Kona Grill - Stamford, CT

For all the great happy hours in Stamford, there’s one category that’s sadly under-represented: Happy-Hours-With-Food (Henceforth referred to as HHWFs). These are, of course, happy hours in which the discount extends to food items as well as drinks.

Now I know what you’re saying: “But Ryan, C.J. McDouchenstein’s has 50 cent wing nights on Wednesdays!” True, and I love me some wing night, but it doesn’t do me much good on a Friday. A HHWF, by definition that I’m currently making up on the spot, is a happy hour that discounts food every day (weekends, of course, notwithstanding).

Think about it a bit. In Stamford, it’s pretty easy to find a 4 dollar beer on a weekday afternoon, but decidedly more difficult to find a corresponding $5 appetizer. Enter Kona Grill.

Being that it’s located A. in the Stamford mall, and B. across the street from mega-companies like UBS, Kona Grill is a bit of a haven for yuppies and jailbait high-school chicks. But for a HHWF, my friends, we’d gladly enter the gates of Mordor.

We arrived at Kona this past Friday afternoon after spending the afternoon shirtless, throwing rocks at each other and swilling light pee beer. This may have been part of the reason our waiter hated us. But that’s neither here nor there – we wanted sushi and Sake bombs, stat.

Sake bombs at Kona’s happy hour are $7.50, and we had enough for three people to do two rounds apiece. Now, is Sake and Japanese rice beer as good as a cold IPA? No, but it’s insanely cheap, it’s fun to do something different and I like the feeling when your Sake cup smashes into your front teeth. So there.

For dinner, I ordered a fiery shrimp roll and twin mini-burgers with fries off the happy hour menu. The fiery shrimp roll was just spicy enough (Sriracha ftw), with good flavor and a satisfying shrimp crunch. The burgers were bigger than I expected and surprisingly good, with well-seasoned beef, a tasty bun and a nice pile of     shoestring fries. The combined price of my dishes: $8.13.

You can find better sushi in Stamford. You can find a better atmosphere. You can find a much better beer list. But I defy you to beat $10.38 for a sushi roll, twin sliders, fries, and two rounds of Sake bomb. It’s a HHWF, baby! And that’s exactly why Kona Grill has one of the best happy hours in Stamford.

But there’s one other aspect where Kona truly stands alone. Their HHWF starts at [4] 3, ends at 7 – and starts up again at 10. That’s right; Kona is crazy enough to give out discounted food and drinks from 10 til close on a Friday night. I think I’m turning Japanese.

Sayonara,

Ryan

Black Bear Saloon @ Stamford

Stamford, CT
http://www.blackbearstamford.com/

Menu

Happy Hour: M-F 4-7pm
$3 drafts & wells, other daily food specials

In nature, a brown bear is more likely to attack you for territorial reasons. They think you’re messing with their babies; and they don’t like that kind of thing. Play dead and start praying. On the other hand, if a black bear attacks you, you’d better try to fight it off - it’s more than likely trying to eat you.

Exactly one week ago, however, it was we that were eating the Black Bear, in Stamford’s Columbus Circle. While I was much chagrined to learn that seared bear loin was not available on the menu, I found solace in a huge cheeseburger, which I proceeded to rip from limb to limb like a black bear (Ursus americanus) might a wayward hiker.

We went on a Tuesday, which was 2 for 1 burger night. There are two ways to go about this deal:

1. Maximum Gluttony. Be a man and order two burgers for yourself for the price of one.
2. Gentlemanly Restraint. Eat one burger and pretend to be full afterwards.

I’d like to tell you we fought the good fight and chose option 1. I’d like to tell you that. But prison is no fairy tale world.

Whoops, got caught up in Shawshank Redemption.

Yes, dear friends, myself and my 3 companions each enjoyed one of Black Bear’s fine burgers. I went with the Bleu Cheese Bacon Burger. The beef was tasty and tender, high-fiving the bacon and seesawing back and forth over my palette with its good friend, Bleu cheese. I also decided to have sweet potato fries as opposed to its more traditional counterpart because hey: I’m crazy like that. They were quite good.

All I ask is 3 beers apiece for each of my coworkers. Damn it, Shawshank. Black Bear had the dubious task of being the next Restaurant/Bar review following Monster B’s and their bevy of beer, and the difference in selection is obviously huge. But really, as long as they have one beer you really like, it’s not so bad, huh? So the four of us went with the always satisfying Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. And pints were just $3 all night. Score.

