“Max”imizing my Happy Hour

The term “happy hour” has been used all the way back to Shakespeare, where he used the phrase to reference a scheduled period of entertainment. The use continued into the early 1900’s Navy where performers where scheduled on the U.S.S. Arkansas. It morphed during prohibition where drinking before dinner at a speakeasy became commonplace due to the fact that no one could purchase alcohol at a restaurant. Now, as we all know, it means bars, clubs, restaurants, etc offer deals and discounts on food and alcohol and it makes for a great excuse to go out.

Blue Back Square in West Hartford is prime territory for a variety of happy hours. Grant’s, Cuvee, and Fleming’s are just a few, but the other night, a friend and I ventured to Max Oyster Bar. Pretty much everything on the happy hour menu is $5, from wine, to beer, to cocktails and snacks. The menu changes a bit over time. I’ve had a sesame crusted, seared tuna burger and a small plate of roll mops (pickled herring wrapped around a pickle speared with a toothpick) for $3, neither of which are on the current menu.

The raw bar, an ice-filled table, sits in the back of the restaurant, and all of the raw seafood is shucked from there. Clams and oysters from the Atlantic coast are 3 for $5, but I prefer the sour yuzu and lime flavored salmon sashimi, completed with a slice of jalapeno. Even the non-fish options are on point. The steamed buns filled with filled with Asian vegetables or sweet and sour chicken both taste like they came from a Chinese restaurant. The broad brook beef sliders are served on a thick potato bun, are juicy, but mine came well done. The international tour continues on their street tacos, bringing a Californian flare to the blackened fish with a mango relish. The shortrib falls apart in your mouth with the darker umami flavors being complimented with a sour pickled vegetable.

The cocktails carry the same quality and complexity, all for $5. The Max Manhattan is “boozy,” with layers of sweet, wood notes, and leather from the old overholt and orange bitters. The POM margarita is refreshingly not sweet, and the tartness carries through on the El Jimador tequila. The Vertigo, a combination of amaro, ginger beer, and lime, is simple to make, but each addition adds a perspective of flavor while muting some of the stronger notes of another, the ginger taking the bitterness out of the amaro, while the lime takes the edge off the ginger.

Overall, the happy hour is straightforward and quality. Get their early as the bar fills up, and as spring is coming (we hope), get a table outside and people watch the crows of Blue Back Square.