The Happy Hour Tour: Z’Tejas Southwestern Grill

South Coast Plaza
3333 Bristol St., Suite 1876
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Phone: (714) 979-7469www.ztejas.com
twitter.com/ZTejas

Parking: a big ‘ole mall lot in Orange County – plenty of free parking!
Monday-Sunday (why don’t they just say daily?!), 4 – 7 pm, $1 off drinks, 50% off delicious appetizer selection

Wasn’t life simple and fun when you could play “Meet Me at the Mall”* with its shopping sprees at Contempo Casual within the comfort of your own bedroom? As a grown-up, such simple silly pleasures aren’t as easy to come by, but lucky for JG & I – we’ve got happy hour to keep the good times rolling! And also lucky for me, I’ve got a beer maestro brother & sister-in-law who love happy hour just as much and they live near the South Coast Plaza shopping mall, chock-full of bars and restaurants that makes the poor “Meet Me at the Mall” mall look like Big Lots (not making fun, I love Big Lots!).

It was a Saturday afternoon and PB, KB, & I had just been to the Orange County Fair, where we played the on-a-budget-game, “You’ve got $10 spending money and that’s all,” and as such, we basically only had $ for an ear of corn and frozen yogurt J. The prices were high at the fair, a small beer for $7, no thanks Bob, so we were happy to head back to the homestead and hit up PB & KB’s favorite local happy hour at Z Tejas, a fancy-ish Tex-Mex chain started on the hip 6th Street in Austin, Tejas and now found in other locations in Texas, Arizona, and Salt Lake City and Seattle.

The drink specials aren’t that bomb – basically $1 off everything, BUT the appetizer deals are grand – ½ off all appetizers. And with delicious choices like:

- Grilled Shrimp & Guacamole Tostada Bites – tostada rounds with guacamole, chipotle, and

cilantro pesto marinated grilled shimp ($5 HH price);
- Grilled Spinach & Mushroom Jumbo Quesadillas ($4.50 HH price);
- and Leo’s Street Tacos – Beef tenderloin, cucumbers, topped with avocado & cotija cheese and chipotle cream sauce ($5.15 HH price),

… well, we had a great time catching up and stuffing ourselves silly (these are the simple silly pleasures, you see?). I’ve also decided my desert-island food is chips & salsa, so I was thrilled with the “bottomless” basket of chips & three salsas that were served complimentary at the bar only ($2.50 HH price not at the bar).

And props to our bartender who kept the drinks coming – 6th Street Margarita ($6 on special) on the rocks along with a draft Dos Equis for moi – as well as sensed my desert-island food choice of chips & salsa and so re-filled our primo choice salsa in a much larger soup cup that was also eaten quickly nevertheless!

The experience made me wish we had a Z Tejas around these parts so I could partake in the simple silly pleasures of eating some goooood shit and well, just getting silly.

Rating: 4 Martinis