THE HORNET
76 Broadway, Denver
4403 Lowell Blvd.
Denver, CO 80211
Category: Restaurant > American
Region: Northwest Denver
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1000 Grant St.
Denver, CO 80203
Category: Hotels and Resorts
Region: Central Denver
950 Pearl St.
Boulder, CO 80302
Category: Restaurant > Central American
Region: Boulder
980 Grant St.
Denver, CO 80203
Category: Bars and Clubs
Region: Central Denver
1735 19th St.
Denver, CO 80202
Category: Restaurant > Brewpub
Region: Downtown Denver
1553 Platte St.
Denver, CO 80202
Category: Restaurant > Gastro Pub
Region: Downtown Denver
2816 E. 3rd Ave.
Denver, CO 80206
Category: Restaurant > French
Region: Central Denver
303-777-7676
Happy-hour hours: 4-7 p.m. daily, 10 p.m.-close Monday-Thursday and Sunday, 11 p.m.-close Friday
Happy-hour deals: $2.50 bottles and wells, $3.50 calls and house wine, $1 off draft beers, $3 appetizers menu in the afternoon; $5 à la carte menu (including burgers and nachos), $2.50 drafts, 2-for-1 shots (limited) at night
A Sobo anchor before there was a Sobo, the Hornet is a go-to place for cinema fans heading to the nearby Mayan; Wash Park and Baker regulars; and just about anyone looking for a good time — and good deals. Working an unusual tide-like rhythm, the place fills to standing-room-only capacity before emptying out when a movie starts, then starts all over again. Time it right, and you'll get a good table to go with your tapas: The $3 chicken pesto pizza and the chicken tamales are great deals in the afternoon, while a $5 burger hits the spot when you're hungry late at night.
INTERSTATE KITCHEN & BAR
901 West 10th Avenue, Denver
720-479-8829
Happy-hour hours: 4-6 p.m. and midnight-1:30 a.m. daily
Happy-hour deals: $2 and $3 canned and draft beers, $3 and $4 cocktails, $9 cooler of five beers, food $1-$3
For those of you who bemoan Denver's dearth of late-night nourishment, Interstate Kitchen & Bar is your highway straight to heaven. The retro-tooled hot spot juggles two daily happy hours, both of which offer killer deals on canned and draft beers and sharply potent cocktails, plus food specials that include the crazy-good, buck-apiece lap dogs that are the ideal counterpart to just about every liquid poison on the planet. The early happy hour is subdued, while the wee-morning gig, which draws a heavy restaurant-industry crowd (it's a great place to spot a chef) pulsates with testosterone and adrenaline.
JACKSON'S
1520 20th Street, Denver
303-298-7625
Happy-hour hours: 9 p.m.-midnight Thursday-Friday
Happy-hour deals: $10 all-you-can-drink
LoDo partiers looking to start a night strong will find their gateway to blackout at Jackson's, which features a $10 all-you-can-drink deal during its nighttime happy hour. Hordes of twenty-somethings and baseball-game-goers pack the bar and vast rooftop patio, putting down Coors Light, well vodka and Jim Beam with a vengeance while fist-pumping to the likes of Journey before heading out for more bar-hopping.
JAPON SUSHI
1028 South Gaylord Street, Denver
303-744-0330
Happy-hour hours: all day Monday, 11:30-3 p.m. daily, 4-6 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, noon-2 p.m. Saturday
Happy-hour deals: hand rolls $2.50, shrimp sushi $2.50, $3 Kirin, sake, house wines
Get in the swim at Japon, the sushi bar that's a Washington Park institution. But during happy hour, this sushi bar is also an excellent bar, where you can enjoy $3 Kirin beers, sake and house wine, and also grab a variety of $2.50 hand rolls. The only raw deal here is the fish, which is as fresh as you might feel after a few rounds.
JAX FISH HOUSE
928 Pearl Street, Boulder
303-444-1811
1539 17th Street, Denver
303-292-5767
Happy-hour hours: 4-6 p.m. daily
Happy-hour deals: $3 wines, $3-5 vodka martinis, $3 draft beers, $2 oyster shooters, $1 oysters, $3 snacks
The dollar-oyster deal alone would be enough to keep Jax in the happy-hour swim. But while that gimmick lures in some fans, both the Denver and Boulder Jax restaurants are awash with shellfish lovers and haters alike during happy hour. The highly visible patio in LoDo is a favorite place for yuppies to unwind in the summer; Boulder's outpost is popular with a raucous group of college students and recent grads. And, yes, those oysters — as well as other food specials, which were recently upgraded — slide down easy when accompanied by cheap draft beer and house-infused vodka drinks.
JONESY'S EATBAR/HORSESHOE LOUNGE
400 and 414 East 20th Avenue, Denver
303-863-7473 and 303-832-1180
Happy-hour hours: Jonesy's 5-7 p.m. Monday-Friday, 9:30 p.m.-close every night. Horseshoe 4-7 p.m. Monday-Friday.
Happy-hour deals: Jonesy's $2 off specialty cocktails, half-price wine, $3 cocktails, $2.50 Colorado drafts. Horseshoe $2 domestic drafts and $3 micros and imports, $2 wells and $3 calls, $3 wine; nightly specials
Jonesy's is a gastropub, while the Horseshoe next door is a lounge. But those aren't the names you'll use. You'll just call them "cool" when you text your crew to come to Uptown for happy hour and join you for some lamb sliders or a plate of bacon-covered mac-and-cheese fries and a can of Dale's Pale Ale. Need any more ammo? Let your friends know that both places have a wide selection of Colorado microbrews and that the ladies of Jonesy's and the Horseshoe — both owned by Leigh Jones — create a pin-up calendar every year for charity. Tip well and they'll sign your copy.
THE KITCHEN [UPSTAIRS]
1039 Pearl Street, Boulder
303-544-5973
Happy-hour hours: 5:30-6:30 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, 5:30 p.m.-close Sunday-Monday
Happy-hour deals: $5 wine du jour, $5 cocktail du jour, $4 wells, $2.50 beer du jour, $3-$13 nibbles
Each night after work, Boulder's hip, successful businesspeople climb a staircase on the west end of Pearl and converge at a long bar under flattering lighting to flirt with strangers, impress associates and socialize with other regulars. The clink of up-glass martinis and Riedel crystal punctuates a lounge soundtrack, while patrons nosh on roasted duck, house-cured pork terrine, brackish oysters, garlic fries, goat gouda mac and cheese, and sticky toffee pudding at heavily discounted prices. And if you can still handle dinner after all that, a three-course fixed-price menu is available for $26.
"Denver's 50 best happy hours" should be listing restaurants which are actually in *Denver*. Not that Brasserie 1010 isn't great, their happy hour rocks it, but Boulder isn't Denver - we have enough good restaurants in Denver that we should be able to stand on our own, rather than constantly being lumped in with Boulder.
