Grape Kool-aid, a Throwback to Your Childhood

It's been too long. I know we've missed each other. Let's celebrate another post on the HH505 website (yes, it finally happened) with learning how to make a Grape Kool-aid.

1 shot(s)	Grape Pucker
1 shot(s)	Triple Sec
2 shot(s)	Vodka
1 splash(es)	Sprite

Mix together in a glass and drink. Tastes just like grape kool-aid.

And there we have it kids! Childhood memories with an adulthood twist! Now let's have some drinks.

sum sum summertime

Due to the overwhelmingly packed summer schedules of Mr. Green and Mirevj, we're pretty behind on our group happy hour outings. I, on the other hand, have been keeping up with my commitment to happy houring in the 505. From Tuesday wing nights at Monte Vista to Wednesday $2.50 pint nights at Copper Lounge, I've been out there-- just neglecting to blog about it.

It's been especially hot in the 505 these days, so my current number one recommendation is a cool drink on the patio of Blackbird Buvette. As Mirevj noted earlier this summer, Blackbird has a charming patio and a lovely menu. Try the brie quesadilla with a pint of Marble Wildflower Wheat. You won't regret it. Gecko's in Nob Hill also has a nice patio, but you may have to wait for a table. O'Neill's has a great patio, but expect high prices and interesting clientelle. If you're feeling somewhat ritzy, I'd recommend Seasons rooftop Cantina. It's affordable during happy hour (Monday - Friday 4:00-6:30 and again from 9:00-10:00) and the calamari is delicious.

In other happy hour news, I'm dying to try out Artichoke Cafe's new happy hour deals. Artichoke has always been my favorite fancy dining location in Albuquerque. Hopefully my Happy Hour 505 co-bloggers will get their priorities straight soon and we'll check it out for you all. Until then, happy patio-ing!

The New Happy Hour in the 505 Tasty Treats

Since the poor blog has been a wee bit neglected I'd like to add a new little piece to our reviews.

As a former bartender, I believe the savvy bar hopper should not only know which places to go to throughout the week, but should also know how to make their favorite beverages at home. So, I'd like to start posting one drink recipe each week along with bar reviews (Yes, there will be a new one soon. I promise!!).

This week, I'll start with one of my favorite things to drink and to make. It can be shaken and strained to make a shot or strained over ice to make a tasty little drink.

Red-headed Slut
1 part Jagermeister
1 part Peach Schnapps
2 parts Cranberry Juice
*I like to finish mine with a squeeze of lime but that's just me.

Pour all ingredients into a shaker with ice. Shake and strain to make a shot or pour over ice to make a drink.

Sweet, fun and a little crazy- Just like we like 'em!

A Diamond in the Downtown Rough

I'll just come right out and say it- I like to go downtown on the weekends. I like to go dance, watch the frat boys get crazy and see the homies cruising around with their spinnin' rims. I will say however, that you can only go to Distillery and have your $2.50 Jager shots for so long before you start looking for another great place to go get a decently priced drink, perhaps without the drunk kids yelling and going on.

We have found that place. The Blackbird Buvette- a beautiful oasis in the downtown noise.
(Buvette (boo-vet)- French meaning "Refreshment Bar")

I had gone there once before this weekend for an Abq Web Geeks meet-up but I didn't get to stay long enough to give this little gem a real review. This past Saturday we spent the majority of our evening there enjoying the great staff, awesome priced drinks and super-cool hidden back patio.

The small patio in the front would be enough to give any people watcher a whole evening of fun. The back patio is a little different. Once you walk out the door it's like you've taken a secret passage and been transported to a big city. Towering buildings with exposed brick walls surround you a pergola provides great shade and nichos, complete with veladoras, bring back a little Nuevo Mexico to the big city feel.



They offer a great menu including breakfast, and drinks will not put a huge hole in your wallet, in fact a round of drinks for my friends only cost me $21 (much more affordable than a Moloneys or Lotus). They have a full bar and offer lots of beers on tap, wine and one of my favorite vodkas- Hanger.

