A: In what's officially LoDo, the good places for happy hour don't necessarily meet all of your criteria. For instance, Vesta Dipping Grill (1822 Blake Street, 303-296-1970) offers a hip happy hour with drink specials, great food but no food deals, and a sociable crowd but a small bar area. And McCormick's Fish House and Oyster Bar (1659 Wazee Street, 303-825-1107) has great food deals and a big bar area, but no one is likely to describe the ambience or the crowd as "hip."
Technically, Tamayo (1400 Larimer Street, 720-946-1433) is not in LoDo (the boundary is the alley between Market Street and Larimer Street), but it's the best spot in that part of town for happy hour. Called Hora Feliz, the 5-7 p.m. weekday repast includes free botanas, or Mexican hors d'oeuvres, as well as tastes of tequila when you order a margarita. It's hip, all right.
In the Washington Park area, hip is hard to come by, but the happy hours at Hemingway's (1052 South Gaylord Street, 303-722-7456) and Reivers (1085 South Gaylord Street, 303-733-8856) come as close as you're going to get on the other requirements.
