Today's Featured Happy Hour: Twist

When: Tuesday 4pm-midnight
       Wednesday 4pm-7pm 10pm-midnight
         Thursday 4pm-7pm 10pm-midnight
         Friday 4pm-7pm
         Saturday 4pm-7pm

Where: 2313 1st Ave

Cost: Twenty for $2.50

10 appetizers including salmon cakes, tempura prawns, and jalapeno wontons.
10 drinks including rotating red and white wines, Bud Light, and lemon drops.

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Purple-toned Twist Restaurant & Lounge looks better when it's dark. Even the crowd gets more stylish as the night wears on, especially in the back bar area, near the big disco pig. Don't let these particulars discourage you from coming to Twist's happy hour (4–7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday) for fresh cocktails, $2.50 Bud Lights (24 oz.), and small plates. The list of $5 drinks made with house-infused spirits is extensive. Both the Pineapple Kazi (pineapple-infused vodka with muddled lemons and limes) and the Cutini (melon-infused vodka with muddled cucumbers) are sweet and good, and the Twist Margarita and the Cinnamon Senorita (blood-orange and cinnamon infused tequila with fresh lime) are nicely sour. You can tell the bartender cares about making inventive cocktails—the colorful liquor infusions in jars above the bar are testament to that. Unfortunately, the same care is not taken with the food. Our $2 once-frozen French fries were devoid of flavor, as were the monochromatic veggie spring rolls ($2) with their ginger plum sauce (which tasted bottled). Our advice: Get a few orders of the tiny salmon cakes ($2 for two) and an order of the steamed clams ($5). They're pleasing—though you'll get no bread to soak up the clam's salty sauce, so consider yourself warned. Another easy-on-the-pocket cocktail should assuage your disappointment in no time. MOLLY LORI

This Happy Hour profile originally ran in the August 9, 2006 issue and has been slightly modified.

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Today's Featured Happy Hour: Shucker's

When: 3-5 p.m. Mon-Fri
Where: 411 University St.
Cost: 50-cent oysters, $2 margaritas

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Near the very top of the list of things a person shouldn't ever get for cheap are oysters—unless a person is getting cheap oysters at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel's Shucker's during happy hour. Monday through Friday from 3 to 5 p.m., they're a paltry 50 cents each, and because Shucker's does top-notch seafood, you know they're not going to serve last week's catch. (Perhaps the only other exception would be if a person were getting them at Flying Fish's happy hour, where they go for a ridiculous 25 cents each.) "Big or small oysters?" the gentleman bartender asked us. Fulfilling our request for the latter, he brought us an iced platter decked out with a few raw Kumamotos on their half-shell, as well as some sweet little babies from Penn Cove and elsewhere, and some mignonette sauce and lemons. Sure, we felt giddy enjoying a dozen bivalves for just six bucks, and the Sauvignon blanc ($4; you might opt for a $2 beer or margarita) didn't help, but the dark-walled, library-esque Shucker's is the kind of place that inspires composure and reserve. You'll need that extra dose of dignity when the bartender places a giant goblet of the kitchen's gratis house-made cheese crisps in front of you. Remember, you're already enjoying oysters at an absurdly low price; should you really reach for yet another irregularly shaped sheet of spicily baked parmesan? LAURA CASSIDY

This Happy Hour profile originally ran in the April 26, 2006 issue.

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Today's Featured Happy Hour: Viceroy

When: 5-8pm Everyday
Where: 2332 Second Avenue
Cost: $3 well drinks and dollar off topshelf
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Second Avenue offers a wide variety of drinking holes, and Viceroy is among the snazziest. One of Linda Derschang's joints, this place offers the same familiar coziness (and taxidermied heads) as Linda's, but with a bit more swank: square leather couches, clean lines, and a reliable preponderance of good-looking hipsters. Happy hour is an easy 5–8 p.m. daily, with $3 well drinks and $1 off top-shelf cocktails. Stopping by after work, two friends and I tipped back a few tasty vodka tonics ($6) and indulged in a smattering of appetizers, including delectably briny olives with rosemary and lemon ($4), and salty good Spanish almonds ($4). The showstopper was the roasted red pepper hummus, which we dipped into using crispy, addictive La Panzanella flatbread ($6). We polished off a pleasing cheese plate (Brie, cheddar, and Stilton, $8), though we'd hoped for a more exotic selection, the seasonal drink menu features a selection of distinctive concoctions including the Widow's Kiss, made with Applejack, Chartreuse, Benedictine, and bitters, and a new-fangled Old Fashioned, crafted with Woodford Reserve bourbon, orange, sugar, and bitters (both $7). These warming liquid indulgences, paired with some nice nosh (and a nice view), enhance this hot spot, making it a perfect place to while away an hour or so after work. ADRIANA GRANT

This Happy Hour profile originally ran in the December 20, 2006 issue. 

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