Palm Springs, CA 92262
(760) 866-1952
www.thetropicale.com
Parking: Baby, there is ample street parking!
Days: Daily
Times: 4-7pm
Drink Deals: $3 Beers, $4 Wines by the Glass, $5 Well
Food Deals: Great list of $6-11 Appetizers and $9-10 Pizzas
Breaking News: Palm Springs is hot.
But what’s a more refreshing way to cool off than a delicious Happy Hour at one of the many local offerings?! On a quick-LA-getaway weekend, Booze & Nic and I piled into a rented SUV (awesome until I paid for gas :) and headed out to Palm Springs, where we quit fearing and learned to love Palm Springs heat by way of their fun Happy Hours!We had a map of several area HH’s along with their times and opted for the slightly off-the-strip Tropicale restaurant, a tropically themed oasis recommended by pal Andy for their tasty food. Their Happy Hour menu was very promising and very much sounded like we could craft a nice Palm Springs Happy Hour dinner from it.
So we headed out from our Golden Girls-esque Palm Springs Tennis Club suite, wearing our most lightweight-wear, and actually decided to brave the outdoor seating area, of course with refreshing misters overhead. It was still pretty hot and in retrospect, the inside might have been a bit cooler, but inside seating was limited for a trio (bar seating and tables for two) , so the great outdoors was just fine.
After hearing their Happy Hour drink deals – $3 draft beers (Stone IPA, Stella, Amstel Light, and a very good Hefeweizen-type beer I can’t seem to find on the internet), $4 wells and select wines by the glass, and $5 well martinis – our gang ordered one of each: a $3 beer (the one I can’t find) for Booze, a $4 glass of Pinot Grigio for me, and a $5 Lemondrop Martini for Nic.
Hungry for dinner, we quickly placed that order too, sampling:
Sweet Potato Fries w/ Roasted Garlic Aioli ($6)
Vietnamese Shrimp Spring Rolls ($7)
Mediterranean Hummus, Tabbouleh, & Warm Pita ($7)
Gorgonzola-Stuffed Dried Plums in Crispy Bacon ($7)
Big Daddy Crispy Mac & Cheese Balls ($8)
Although the food prices were a little higher than I’m used to seeing in LA’s competitive Happy Hour market, it was also ten times better than average bar-fare – the portions were generous and the food was incredibly, incredibly good. The service was great as well with a helpful waiter automatically bringing us extra pita for the hummus!
I also loved Tropicale’s swinging soundtrack, spinning mixes of Brazilian Jazz, Scott Joplin, and cumbia-style music – definitely a soundtrack to make you feel like you’re on a Palm Springs getaway weekend!
Can’t wait for my next trip, where I’m hopefully able to make even more use of my Happy Hour maps!
--JB
Rating: 4.5 Martinis