The staff was friendly, energetic and knew how to make a great drink. They handled our big party well and even had a minute or 2 to come take a picture and dance with us. Finally, they had a great DJ inside playing music that made you want to get up and get moving. (Click here for the live entertainment shedule)

All in all I'm VERY impressed with this awesome little place. I'll definitely be stopping in again for a drink, some food and maybe try out the front patio this time. :)

I'm backkkk...with some haikus

After a few beers and a dare to write a haiku using an f-bomb, I created this masterpiece. Not only does it fit the proper 5-7-5 format but it also describes the number 1 reason for attending happy hour. 

The topic for the previous haiku was the happy hour clientele. I mean, we've all had our fair share of uncomfortable encounters at happy hour so I wanted to warn our readers that they wont know what to expect. We want to keep our fellow happy hour enthusiasts around. If you refer back to our blog from O'Niels, we discuss some of the interesting characters we have ran across. 

Sorry but you are going to have to turn your head for that one. I tried forever (like 10 mins) to get it formatted correctly, but that is all I was able to do :( Anyways, one of the great reasons to know where to go for happy hour is because of the wonderful dinner specials. For example, Monte Vista has $1 enchiladas on Wednesdays. That's a steal! Cant beat happy hour dinner prices. Unfortunately, it isn't like tapas in Spain where you get tapa (appetizer) when you order a beer, but hey it is the next best thing! 

Last year after I was published in the alibi's yearly haiku edition, spenatalie, mirevj and I were standing in line at Imbibe. We have had numerous terrible experiences there and never understand why anyone would want to go there. Anyways, we had an epiphany. Lets write haikus about how much Imbibe sucks. As spenatalie stated earlier, that night is what encouraged our haiku happy hour. So after months of preparation, I created the above haiku in honor of Imbibe's lameness.

Moral of this bloggg: haiku's and happy hours go together like glasses and tap beer. Also, Imbibe sucks. 

It hasn't happened before, but I would like to give you, our loyal readers, a homework assignment. Write a haiku or two and post it as a comment. You probably forgot how much fun they are!

Haikus and Hammertime

Last fall, the amazingly talented Mista G had a few haikus* published in the Alibi. Shortly thereafter, we found ourselves at Albuquerque's ridiculously overpriced and over-hyped Imbibe Cigar Bar and decided that its ridiculousness was definitely haiku-worthy. We decided that an entire haiku happy hour was in order and seven months later we finally got down to business. Here are some selected pieces from Monday night. More will come soon from my co-blogging friends.



Mista G and Mirevj's Casa de Plata Haiku Happy Hour gets an A+

* For any nerds interested (Mista G, I'm pointing at you) the plural form of haiku can be either haiku or haikus. Both are correct.

More Wine on a Monday Night!

All dressed up and nothing to do on Monday night? Take your self over to the bar at Scalo Northern Italian Grill in Nob Hill!

Picture from http://www.virtualalbuquerque.com

Scalo's Monday happy hour makes my inner wine snob jump for joy. Along with great food specials, like $5 bruschetta and $4 Calamari (the best I've had in years), Scalo offers a half-priced bottle of wine special. This means we can actually afford to get those $50 bottles we've always wanted to try, and with financial times like they are it feels good to splurge without breaking the bank.

My brother and I found a seat at the bar with some old friends and enjoyed great wine, food and coversation the whole evening. The bar and waitstaff were knowledgable, friendly and very welcoming. Sitting at this bar was almost reminiscent of my favorite place down the road... (it rhymes with Fonti Mista).

Our bartender (I didn't get his name) was like the fabled bartenders of old Vegas- he knew a martini and cosmo, opened bottles of wine and champagne with the greatest of ease and was quick with a nice word and a refill of your drink.

I will definitely be back for Wine Mondays and their other daily specials. They also have live music throughout the week including local favorites like Chris Dracup and Felonious Groove Foundation check their schedule for upcoming events here.

Ready to dance after that wine? Check out Double Time Dance Studio on Morningside for an $8 beginning Salsa lesson and open dance after you stop at Scalo.

