minutes later this man has eaten 5 servings. This was one of those meals.

The Sauce (adapted from PPK)

1 cup cashews, soaked in water for at least 2 hours
1 cup natural chicken broth
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes (ordered mine on Amazon!)
Fresh lemon juice of one lemon
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
2 teaspoons onion powder
Salt and pepper to taste

The Pasta:

1/2 pack of Pasta Noodles (whatever you feel is best!), cooked
3 large tomatoes, diced
4 strips turkey bacon, cooked
1/4 cup basil leaves, chopped
salt
pepper
garlic powder

Combine all the ingredients for the sauce in a blender and blend.

Toss all the pasta ingredients together.

En.freaking.joy.

I don't know what about this was so good, maybe it was that I haven't had pasta in almost a year, but it was amazing.

Oh and wedding update: every time Harrison and I set aside time to send out our save the dates we get drunk and get nothing done. Which is fine. But really, we have opposite work schedules and the amount of times we have been to happy hour together in the last 3 years I can count on one hand, yet we have hit one hand worth of happy hours in the last two weeks. But hey, everyone tells us to enjoy our time as an engaged couple so I guess we are just taking their advice to heart? Tonight we went to a new place around the block from my work and Harrison got a fun-sized drink that I couldn't stop laughing about:

Tonight we're going to a wedding food tasting at Main Event Catering, can't wait!

Tell me: Any advice for wedding food tasting? What kind of pasta do you consider clean or DO you consider ANY pasta clean?

Linking up today at Delicious Dish Tuesday

Clean Eating (ish) BBT Pasta

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Yeah yall. My friend told me about this spiked cider/vodka cider mix/use of caramel vodka the other night and at first I was like "ew--but I'm intrigued" and rushed to the liquor store, and here I am on my 3rd one of the evening and I'm like "yes--everyone should know about this". Let me list the things I love about it: so fall, it's like a childhood sweet all grown up (see also: jello shots, shark bites, etc), and it is also pretty much mandatory for fall so I don't feel bad drinking it alone. #notsorry #thanksfall. So here it is, are you ready for this? It's much easier than making actual candy apples...

Servings: 1
Prep Time: approximately 5 seconds

Ingredients:

1.5 ounces of caramel vodka (1 ounce = 1 shot. This is among the important things I learned in college)
1/2 Cup Apple Cider
{optional} splash of apple pucker (my friend uses this, I don't. Which way is better?!)
Ice

Fill your cup up with ice. Pour in the vodka, pour in the cider, stir, drink. If you don't like the sweetness replace the vodka with whiskey. Tastes best with a pumpkin candle burning and chili cooking in the crockpot.

Sidenote: how cute and proper are my little rocks glasses? Got 4 for $5 at Target.

Grown Up Candy Apples: The Alcoholic Version

Friday, October 25, 2013

the Classic Martini and Moscow Mule- $6 drinks in fancy glasses!

Average Drink Price: $6 ($6 options and $13 options). $5 salty snacks

Service: We sat at the bar- the bartenders were very attentive and quick

Good for Groups: Not really- there was a big group there and they were accidentally elbowing everyone, there's just not enough room at the bar area for that

Mood: Fancy Chillin

Outdoor Seating: No

Try the: Moscow Mule and Crispy Chickpea

Dupont Happy Hour at Firefly

Sunday, September 29, 2013


Picture from ridetheboomerang.com

Few things make one feel as glamorous as sipping cocktails on a chartered yacht. Thanks to The Boomerang, everyone can feel this glamorous for a mere $15 (which includes your first drink!). Here's my breakdown:

DC Happy Hour- ON A BOAT

Friday, September 20, 2013

Average Drink Price: $5 (everything is $5)
Service: Great and fast! The bartender was really honest and recommended/discouraged certain menu items (i.e. stay away from the #4)
Good for Groups: Yes- and the service is fast enough that everyone in your group won't be waiting eons for drinks
Mood: Chillin
Outdoor Seating: Rooftop patio
Try the: Signature Cocktail #3 and meatballs

Local 16's $5 Happy Hour Menu

This is a great place to come chill out, specifically at 5:30 pm after the world's longest Thursday ever. We sat at the downstairs bar (too hot to go to the patio) and ordered a few drinks- the best by far was the #3 (pictured below). It was minty/limey/kind of mojitoey and super refreshing, and served in a mason jar which really gets some people excited--not quite my thing, but I did appreciate how big the mason jars are.

