Happier Hours in Santa Monica

Simply delicious grilled mortadella with pink lady apples at FIG

What's better than a happy hour? A couple of them within walking distances of each other! This past weekend I had a birthday shindig for two of my friends, and just realized how close some of the Santa Monica hotspots are to each other. So what better way to celebrate than to grab a few discounted noshes and sips at each of the places. To add icing on the cake ~ these places have HH over weekends too so no need to race down the 10 like a maniac on a work day.

Here's the SaMo HH breakdown:

Bar Pintxo - from 4 to 7 p.m., enjoy 6 tapas for $6 (they have about 8-10 to choose from on the HH menu) plus refreshing red or white sangrias for $3 and $1.50 Stella Artois. Light and refreshing and perfect for warm and sunny weather - for the tapas I was particularly fond of the crimini mushroom cap stuffed with jamon and diced veggies as well as jamon serrano with fresh tomato on grilled bread.

FIG Restaurant (previously posted on here) - from 5 to 6 p.m. you can enjoy "FIG at Five" where five wines, five cheese dishes and five charcuterie dishes are only $5 a piece. Some of my favorites here include the fizzy Juve y Camps '04 cava (what can I say? got a weakness for sparklies), fresh goat cheese with lavender honey and the grilled mortadella with pink lady apples.

Riva (previously here) - 5 to 6 p.m. on most days (but right now, during Laker games they have HH throughout the game instead) and the deal is $3 draft beers, $4 wines and cocktails and "appetizers" at a discount (I put apps in quotes because their ~$8 happy hour pizzas can easily be a meal for one.) Some other delicoso dishes and drinks include the sparkling Sulla Riva cocktail (prosecco, campari, elderflower liqueur and lemon juice,) San Daniele Prosciutto with their famous pizza bread ($8, or $3 for just pizza bread) and the crispy squash blossoms with local bufala mozzarella, mint and oven-dried tomatoes ($6).

Last but not least, Copa d'Oro (previously here) - with a Happy Depression menu 5-8 p.m. featuring a dozen classic cocktails at $5 (partial list from Caroline on Crack here), as well as beer and wine discounts and their paninis, regularly $6-9, at $4-6. I absolutely love their Jack Rose with applejack, lime and housemade grenadine and the gingery Dark & Stormy, as well as their nutella and almond butter panini on pain de mie bread. Mmm...

And FYI, FIG is dark on Sunday & Monday, as is Copa d'Oro on Sunday. Here's to happier hours (and I definitely don't need a birthday to cheer to that!)