Absence and Phoenix Makes the Heart Grow Fonder (for the 505 of course)

A small trip to another city will surely either make you wish you lived there or make you miss home. My latest adventure took me to Phoenix, Arizona. Yes Phoenix is a great place full of wonderful shopping, great sports and fun things to do but the whole time we were there we received terrible customer service and ate overpriced food.

Thus, coming back to my favorite Albuquerque hang out was a fresh cool breeze after a hot, rude Phoenix experience.

Walking into the Monte Vista is sure to make you feel better right away. 99% of the time you know at least 1 person who is there, there's a great food and drink special for that night and on Fridays you'll probably get to see a great local band.

The great drinks, amazing people and yummy food make me realize why this city (and Monte Vista) always makes me want to come back.

Angelo- trying out the new Aha Toro Margarita


Faith, Arlene and me enjoying a Monte Vista evening
Cheers!

I missed you 505!

Copper Lounge -The Trilogy

First off, shame on us for taking so long to visit our next location!

We chose Copper Lounge because of the great rumors we've heard from everyone. We've heard talk of the great food specials and the wonderfully-priced drinks.




Our 5:30 happy hour felt a bit strange, since we arrived at the bar while it was still light outside, (dang Daylight Savings Time) but we decided the quest for happy hour knowledge was more important than our own comfort so in we went! I did notice the great new patio they added on and the definite smell of smoke in the entrance from all the smokers who obviously have been enjoying their cigarettes on the new patio. (not my favorite smell but I understand the smokers have to go somewhere)

The bar was pleasantly dark and the entire ceiling in the main bar area was covered in great tin roof tiles. They were great entertainment in themselves.

We were unpleasantly surprised to find out the food specials didn't start until 7:30 so we consoled ourselves with some draft beer and vodka specials and some full-priced beef nachos. Our waitress was nice enough, the food was good and the clientele...

The Best Way to Spend a Sunday Afternoon

It's true, we normally write about the new places we've been to lately and tell you, gentle reader, about the food, drinks and merriment of each establishment. Today, however, I'd like to talk to you about an important skill every Happy Hour-er -ess needs to have in their happy hour arsenal.

It all started at my favorite place with a Captain and ginger. My brother, Mista G and myself had all bellied up to the bar.

My next drink was served with a cherry, to which Mista G gave a mischievous grin and grabbed his own cherry out of the garnish tray.

Our tradition is

1. eat the cherry
2. have a cheers with the stems
3. tie them in a knot as fast as our tongues would let us

*Yes this seems like a very middle school type of competition, but boy is it fun.

We competed a couple of times just the two of us then invited my brother to join. We soon invited the lovely bartender Nicole and her husband Steve to compete. A new waitress did the honors of counting down and we were off.

We each shoved the stems in our mouths and started twisting our tongues and faces to try to quickly bend the stem into a knot. After about 20 seconds I finished. Mista G finished next, then Nicole, Steve and my brother lagged behind still fumbling with his stem.

What better way to get everyone at the bar involved and having a good time. We all laughed and those of us who didn't finish last celebrated our victories.

Moral of the story- learn to tie a cherry stem in a knot with your mouth and practice your skill among friends. Everyone loves a little good natured competition... especially when there are drinks involved. This activity is sure to make you laugh and possibly make you some new friends. So the next time you're at happy hour and conversation is going downhill challenge someone to a cherry stem contest.

Marble...more than a rock

Let me start off by apologizing for my tardiness. I really suck at this blogging thing.

Marble Brewery-

• Nice little dive (By little I mean little...it's a good thing it was warm and people could overflow onto the patio)
• Interesting clientele (I'm not sure how I would describe this...kind of a biker bar, rough looking crowd. Don't go there expecting to find Mr. or Ms. Right)
• Delicious beer (10 different locally brewed pints of goodness on tap and ready for your consumption...I especially liked the Amber Ale)
• Friendly staff (Very attentive to customers and their needs)
• Fun, random environment (Located just north of Downtown in an industrial area)
• Reasonable pricing (I don't remember how much the beer cost so it must not have been outrageous)
  

Not sure what else to say...

