Slog

News & Arts

The Stranger Suggests

Critics' Best Bets
Music Arts & Food

Line Out

Music & the City
at Night

« Art and the Family | I Only Got 75 Percent »

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Chow / Drunk This Week in the Chow Section: Lindy Goes to Chiang's, Sazerac's Crazy Happy Hour, and More

Posted by Bethany Jean Clement on Tue, Oct 20, 2009 at 1:50 PM

Over in the paper-paper, Lindy West (finally) discovers the Holy Grail of Chiang's Gourmet: the fourth menu of weekend Taiwanese dim sum.

A friend and I trundled sleepily up to Chiang's one Saturday morning, 11:30-ish, for a hangover-wicking early lunch. We were feeling particularly whitey that day—moo shu was to be had, Mongolian beef, maybe even some ridiculous fried abomination like General Tso's. We were sleepy! The world was our Americanized Chinese oyster. The short-haired, vest-clad, matter-of-fact woman who appears to run the place greeted us warmly. "Do you want the special breakfast menu?" she asked, walking us to our table. "Um, okay," we responded. "But can we have the regular menu, too?" She looked at us like we were stupid.

And Bar Exam (finally) goes to happy hour at Sazerac and enjoys its insane bounty:

Bastille's Billy Beckett. Cute, isn't he?

It's 185 seats of les bon temps actively roulez-ing, with beer, wine, and cocktails priced to move at $3 to $6, and more than two dozen small plates under $10. Would grilled andouille sausage make you happy? How about gulf prawns, wood-fire-roasted with chorizo?.. The happy-hour menu boggles the mind while haphazardly circling the globe, encompassing local oysters, pulled-pork sliders, wood-fired pizzas (including the regrettably named "Funky Pizza of the Day"), beef tartare, feta-stuffed peppers.

Plus the Happiest Hour at Solo, and Chow Bio with bartender Billy Beckett at Bastille.

Fresh in Chow in tomorrow's paper: a review of Cafe Nordo's Modern American Chicken, the Chao Bistro/Chow Foods controversy, Calamity Jane's happy hour, and more!