We at the hummus that was nice and flavorful, and the pita bread was fresh out of the oven (definite plus) followed by the meatballs--yall, the sauce was everything. So good. The bartender explained the process the sauce goes through to get that delicious and I lost focus after he said something about "setting for 2 hours", but it's awesome.

Sidenote- did anyone else know that Local 16 owns Tropicalia?

The #3. Just look how refreshing that is.

$5 Happy Hour at Local 16

Friday, August 30, 2013

Average Drink Price: $4 ($4 wine, $3 beer, $5 specialty drinks)
Service: So so so nice. As a new bar I think they're trying to establish regulars (they won me)
Good for Groups: Yes! You can sit anywhere in the restaurant/patio/bar and get HH specials
Mood: It's nice and bright and chill. Turning up was encouraged
Outdoor Seating: Rooftop patio
Try the:SPECIALTY PIZZA. ALL PIZZA IS FREAKING $7

That glass of wine was $4 and that mostly eaten food is FREE. FREE.

Ok I know it's kind of rachet to include a picture of mostly-eaten food, but just had to re-iterate that the food. is. FREE. When my friend first told me she went to Piola and they give out free food I was like a) yeah free food like nuts and Chex Mix? yeah no and b) this place is probably a sh*t hole. Wrong and wrong. Servers come around with trays of finger food, and I kid you not, one of these finger foods is pizza. PIZZA! YALL I HAVE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS IN DC. Two of us got the $4 white wine which was poured generously (raise your hand if you hate when happy hour wine = 1 shot of wine), and the other got a $5 specialty strawberry drink where they actually crush strawberries in the glass. My friends and I will be regulars. The only downside is that the bathroom is in the basement, but it's clean so I'm over it.

Also please note their brunch special- it's like Cici's for grown ups. Bottomless pizza and bottomless mimosas for $30. Oh and they have nutella pizza. I can't. I just cannot.

THIS IS THE REAL BRUNCH MENU

FREE FOOD Happy Hour at Piola (Always)

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Average Drink Price:$7 (all local!)
Service: SUPER friendly, fast
Good for Groups:YES- the courtyard bar has 24 seats and is surrounded by open space with lounge chairs and incredibly comfortable couches
Mood: Classy, relaxing
Outdoor Seating: Huge courtyard. In the winter they have fires and heat lamps going so everyone can still enjoy the outside
Try the..: Sparkling Wine ($7), Rickey Bobby (not on the happy hour menu but worth all $12 of deliciousness)

Just look how comfy those loungers are

So I don't know how I've been missing out on this Penn Quarter outdoor spot for the last two years but Poste, located inside the Hotel Monoco (the dining room is where the Post Office sorting room used to be- they have preserved a lot of the historical decor, really neat) is AWESOME. Everything is from the DMV- the food, the beer (what up DC Brau!), the cocktails, everything. While it isn't one of the cheaper places to turn up in Penn Quarter, the courtyard and quality of drinks make it worth it. The loungers were sooo comfortable, the kind where if you're my height you scoot all the way back and your entire body is comfortably resting on the fluffy cushions. After a long day someone in our group may or may not have taken a little nap...

The only weird thing is the apparent "open seating" policy they have. The couches are big, so if your group is only taking up half of the couch then other people will come sit on the other half. A bro came up and joined us after his group left him and he had apparently been enjoying the local libations all day. Before he left he said "Hey I'm glad I came and sat with yall. You know what they say- You only YOLO once!" Ahh yes you only live once once. But all this to say there were fun people our age there having fun. As the happy hour wore on a lot of suits and fancy dresses showed up and we started to feel a little under dressed. I will most definitely be coming back to this Penn Quarter Gem.