Here’s the beers that were on tap:
Bass, Bud light, Budweiser, Guinness, Magic Hat Circus Boy, Miller Lite, Sam Adams Winter Lager, Shocktop, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Stella Artois,

A few other things:

Every one of their booths running across the back wall has its own TV. We watched the Yankee game and laughed gregariously at the miserable job the closed caption guy was doing. “Alex Rodriguez is dalkgdan 2 gor 4 tonihgty.” That kind of thing. Good comedy.

Also, we were able to knock 10% off the bill with the iShop Stamford Downtown card (http://www.ishopstamforddowntown/). How’s a huge burger with fries and two Sierra Nevadas for about $12 plus tip sound?

Black Bear has deals Sun-Wed every week, and that’s a great time to check the place out. Good food, good beer, what more could you want? Maybe the opportunity to lasso a bear, but now I’m splitting hairs.

In the battle of Food vs. Beer, it is hereby decreed that Black Bear is…

A food place! Go around 6-7 and enjoy it before it gets annoyingly clubby.

-Ryan

Monster B's

Stamford, CT
http://www.monsterbs.com/

Food Menu / Draught Beer Menu / Bottled Beer Menu

Happy Hour: M-F, 4-8pm
$3 draught pints, Half-priced appetizers

If you’re a 20-something living in Stamford, you may not be aware of this, but there are bars outside of the Downtown area. That’s right, it’s true. One such place is a little slice of heaven called Monster B’s, located on Glenbrook Road.

What’s so special about this place?

First and foremost, it’s the beer selection. With 30 beers on tap and more than 180 bottled, there’s plenty of room to explore. In fact, last year they won a “Best of the Gold Coast” award for their incredible beer selection! If you come here and order a Bud Light, you should be ashamed of yourself.

Second, they have a friggin' party bus. That's right, you can call Monster B's and have them pick you and your friends up for a ride to the bar. They'll even give you a ride back. I'm not sure of the details exactly, but I've got to say this is one of the greatest ideas of all time. Even better than the Keytar. Check out the website for more details.

Third, the music selection is surprisingly tolerable. Albeit, at one point we were subjected to Hole and the nauseating quasi-musical stylings of Courtney Love, but the rest of the tunes were A-OK. Live, Soundgarden, Foo Fighters – that sort of thing.

This might seem a minor detail, but at Brickhouse, an overcrowded bar with an irresistible Wednesday deal that we’ll chronicle soon, the music has me thinking homicidal thoughts. Lady GaGa, Pitbull, Sean Kingston – a who’s who of people we’d like to see put in a space shuttle and shot towards the sun.

But I digress. We went to Monster B's for Happy Hour, which just may be the best in Stamford: $3 for every beer on draught, and half-price for most appetizers. I had the loaded nachos; $9.99 normally, $5 at oh-so-beautiful happy hour. They were super cheesy and loaded with chili. I’ve had better, but they certainly hit the spot. My beers were a Great Divide Titan IPA, A Brooklyn Brewmasters Reserve Cuvee de Cardoz, and Abita Purple Haze. Three totally different beers, all satisfying. This is the place to go to discover something new.

[ Kyle interrupting here] I also had a Great Divide Titan IPA, but followed it with a Lagunitas IPA and a Captain Lawrence Captains Reserve Imperial IPA. I guess you can figure out that I like IPA’s (That’s India Pale Ale if you were wondering)… In the food department I had a dozen wings doused in Monster B’s own Hero Sauce. I was warned by the waitress about the heat level of this sauce but did not waiver from my decision. Hot damn! Those were hot. Tasty, but scorching. If you’re not familiar with hot sauce, don’t be a Hero. [Done, just had to say my piece]

‘Twas a hootenanny of a good time. How can you go wrong with 3 flavorful beers and a plate of nachos for $14? You just can’t. But this is Food Plus Beer. Every establishment has an emphasis. Are you coming to Monster B’s mainly for the grub, or for the Tedy Brewskis (look it up, non-football fans)? The tribe has spoken. In the case of Monster B’s…

Food vs Beer?

Beer wins. Fatality.

-Ryan

*Since the draught beers aren't updated on their website check out the comments to this post for the beers available when we went on 8/26.