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The Lazy Ox Canteen Happy Hour By Tara Redfield
Dear Love,
Twenty minutes on the Metro and ten minutes walking the pedestrian free streets of downtown Los Angeles later, Cheyenne and I were seated at a purple faux-marble table on The Lazy Ox's patio. I had been wanting to eat here for a few months. Praise, praise, and more praise was all anyone could give it. There I was at their happy hour, you know, to sample the goods, before committing to a full on meal.
The happy hour menu, a small piece of paper with five items typed cleanly onto it "5 @ 5", sat calmly before us. I picked it up as my eyes reached for the words. Almonds & feta, mixed marinated olives, blistered shishito peppers, fava puree with olive oil and garlic, and chilled eggplant dip with perilla and sesame. "It would be absolutely perfect if I were a vegetarian," was my first thought. Although I was disappointed about the lack of meat on the menu, the almonds & feta sounded interesting, as did the chilled eggplant dip.
Vegetarians, Cheyenne and I are not, so we browsed the dinner menu to get our meat fix. Beef tartare, the rawest of red meat, happened to be listed. That would do just fine.
As for libations, the options for happy hour were a bit limited. One beer, one red, and one white. I'm a white wine fanatic, but I thought since we were indulging in beef tartare, which I have never had before, I ought to go red for the evening. Cheyenne went with the brew special.
The almonds & feta were good, but I didn't know if I should eat them with my fingers or a fork. The almonds were dusted with a spices, which went nicely with the cool feta. They were a very gourmet version of beer nuts.
I knew that ordering the chilled eggplant dip was a risk. Eggplant is a delicate vegetable and is too often not prepared correctly. The hummus-like dish was served alongside toasted squares of bread for dipping. The flavor of the eggplant was hard to detect throughout the one too many powerful squeezes of lemon juice.
My first time tongue dancing with beef tartare was not as big a deal as I was imagining it to be. Kind of like losing my virginity. I thought it might be scary and weird, but it just tasted like meat usually does, but at a cooler temperature. The ricotta cheese topping was a nice addition. Most meat doesn't come with that.
My final word on The Lazy Ox happy hour, is that maybe the Ox was just lazy that day? I know this place has a good reputation and I don't want to argue that, but I think they could have jazzed up the happy hour menu a teeny bit...it just needed some meat!
XX,
Tara
241 S San Pedro St
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