Moral of this bloggg-Marble brewery for happy hour followed by First Friday Night Fractals at the museum makes for a magical time.

cave of wonders

As a professional happy-hourer, I was super pleased with our Monday evening experience at Zinc Cellar Bar. Monday happy hour is billed as “$5 Martini and Movie Mondays.” A silent film was shown on a projection screen and there were 5 different $5 martinis on the menu from 5:00-7:00 p.m.

From the $5 menu, I ordered the Passion Fruit Punch (Skyy Passion Fruit Vodka, OJ, Pineapple & a dash of grenadine) while MistaG had the French 75 (Bombay Gin & lemonade, served with a champagne float.) Both drinks were strong and delicious. Well, at least mine was delicious. Gin tastes like pine tree air fresheners smell, so I can't comment on the French 75. Our waitress was cute and very helpful. She even fixed our wobbly table when she overheard us bitching about it. Bonus points.

Daily happy hour specials include a decent selection of drinks for $3.50 (the Three Olives Cherry Limeade comes highly recommended) and happy hour white and red wine. There are also five or six fancy appetizers on special for $6, including seared Ahi tuna and crispy duck eggrolls. We ordered the buffalo chicken quesadilla and were not disappointed.

Other exciting weekly happy hour deals allegedly include:

Monday-Saturday: 5:00-7:00 p.m. - $3.50 Fat Tire pints and Sauza margaritas, $3.50 house sangria, $4 red and white wines, $6 appetizer specials

Tuesday: 5:00 p.m. - midnight - $7 for a pint of tap beer, pretzel and bratwurst. Count me in.

Wednesday: 5:00 p.m. - midnight - 20% off bottles of wine with free cheese platter. Yes. A whole platter of cheese. I will definitely be investigating this ASAP.

Thursdays and Saturdays offer exciting live music. Elaine and I saw a hot boy play music at Zinc once. Maybe you’ll luck out. The winter schedule is posted below.

Overall Zinc HHG: A
+ Extra credit for the informative Web site.

Slate Street Cafe... Where the Food is Expensive and the Waiters are High....

To begin our little adventure, it was a Friday evening and hanging out with Mama E was the best thing to do for HH (which is always very fun). My lovely team member MistaG came with and we ventured off to Slate Street Cafe.

The ambiance is great, you walk in and think... this place will be expensive.

We sat down, (Mom, sister, MistaG and me) and our waiter approached... he had a crazy little look in his eye and a smile that was a little too droopy. After a confused exchange, we finally ordered some wine and a couple appetizers.

I didn't notice at first, but after we ate, MistaG pointed out eyes that were a little too low and he had a laugh that came a little too quickly...

My $14 pasta was okay and the Malbec served(and recommended) by our waiter actually was tasty... all in all expensive but good wine... worth checking out if you're trying to impress a date.

$$$ Bring your credit card
Waiters- some are cute and 1 was definitely not of the normal mind set...
Crowd- dates, groups celebrating and families

P.S. There is a fancy little wine bar difficultly located atop some treacherous stairs.

Ooops

I forgot to mention to very important details of our adventure to O'niell's.

1. Watch your shizzz. A friend of Spenatalie had her car broken into in the parking lot of O'niell's. It is situated in a rather strange neighborhood. It's not quite Nob Hill but it's not quite the barrio either. I guess they do have some parking lot security but it is minimal. Just be aware of whats goin on.

2. We got into a long discussion about how to classify a diamond. Is a square turned on a diagonal considered a diamond? The answer is yes.

Dictionary.com explains that a diamond is "an equilateral quadrilateral, esp. as placed with its diagonals vertical and horizontal; a lozenge or rhombus.

-and-

any rhombus-shaped figure or object oriented with its diagonals vertical and horizontal" This conversation started because there is a diamond mirror between the bathrooms so this conersation was not completely random.

The two apostrophes in O'Niell's make me nervous.

Love of my life Mista G did a nice job expressing our notes on O'Niell's. But I feel they are worthy of being posted in their original form.

Overall O'Neill's Happy Hour Grade (HHG): C-

it wasnt great. it wasnt terrible

So after a long hiatus from the happy hour scene, I decided to over indulge yesterday.

