By Dr. Ink

Babycakes
3766 Fifth Ave. (Hillcrest)
619-296-4173
Happy Hour: 5 to 8 p.m., Monday through Saturday; 3 to 8 p.m., Sundays

In a rare hankering I had for cupcakes last weekend, it was unbeknownst to me that Babycakes has a fully stocked liquor bar and a wildly packed Sunday happy hour that it calls “church.” It had been more than a year since I ducked into this patio-fronted establishment to cop a blood-orange cupcake — a delicious one at that. So when returning for an overdue fix of confection with a sweet-toothed friend in tow, we ended up gleefully swallowing down beer and wine priced at $3 per drink. The little box of cupcakes I purchased became a bedtime snack.

The bar at Babycakes runs long and narrow, though with roomy patios in both the front and back. The weekly “church” scene feels more like a festive Saturday night at Flicks, replete with a DJ. This is the crowd in which to mingle for skirting the Sunday-night blues.

Bingo! One of my favorite English brown ales, Newcastle, ranked among the discounted bottles. Despite its modern-day mass production, I’ve paid well over $3 for it in swankier establishments. If you’re looking for malt over hops, clarity over cloudiness, this chestnut-hued ale doesn’t disappoint.

My friend craved red wine and found it in the form of a decent merlot. Although amid the crush of merrymakers at the bar and the thumping din of house music, we never learned the winemaker. The atmosphere was simply too festive for a discussion in viticulture.

Well drinks of every stripe fly throughout the place. They’re also priced at $3 apiece. Savories such as paninis, salads, burgers and mac-n-cheese are kept at regular prices, costing about $7.50 on average. According to my eavesdropping, the pulled pork sandwich with “sassy slaw” is apparently kick-ass. But given the standing-room-only crowd and a few drinks in our blood, we weren’t willing to attempt eating anything on foot.

We hit the cupcake display upon leaving. It’s a dazzling lineup of nearly two dozen different flavors ($3.50 apiece) that includes guava-mango, tres leches, German chocolate and of course the super-moist blood orange delight I came back for. Only this time I exited the premises with a little swerve in my step.

RATINGS:

Drinks: 4/5
The wine selection is minimal, but the bottled beer list mixes domestics with imports. And given the high spirits of the crowd, we suspect the cocktails take on generous liquor pours.

Food: 5/5
We’ll sample the savories next time around while giving the cupcakes our highest rating, which are fresh, moist and not overly sweet.

Value: 4/5
If you’re of the three-drink type, you can slam down trios of beer, wine or well drinks for under $10.

Service: 4/5
Once you nudge your way to the bartenders, they move fast and greet you with friendly faces.

Duration: 5/5
There’s plenty of time on Mondays through Saturdays to get your swerve on for cheap, while happy hour on Sundays saves you cash throughout a heftier chunk of the day