Here's the happy hour menu (shoutout to the Poste menu maker who ordered the menu by price. Really helping a sister out)

Local Happy Hour Fare
~You don’t have to be local to eat local~
$4
Beer Nuts
sweet and spicy Virginia peanuts with Old Bay
$6
P3 - Poste Pickle Plate
house pickled local vegetables, Polyface Farms egg with grilledpumpernickel, Port City Porter mustard and Chocolate City Copper Ale aioli
$8
Fried Rappahannock Oysters
herb crust, tomato jam
$8
Polyface Farms Wings
smoked and grilled chicken wings, Catoctin Creek Rye and apple butter glaze
$8
Maryland Blue Crab
crab and potato croquettas, Gordy’s Sweet Pickle and Old Bay aioli
$8
Warshore Clams
chili braised kale, DC Brau “The Public” Pale Ale, bacon, grilled bread

Available daily in the bar and lounge from 4-7pm.
Please advise your server of any food allergies prior to ordering.

Local Happy Hour Libations
$6 Beer
DC Brau “The Public”
Port City Optimal Wit
Chocolate City Copper Ale (Draft)

$7 Spirits
Green Hat Gin
Catoctin Creek Rye

$8 Sparkling
Thibaut-Janisson Virginia Fizz
*share a bottle for $40

Please ask your server about our other daily wine and spirit Happy Hour
offerings.

Poste is a longtime supporter of local farmers, brewers,
distillers, and artisans who provide us the freshest possible
products. We strive to cut down on our carbon footprint
and give back to D.C. and the surrounding communities.
~
All items on this menu are sourced from D.C., Virginia,
Maryland, Pennsylvania and North Carolina.
~
We hope you enjoy the local flavors and visit us often

Happy Hour at Poste Modern Brasserie

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Average Drink Price: $5
Service: See below
Good for Groups: Yes! Room at the upstairs and downstairs bar, couches downstairs, and plenty of tables upstairs. Happy hour is available anywhere in the restaurant
Mood: Chill Party Mode- could go either way.
Try The: MOJITO PITCHERS!! JUST DO IT

This is officially the Summer of the Mojito for me, so the mojito tour continued this week at Cafe Citron in Dupont. We got a table for our eight person group and were able to chat and enjoy each other while we went through two (or three?) $30 mojito pitchers. The mojitos were amazing and perfectly refreshing as we escaped the 90 degree heat. I came here for National Margarita Day last year (yeah yall, that's a thing) when they were selling shitty sour margaritas for $4.00. They burned my stomach enough that I'll never order margs here again. One of the girls got a quesadilla which was...well, a really basic quesadilla that reminded me of Applebee's. We also got the guacamole which is NOT on happy hour special. Our server was fine, I think she had a lot of tables? But we spent a lot of time waiting to order refills which is not cool. We all paid and a few people left, which was when chaos ensued.

Something went wrong with the tip or the computer system or something and the owner came out and asked us for our cards back to have us repay. Everyone was (kind of drunk?) angry and going off about how they aren't going to let her charge us twice for our drinks. The owner was seriously seriously heated (for her mistake?) and started yelling in Spanish. Thankfully one of our Latina Heat Waves was with us and gave it right back to her in Spanish (does anyone else get nervous when people are yelling in Spanish? why does it always sound so angry?), then my friend informed us that it was fine give her the cards, then the owner brought back shots of tequila. I may never know what went down in that fight, or really even who won, but tequila transcends all languages so it was fine. It was a little stressful for happy hour, and tequila shots are a little intense (my college self would never believe I'm saying this) for happy hour, or really life in general, but whatever. The mojitos were good enough and priced right and my bank account was only charged once so I'll be back for happy hour. Moral of the story: if you want to save money, drink your pitchers and leave right after you pay. The others in our group didn't get charged at all.

