The art of happy hour

I have come to the realization that happy hour in San Francisco is not just an event, it's an art. Sure, there are many "happy hours" around, but you have to be on the top of your game to know which are the happiest of the happy.

Downtown it's hard to find a good happy hour. Most of them end before you can get out of work, or if they are happy hours, they are $1 off of their $13 cocktails. But recently we've disovered a gem at One Market. True, it's an upscale restaurant and you can't get too rowdy in the bar, but the $2.50 pints of Stella until 7PM can't be topped anywhere else. They also have specials on cocktails, food, and even wine.

Of course the true holy grail of happy hour is when the food is free. And not just pretzels or nuts. The Last Supper Club in the Mission has bruschetta, pasta salad, and sausage available at their happy hour, along with $3 cocktails. Furthermore, every thursday they have a wine tasting with their extremely friendly and knowledgable wine manager. I've only been once, but it's on my "to return" list. In general, the Mission district happy hours seem quite generous, including great deals on sangria at Cha Cha Cha, cheap beer at Toad's, and my wife is quite curious to try the free oysters at El Rio. It's harder to get to the Mission in time for happy hour if you're working downtown, but seems like it might be worth it.

But the bestest ever happy hour has to be the one at my grandparent's house. It's tough to obtain an elite invite to their exclusive friday night martini hours, but if you should be so lucky, you'll be greeted by a wonderful martini, and even better company.