The journey began on a Wednesday afternoon after a rough day on the job full of meetings and presentations. My friends and I had been busy working hard all day (by busy working I really mean chatting on gmail) so after work we decided to relax a little by sippin' on a few brews at Nob Hill's favorite step child, O'niell's. It started out sounding like a wonderful idea until I arrived.

As I turned from Central onto Washington my hopes were building with anticipation. I could tell right away that the parking lot was full and I was beginning to think "Hey, this place could become my new favorite bar." I parked my car, checked my hair, splashed on too much cologne and swaggered my way inside. This place was hoppin...with dudes on the border of their midlife crisis and chicks approaching menopause.

I arrived before the rest of my entourage(expected since they are all chicks) so I sat in the only table that was available in the back corner of the bar. The waitress was very punctual in arriving to ask for my first drink order. I asked the very stupid question of "Do you have any specials?" I guess I guess got the answer I deserved when the waitress rudely answered "Its happy hour" and then spouted off 4 or 5 beers that were on special. After hearing the minimal specials offered, I was trying to figure out why everyone was there.

My friends slowly started trickling in making me look like a pimp(or homo) and their orders were taken in a timely manner. We all ordered a $2.75 pint of beer from the happy hour specials cuz that's about all that was offered. So as were were all sitting there, we began to take notice of the people around us. Its pretty safe to say that the average age was 40+ and consisted of about 70% men and 30% women.

I didn't order anything off the food menu; however, two of my amigas did. One ordered the fried pickles, which sounds absolutely disgusting to me, but from what she says they were delish. Spenatalie ordered a $7 Cesar salad that resembled a side salad from the dollar menu at Wendy's rather than a salad you would get at a restaurant. Needless to say, she was disappointed with her decision :(



O'niells definitely has some entertaining people watching. There is nothing like watching Santa work his game. There were two women at the table that was diagonal across from us. One of them had been giving me the eye the whole night and the other kinda resembled a principal. Well, they were chatting and over strut TWO men who resembled Santa Claus. I guess they needed some help in the North Pole and were trying to find a Mrs. Claus. That was probably the highlight of the evening at O'niell's.

Some of you might be wondering about the ambiance y todo. Well, it is supposed to be an Irish pub. However, in my opinion nothing about it resembled an Irish pub. The lights were bright. The floors were sterile. The decor was lame. There is one painting that I did appreciate. It reminded me of Charlie the Unicorn.

The bathrooms are situated in a poor location. They aren't in a secluded corner. They aren't very private. Its almost like they are the focus point of the main dining area. There is a table that is placed in a very unfortunate spot right next to them so whenever the men's door opens the patrons can see right into the mirror that reflects the urinals. Its pretty terrible really.

In conclusion, I wouldn't go out of my way to go back, but I also wouldn't stay away forever. It wasn't great but it wasn't terrible. The staff and the people watching were sufficient but the specials and the ambiance needed some help. I hope for O'niells sake that the patio really brings in business during the summer because I doubt anything else will.

Moral of this bloggg-Go to Chama River on Wednesdays because it is $2.50 pints for their delicious brews.

Hello and Cheers!

This whole idea started after my wonderful friend Natalie suggested we start a blog about one of our favorite subjects, happy hour! So here it is:

This blog will cover the great places and evenings for happy hour in Burque along with our other various escapades.

A few things to note when reading this:

1. I am unabashedly biased toward my favorite place of all time, Monte Vista. It's like Cheers, everyone knows your name, the bartenders are nice, Fridays have good music and they have great drink and food specials.

2. I am a Nob Hill girl. Rarely will you see me venture out of the Nob Hill/Downtown/Old Town area, but when I do the Uptown and (once in a blue moon) the Heights is where you'll find me. (NEVER on the Westside sorry vecinos!)

3. It's all about having a good time and- you drink, you drive, you lose... call Greg with Yellow Cab- he'll come get you! 505.489.8216

So welcome and happy reading!
Cheers!
ME


*** IF YOU THINK IT'S GOING TO BE AN EXCEPTIONALLY WILD NIGHT DO NOT EAT SPANISH RICE. IT'S NOT A GOOD IDEA.***