Downtown Restaurant & Bar

The entrees at Downtown Restaurant & Bar are in the double digits, which usually doesn’t freak me out that much except when the portions are appetizer-size. Downtown just isn’t the kind of place where I’d order food because you get very little bang for your buck. The drinks, however, are another story altogether.

First of all, the décor is definitely worthy of double-digit prices, especially the beautiful oak bar which is my favorite place to sit. And the huge windows along the front wall let in tons of light and make for wonderful people-watching, especially on those blue-sky Berkeley days when everyone is doing their downtown business with an extra skip in their step.

I don’t know how we ended up here for a drink, but I think it was one of those nights when we decided we were going to “splash out, whatever it takes” (a favorite phrase which means we’re ready to lay down some dough). So, shaking nervously, we ordered two martinis without even asking the price first, and settled into some deep breathing exercises to calm us while we waited for our drinks.

The well vodka is an interesting brand that I’d never heard of and the bartender that night was friendly enough to bring us out the bottle to take a look. He was raving about the taste, and sure enough it was very tasty indeed. Fris Vodka (with one of those double-dot umlaut-thingies above the letter i) is a Danish brand that goes down real smooth.

It’s fun to sit at the bar and spy on the diners through the glass partition separating the bar from the dining room. I’d call the crowd “funky elite.” Most of them seem to be 60-something ex-hippies who have since entered the upper-middle class and aren’t afraid to flaunt it. In a funky-elegant way, that is. There’s a slight country club feel as people hob nob at different tables giving air kisses and promising to call each other. The narcissism of the Baby Boomers is alive and well in Berkeley.

If you ask real nicely, the bar staff will bring you a plate of superb sourdough bread with a ramekin of real French butter. Perfect accompaniment to an ice-cold martini with two of the plumpest olives I’ve ever tasted. They do have a few FiveBucksYouBet-worthy bar snacks on the menu, including house made potato chips for $3 and baguette with a choice of cheeses for $4. But glancing at the plates around me I wasn’t impressed.

So back to the drinks. We had a few rounds and then went back to our breathing exercises while waiting for the bill to arrive. “Splashing out, god damn it, whatever it takes,” I muttered, wincing as I glanced at the total. Surprise, surprise! Only five bucks each! Although Downtown doesn’t offer any after-work specials per se, I would definitely call time spent in their bar a very happy hour indeed.

Deets:
Downtown Restaurant & Bar (Reviews & Map)
2102 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley, CA 94707
510.649.3810
Open Tues-Sun, with late night menu Tues-Sat

6 Degrees on Solano - Albany, CA

Thank the heavens that the good folks behind 6 Degrees transformed both the physical and spiritual essence of 1403 Solano Avenue. Before they took over, the place offered the kind of prix fix twilight specials that always included Clam Chowder and Baked Filet of Sole. And the clientele seemed to match the retirement home/cruise ship ambience.

I’m not going to say that the clientele is vastly improved, but the food and furnishings certainly have. 6 Degrees is the kind of place that looks extravagant but doesn’t have extravagant prices to match. The kind of place you can go with your parents, take care of the tab, look like a mensch, and not have to eat ramen the rest of the week.

Their current happy hour is very happy indeed, especially when it comes to bar food. The well cocktails are 2-for-1, which translates as $3.00 a drink. So as you take the last sip of your first drink, you have a prearranged freshie already coming down the pipes. They have the usual four or five standard M-drinks: mojitos, martinis, margaritas, manhattans, etc. House wine and beer are four bucks, and all other drinks are $1 off.

But the small plates are where the bargains really begin. Their bar food is priced from one to three dollars. In a world of ever-escalating inflation, it’s a source of joy to see that a buck can get you a lovely tomato-and-cheese Pizzetta, and that three dollars brings an even lovelier Mediterranean Spread plate with several multi-colored dips arranged around a roasted head of garlic.

Warning: come for the grub, not the crowd. But hell, it’s Albany, whad’ya expect? Just relax, sip on an icy cold one and share a plate of Pomme Frites (hell, at two bucks a pop, order a few plates) and then head down to Oakland to get your groove on.


Deets:
6 Degrees on Solano (Reviews & Map)
1403 Solano Ave, Albany, CA 94706
510.528.1237
Happy Hour: 5pm-7pm Daily; 9:30pm-11pm Fri & Sat

Kingman's Ivy Room - Albany, CA

When you take someone to the Ivy Room for the first time, the first thing out of their mouth is usually, “I can’t believe this is in Albany!” Because when you think of the word hip, the well-manicured, pasty-white town of Albany does not usually come to mind. The Ivy Room, however, is the epitome of hip. Velvet couches, gilded wallpaper, sparkling chandeliers. And furniture that is both high-tech and retro at the same time.

The Ivy Room used to be a total blue-collar dive bar, sporting the same dark and cavernous address since the 1940’s. The drinks were cheap and the live music was raunchy and loud. Then Mr. Kingman, of Oakland’s Lucky Lounge, took it over in 2006 and redid the interior, top to bottom. Swapped the live music for DJs (with bands still booked every now and then), dolled up the décor, and put in windows to lighten the place up.

The only thing that didn’t change was the drinks: as cheap as yesteryear. The happy hour here is nightly (gotta love it) and extends from 5pm to 8pm for the commuting cubicle-dwellers. But the best part is that all well drinks are $3.00… dirt cheap by any standards. And the pours are extremely friendly (their tequila shots are served in a double-fisted tumbler).

A usual night will have us chatting with the friendly bar-peeps about the latest electronica (the tunes here are always awesome) or Robert Downey Jr.’s newest flick or whether Hillary Clinton would order the Luck-Be-A-Lady or the Poison Ivy (two of the bar’s signature cocktails).

Tonight we asked for our tequila shots shaken with lime, a request that surely would have gotten us kicked out of most establishments. But the bartender here took it as a creative challenge, whipping us up a citrus-infused concoction unlike any margarita I’d ever had. Later on an 18-piece band was set to entertain, complete with electric harps and harmoniums.

And all this on a Monday night. In Albany.

Deets:
Kingman's Ivy Room (Reviews & Map)
860 San Pablo Avenue, Albany, CA 94706
510.526.5888
Happy Hour: 5pm-8pm Daily