Happy Hour at Cafe Citron

Friday, August 23, 2013

http://www.latinconcepts.com/chi-cha

Average drink price: $5. $10 for hookah (!!!)
Service: so-so
Good for groups: Yes. Tables, couches, chairs and lots of space around the bar allow for groups
Mood: Real chill
Try the: Sangria, Rose and Mint Hookah

The other day someone was like "OMG I can't believe you smoke hookah that's as bad as cigarettes!" and started spouting off all kinds of OMG Statistics. As a profession, I manipulate data and statistics to make people want to donate money and I have a feeling someone (not as) smart as myself made up these statistics. I smoke hookah maybe every two weeks while cigarette smokers smoke cigarettes, what, every two hours? I'm no scientist but I'm not seeing how it all adds up.

But anyway, that conversation got me in the mood for hookah so a friend and I popped over to Chi-Cha on U Street for their hookah happy hour. $10 hookah and $5 drinks hallloo! We mixed guava and peach and ordered a vodka martini, a mojito (what's with my mojito kick?) and the empanada trio (oopsies clean eating cheat) and really enjoyed ourselves. The mojito was fine- I've had better but trust me I've had much worse. I also like their sangria, it's sweet and fruity. There is always some kind of weird nudey movie playing on the TV which is kind of distrating but I guess it goes with the wall decor which includes paintings of boobs and coochies. There were only a few other people there but service was still slow as the bartender and the manager were chit chattin away at the end of the bar. But hey, hookah and mojitos are meant to enjoy slowly and chilled out so it's fine. We each had two drinks, the empanada trio and a hookah for a grand total of $30.

Here's the happy hour menu:

Happy Hour at Chicha

Yesterday an old friend had her birthday happy hour at Vinoteca in Columbia Heights. With a front and back patio, it was the perfect place for this amazing weather we've been having. We congregated out back on the bocce court and took advantage of their happy hour specials: $5 wine, $5 Peroni drafts, $6 sangria and discounted little food plates. The food was fine (not great but fine), and of course I tried the red and white sangrias which were pretty much wine on ice with some fruit thrown in which may be what some people like, but I have been spoiled by many happy hours at La Tasca (hello pineapple sangria with WHISKEY). This is a great place for groups as you can stand or sit and there is plenty of space out back. There was only one bartender so we did a lot of waiting, but at places like this I think the point is to enjoy the atmosphere, not get all the way turnt up. In conclusion: good for groups, good for wine drinkers, great patio, not a turn up happy hour place, and we did leave pretty hungry. Important side note- GREAT clean bathrooms.

Stole this picture from Brightestyoungthings.com since I forgot to take pictures. Just look at this patio!

Euro Happy Hour at Vinoteca

Friday, August 16, 2013

The other day I got an email from a friend that said "thought you should know about this" and included this link. I almost SCREAMED WHEN I CLICKED ON THE LINK. Holy smokes someone went through every happy hour in DC and organized them by neighborhood and day of the week!!! Thank you, Jesus, for this answer to my prayers. See this list of over 500 DC Happy Hours.

Also if you ever email me something this life-changing feel free to include a little more exciting language such as "911" or "don't even think about deleting this email". Seriously.

The Greatest Tool for DC Drinkers

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Thursday night I had a friend in town and we wanted to get boozy. I also wanted to convince him to move from NYC to DC (yeah right but worth a try), so what better way to do this than show him one of DC's finest attributes: Happy Hour. We went to Nellie's for the Beat The Clock Happy Hour and whooaaaa. My friend and I are pretty particular about our beer (only ice cold Bud Light please) so we hit the $15 Bud Light buckets, while everyone else enjoyed $2 vodka drinks. Yeah it got fabulously ridiculous, but that's the great thing about Nellie's- you're never the most ridiculous person there and with the outdoor patio and ample indoor space there is plenty of room to get this way. If I had to rank bar staffs I'd put Nellie's at #1. I have never had a bad experience here, always fast, friendly and a little sassy. If my friend decides to move here, I owe it all to Nellie's.

Here's the breakdown of the Beat the Clock Happy Hour:
Bottles of Miller Lite, House Vodka Drinks
5:00-6:00: $2.00 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
6:00-7:00: $3.00 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7:00-8:00: $4.00

And their nightly specials: