The Cocktail Queen is a weekly blog feature surveying Seattle’s most worthy happy hours for the discriminating lady’s post-work repose and refreshment.
Traffic … catty workmates … your friend’s wildly inappropriate Facebook post. Many things drive us to drink. And sometimes everyone is too lame for your awesome impromptu happy hour idea. Enter the at-home cocktail hour.
One of my favorite cocktails to make at home comes from Giada De Laurentiis, the Food Network’s impossibly perky host of Everyday Italian. Her Amaretto Sour with Prosecco is a tasty treat that will soon have you saying “what 520 rageathon?”
Here’s what you need:
½ cup sugar, plus a bit more for sugaring the rims
Zest of 1 lime
Zest and juice of 1 lemon, plus 1 lemon halved
3 cups of Prosecco (that’s almost the whole bottle so, you know what to do…)
½ cup Amaretto liqueur (plus a dash more to even things out. See above.)
Ice cubes
Lemon and lime slices for garnish
Before we get started, it’s important to note that if you try to use something other than Prosecco, such as Cook’s or similar $4.99 swill, you will feel sick the next day and you will deserve it. Have some respect for yourself and leave the bottom shelf alone. This drink really tastes best with a decent Prosecco. I’m not a price-point snob – my wine range is $10-$20 – but, in the case of sparkling wine you do get what you pay for, and most anything south of $8 is bum wine in this category.
1) Make some simple syrup by combining ½ cup sugar and ¼ cup water in a saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat then simmer on low for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Let it cool for 20 minutes. Or do it my way and make your man do this part while you do something less boring, such as …
2) Zest your citrus fruit and mix it with the sugar.
3) Run the lemon wedge around the rims and twist them into the sugar to frost. Pretty!
4) In a pitcher, combine Prosecco, Amaretto, lemon juice and cooled syrup. Poor into the sugared glasses over ice.
5) Garnish the glasses with a slice of lemon and a slice lime.
6) Glug, glug, glug … discuss the day’s events with Constable Kissy Whiskers. Mrow!
Through some serious experimentation, my neighbor and I discovered that this is a great drink to serve to surly mothers or in-laws who could maybe do with some light tranquilizing in your company. It works both ways though, sozzle yourself at a family holiday party while appearing to be the gracious bringer-of-drinks by taking a pitcher to undesirable get-togethers and other mandatory fun.
The beauty of this drink is that it’s so tasty and smooth that you don’t realize how tipsy you are until you’ve already downed a pitcher and the good times (or palatable times) are well underway.
Kiss-kiss, Giada!
Image courtesy: The Food Network
The Cocktail Queen is a weekly blog feature surveying Seattle’s most worthy happy hours for the discriminating lady’s post-work repose and refreshment.
One of my all-time favorite restaurants in Seattle is Mistral Kitchen. Despite being located in that creepy nether region of Westlake between 7th and 8th across the street from Little Darlings “gentlemens’” club, Mistral is one of the classiest happy hours in Seattle.
Image courtesy of Mistral Kitchen
The menu changes periodically, but when I visited recently four amazing classic cocktails were included in the happy hour offerings for $6 each. The “Diablo” was a gingered, fizzy tequila little number. Who couldn’t use that after a day of back-to-back meetings?
In addition to the happy hour featured cocktails, all house cocktails are $4 off. That’s a deal considering Mistral’s bartenders are artists of the sauce. They are dead serious about cocktails – even down to the custom-made ice cubes I’ve seen them chisel down to a perfectly square tumbler-sized cube from a giant block of ice. It was a thing of beauty.
Wine by the glass and bubbles were also a hit at my table. Only $20 for a bottle? I love when happy hours do a bottle deal. Keep that coming, everybody.
Feeling like more of a dude drink? Drafts are 50 percent off. The beer list isn’t messing around either. I sozzled down a tall Pike Weiss, which may or may not have been the best beer of my life — it’s like Manny’s and Mac n’ Jack got together and did things.
Bites! Many happy hours have a margherita pizza on the menu. And it usually tastes rubbery and boring. Mistral’s was bursting with flavor and the crust was most likely fashioned by tiny crust angels. I would have eaten the whole thing by myself if I had been alone. Lots of other tables were ordering the Thai Spiced Popcorn, which sounds amazing. We had the charcuterie and a cheese plate. Both awesome. Oysters on the half shell, manila clams with white wine and pistachio brittle rounded out the menu. Most bites were under $5. Nom, nom, nom.
Mistral has stupid-good food. The fact that they now offer a happy hour almost isn’t fair to them. It’s an amazing place to eat. The interior feels like a dark castle with multiple mysterious rooms and three kitchens. Molecular gastronomy is one of Mistral’s specialties. It’s one of the features that make the place feel like it belongs in New York – not Seattle! It’s such a treat that we were graced with the place late last year.
Maybe that’s why finding it feels like they’re trying to keep it a secret. The sign is very inconspicuous – perhaps in direct contrast to the goings-on across the street.
Happy Hour Details
Mistral Kitchen
2020 Westlake Ave
Seattle WA 98121
Daily: 5-6:30 PM
The Cocktail Queen is a weekly blog feature surveying Seattle’s most worthy happy hours for the discriminating lady’s post-work repose and refreshment.
Last week Seattle got its first shot of sun in ages and its first 75-degree day since last September! These are the conditions that activate the Cocktail Queen’s super sensitive sixth sense known as Happy Hour Patio Radar.
Image credit: Bellevue.com
With my happy hour patio antennae twitching furiously Wednesday, I was faced with that age-old summertime plight of Eastside workers – Mariner’s-game-traffic time to kill. After a lot of Googling and consulting with my sexy happy hour companion, we managed to find one of the few patio happy hours in Bellevue — Cypress. It’s an upscale wine bar and lounge at Bellevue’s downtown Westin hotel and it’s rather tucked away. Here’s how to find it: pretend like you’re going to Palamino to wait forever for a spot on their patio, then, keep walking straight past it down NE 6th Street about a block. Shzaaam! Totally open patio with plenty of free umbrella tables (and fewer D-bags).
Cypress boasts 50 Northwest wines – all available by the glass! Only a few of them are included in the happy hour menu, however. I had the 14 Hands cabernet sauvignon and the Erath pinot noir – both very good. My happy hour companion had the chardonnay and gave it a good report.
The happy hour food menu consisted mostly of various types of sliders and a few seafood items – all for $3.95. We had the Peru mini burgers, conchitas a la parmesana (scallops) and tiradito de halibut (raw halibut). Tasty! The halibut was really, really fresh. That was probably my favorite. I’m usually wary of hotel food, but everything we had was really good.
Other happy hour specials include $4.50 Northwest handcrafted brews on draft. Desserts were $8 and sounded tasty, but we didn’t get that far. Another awesomeness about this happy hour is that it goes until 7 P.M. — the perfect time to get back on the road after Mariner’s traffic has died down.
Happy Hour Details:
Daily 5 PM – 7 PM
600 Bellevue Way NE
Bellevue, WA 98004
(425) 638-1095
The Cocktail Queen is a weekly blog feature surveying Seattle’s most worthy happy hours for the discriminating lady’s post-work repose and refreshment.
Typically the Cocktail Queen loves to be shaken and stirred with a potent mixed drink during happy hour. But when it happens to be a wine day Sip is one of my favorite places to de-cork.
With locations in Issaquah and Seattle, the dark, cozy interior has a classy whimsical lodge feel that both native Northwesterners and East Coast-transplants-turn-reluctant-Northwesterners will appreciate.
Happy hour specials include $5 well drinks and half-priced featured glass pours. Small plates go for $5 and the sliders with spicy mayo are a definite must. Only three come on a plate, so order two sets if you have companions with you and you don’t want riots to break out. Venturing away from the happy hour menu to try the “Extras” is also a good idea – this is where you’ll find a tasty little business called Truffle Mac and Cheese. This is your dinner, so just do it.
The wine list features many wonderful local wines as well as far-flung greats. If you’re on the fence choosing a glass, ask the bartender for a sample. I’ve gone through as many as three generous sample pours before committing to a glass. Take your time and choose carefully!
Wine flights are also a good option if you don’t want a bottle, or you can’t decide on a glass. Split one with a friend if you’re on a budget (or just light weights).
I’ve never known the staff to be anything other than helpful, friendly and knowledgeable. Sitting at the bar rather than at a table is always your best bet for getting inside info on the wines. That little nugget of wisdom goes for anyplace, really.
Besides happy hour, Sip has awesome specials throughout the week:
Half-price bottle Wednesdays
If you’re typically a $10-$15 bottle gal like me, live out your wildest caviar dreams on half-off bottle Wednesdays! Bottles valued at $100 or less are half-off. This is a great deal! I had the La Bastide Blanche rose, from Bandol, Southern France on Wednesday – regularly $40. It was excellent, but very comparable to one of my tried and true favorites, Barnard Griffin Rose (which you can sometimes get at Costco).
Ladies night
Ladies receive half-off select glass pours all night and there’s live jazz!
Happy Hour Details:
Issaquah: Daily 4:30-6:30 PM and 9:00-11:00
Seattle: Mon-Fri 1:00-6:30 PM and 9:00-close; Sat-Sun 4:30-6:30 PM and 9:00 PM – close
