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C’mon, Get Happy!What’s the secret of a perfect La happy hour? Master

MixoLogist Matt Biancaniello cheWs the fab With “restaurant

Week” boss Lady Stacey Sun. by jen jones donatelli

clockwise from above, left: Stacey Sun and Matt Biancaniello enjoy a happy hour cocktail at new haute spot Terrine; Terrine bartender Ryan Wainwright mixes a cocktail; octopus with toasted broccoli, burrata, salsa Calabrese, and sunflower seeds makes an exquisitely original predinner cocktail accompaniment.

Since they’re both foodies-about-town, dineL.A. direc-tor Stacey Sun and mixologist Matt Biancaniello are having a hard time remembering whether they first met at the LA Sriracha Festival or the Food GPS Fried Chicken Festival, but they both vividly remember the cocktails he made for each event: a tequila-passion fruit-sriracha drink and a blueberry concoction gar-nished with a cinnamon sugar-coated fried chicken foot, respectively.

No shocker there: One look at Sun’s and Biancaniello’s Instagram pages shows that their lives are narrated in food and drink bytes. Today, they’re talking all things happy hour at Terrine (8265 Beverly Blvd., LA, 323-746-

5130; terrinela.com), which makes a fitting setting since the restaurant recently introduced an after-hours bar menu. Sun and Biancaniello are sampling some items from the new lineup, like gooey-perfect onion soup pou-tine and croque Cubano sandwiches piled high with smoked ham, Gruyère cheese, and pickled Fresno chili relish. “You can tell [chef] Kris [Morningstar] is having fun in the kitchen,” says Sun over sips of a Plymouth gin martini. “The food he makes is soulful.”

And what better time to enjoy soulful comfort food than LA’s golden hour?

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when

you think happy hour?

Stacey Sun: With both the craft cocktail and food scenes rising at the same time in LA, we’re seeing [that movement] converge with happy hour. I’ve witnessed a huge influx of places like Terrine [embracing happy hour], as restaurants realize that people’s eating habits are shifting as far as when and how they want to eat. Restaurants are really upping their games, and happy hour is really elevated now—it’s not just Budweiser and Buffalo wings. Case in point: Komodo in Venice (235

Main St., LA, 310-255-6742; komodofood.com), where they serve authentic, Nashville-inspired hot chicken wings alongside deep-fried oxtail.Matt Biancaniello: I agree. Take a place like The Fat Dog on Fairfax: The chef trained under Charlie Trotter, and here he is offering incredible gastropub food and a lot of great craft beer specials. The potato skins with crab, hickory-smoked bacon, asparagus, and hollanda-ise are probably the standout for me. I’m obsessed with rosé, so I also love that they offer a $4 Pol Clément during happy hour. I’m more of a daytime drinker, so to have a drink at 4 or 5 pm is actually ideal for me.What’s the art of putting together a great happy

hour menu?

MB: A cross-section of [food and drink] selections that is revolving—it’s important to rotate a lot and highlight items that get people excited. It’s getting to the point that people are so schooled that they can make a lot of drinks at home, so it’s also important to offer some-thing they can’t make on their own. The Corner Door does a great job with that; at happy hour on Sundays, they offer barrel-aged old-fashioneds, and [mixologist]

taste On the town

78  la-confidential-magazine.com

“Terrine has one of the most beautiful patios in LA,” says Sun, shown here sharing a late-afternoon alfresco bite with Biancaniello. right: A best-seller at Terrine is the “gooey-perfect” onion soup poutine.

“The cool Thing abouT happy hour is ThaT iT’s The Time when

chefs and barTenders can play.” —stacey sun

Beau du Bois is always experimenting with new infusions, syrups, and bitters.SS: The cool thing about happy hour is that it’s the time when chefs and bartenders can play. A great example is Black Hogg in Silverlake (2852 sunset

blvd., la, 323-953-2820; blackhogg.com). The chef, Eric Park, gives a nod to his heritage with the “Korean Happy Meal” cocktail (a Soju shot and kimchi “sangrita” paired with a can of OB beer). You drink them all together, and there’s a playfulness to it—which is the mark of a great happy hour menu. Also, at A-Frame, their Hawaiian “Loco Moco” dish is crazy over-the-top with hambagu steak, rice, curry gravy, sunny-side-up egg, and pickled pearl onion. If you want to go on vacation through a dish, that’s the one, and it’s only $10. Price definitely still comes into play when it comes to happy hour; you can’t have an item for [more than] $15.MB: Unless it’s white-truffle eggnog, which I’ve made in the past. [Laughs]Stacey, dineL.A. launched a happy hour-themed

week in April—what was the impetus for that?

SS: When I post an Instagram photo with both food and cocktails in it, the engagement goes way up, and that’s what gave me the happy hour week idea—it’s the best of both worlds.What new projects are each of you currently

cooking up?

MB: I’m finishing eat your drink (HarperCollins)—it’s all of my cocktail recipes divided into the courses of a meal. Mia Wasilevich, a famous forager, is doing all of the photography; it’s been amazing to shoot at her home, which is like a lab for wild food. This summer, I’m also planning to do a pop-up with ocean-themed cocktails at Vertical Wine Bistro (70 n. raymond ave.,

pasadena, 626-795-3999; verticalwinebistro.com).SS: Summer Restaurant Week for dineL.A. (dinela.com) is coming up July 13–26, so we’re in the throes of planning that. We’re always looking for ways to expand the program—just like we created the happy hour-themed week, now it’s about finding the next new thing.What do you think is the next wave in happy

hours for LA?

MB: My favorite thing is to do dinners where I’m pairing a cocktail with each course, and that could be an amazing concept for happy hour. You could do cocktail flights—small tastes of different cocktails to go with the food, with infused alcohols you could pour that wouldn’t take much time [to prepare]. I think I’ll just open a place called Happy Hour and it will only be open from 5 to 7 pm; I’d work all day just to plan for those two hours!SS: That would be next-level awesome. LAC

Find Your HappY place

A-FrAMe (12565 W. Washington Blvd., LA,

310-398-7700; aframela.com): “They have a

nightly ‘luau hour’; my favorite menu picks are the

cracklin beer can chicken and the furikake kettle

corn.”—sun

CookS County (8009 Beverly Blvd., LA,

323-653-8009; cookscounty

restaurant.com): “They have a great wine list,

and all wines by the glass are half off during happy

hour.”—biancaniello

the Corner Door (12477 W. Washington

Blvd., Culver City, 310-313-5810; thecorner

doorla.com): “i can’t believe how big the happy

hour menu is; they have everything from oysters to

salads to desserts. The sticky toffee pudding is to die

for.”—biancaniello

the FAt Dog (801 N. Fairfax Ave., West

Hollywood, 323-951-0030; thefatdogla.com):

“it’s an old-school happy hour with [items like]

mini cheeseburgers, fried pickles, and beers, but it’s

elevated.”—biancaniello

terrine (8265 Beverly Blvd., LA, 323-746-

5130; terrinela.com): “The space is gorgeous;

Terrine has one of the most beautiful patios in

la. you feel like you’re coming into someone’s

home.”—sun

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