Los Angeles, CA 90024
(310) 208-1960www.palomino.com
twitter.com/Palomino_LA
Parking: $6 valet or adjacent pay-lots
Daily, all the time!! In the bar lounge, $4 select cocktails, ½ off select appetizers, $5 gourmet pizzas
Decisions, decisions... Since the dawn of time, humanity has been offered some truly epic choices: TURNER & HOOCH vs. K-9? 1492: CONQUEST OF PARADISE vs. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS: THE DISCOVERY? And so many more... And now, visitors to Westwood have been asked to choose between two excellent happy hours: Napa Valley Grille vs. Palomino.
Well, the good news is - the choice is easy when it's not happy hour at Napa Valley Grille since Palomino offers their sweet deals in the bar/lounge area all day, every day! And really, there's no bad news. Both joints offer gourmet appetizers as well as drink specials that you should probably be a little careful with - if commuting from Westwood to anywhere further than... your UCLA apartment or Wilshire high-rise (wouldn't it be fun to live in either?!). When JG & I write about wanting more bang for our buck, we're not writing about Napa Valley Grille or Palomino! It was a recent Sunday when work-pal Tracy and I hit up Palomino on an afternoon girl-date, following a performance of "Nightmare Alley" at the Geffen Theater (note: Sunday matinees at the Geffen should be called "Girl-Date Alley"). The musical was fun and set the tone for a wine/dine/gab-fest at the cool Palomino digs. As we were pretty freakin' hungry by the time the show was over, we quickly walked to Palomino, where we promptly ordered from their $4 cocktail, 1/2-off select appetizers, and $5 pizza menus. And I just gotta put this out there - we ate a shit ton of food and the bill (pre-tip) was under $35.
Shit-ton of food was delicious - we had the $7.50 pistachio-encrusted brie cheese with crackers, the $6 calamari, and a $5 ½ Roma Tomato, ½ Prosciutto pizza. Drinks-wise, Tracy had the tasty $4 pomegranate margarita, and I had a $4 apple-tini and $4 glass of Sycamore Cabernet Sauvignon. Both the hard liquor drinks were pretty good and standard, though at the $4 price tag, they were downright wonderful! And the wine went down very nicely, thanks to our server for her recommendation.
The crowd was totally mixed on the bar/lounge/happy hour side - couples, friends, mom & daughters, old & young - this was a happening place. And I gotta admit, I swept by the restaurant-side of Palomino and enjoyed watching everyone eat some of the same fancy food (at the same portion-size) as I was having - at full price. I guess that's the cost of fine dining? I mean, if you want Sugar-Daddy to take you to dinner, that's fine, but otherwise, come join us plebes on the happy hour side where the food's the same and the prices are, for lack of a better term, amaze-balls.
Rating: 5 Martinis
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