{"id":243817,"date":"2010-09-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-09-03T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/its-not-a-rumor-gossip-grill-has-best-happy-hour\/"},"modified":"2010-09-03T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-09-03T07:00:00","slug":"its-not-a-rumor-gossip-grill-has-best-happy-hour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/its-not-a-rumor-gossip-grill-has-best-happy-hour\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s not a rumor\u2014Gossip Grill has best happy hour"},"content":{"rendered":"

Por Dr. Ink
\nColumnista SDUN<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"It\u2019s<\/a>
Chip in for buy-one-get-one beers at $4-$6 each, including \u201cbig mama\u201d drafts and bottles of Alaskan IPA, Green Lakes Organic Ale and Bass. (Dr. Ink\/SDUN)<\/figcaption><\/figure>While staining my lips red at an Uptown wine bar recently, a group of friends moseyed in flaunting a cache of plastic coins from Gossip Grill\u2019s happy hour. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to check it out!\u201d they exclaimed. \u201cEach chip is worth a free drink redeemable whenever we go back!\u201d<\/p>\n

Within days my little wine gang was sitting knee to knee at a long and narrow communal hightop on Gossip Grill\u2019s smoke-friendly patio, surrounded by potted plants and friendly girl groups slugging down Shock Top draughts from tall \u201cbig mama\u201d glasses. Sure enough, as we irrigated our throats with cold ales and vodka tonics, we began amassing the color-coded chips and slowly turning them in for free drinks of equivalent value. What we didn\u2019t cash in went straight into our pockets for another visit.<\/p>\n

Gossip Grill\u2019s happy hour from 2 to 7 p.m. daily is among the most generous Dr. Ink has seen in San Diego. The buy-one, get-one-free deal extends to a plethora of hearty beers, including Bass, Guinness and Alaskan IPA, as well as to cocktails using Seagrams gin and vodkas, Sauza Silver Tequila and Early Times Bourbon. <\/p>\n

For those suspicious that the happy-hour bargain is a ploy to sell drinks at jacked-up prices\u2014you\u2019re wrong. Bottled and \u201cbig mama\u201d beers range from $4 to $6, and generously spiked mixed drinks average $6. <\/p>\n

Within no time at all, our table started appearing as though a poker game was in progress by heavy gamblers. And then came the grilled Buffalo-style chicken strips with blue cheese, the reasonably endowed Thai shrimp skewers and a full-size \u201cmoe-jo\u201d burger (named after chef Maryjo Testa)\u2014each for only $3. With steals like these, the Gossip Grill has mastered the art of generating gossip about itself.<\/p>\n

The food was good, with the exception of rosemary-garlic potatoes slathered in vegetarian chili and cheese. When drinking beer, especially a crisp organic Green Lakes ale from the bottle, Dr. Ink prefers to ying and yang it a little by matching such healthy liquids to flavorful beef fat. But the vegetarian in our group, who has long forgotten the mouth joy of greasy chili over spuds, rated the dish as \u201cswell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gossip Grill\u2019s happy hour is confined to the back section of the patio, which offers a full bar and limited seating in addition to the main hightop table that we partially occupied. The crowd is largely lesbian and the vibe is welcoming and festive, much like its sibling restaurants, Urban Mo\u2019s and Baja Betty\u2019s, owned also by entrepreneur Chris Shaw.<\/p>\n

As my friends who visited before me attested, the staff is swift and friendly, although drink and food orders must be placed at the bar no matter how many \u201cbig mamas\u201d you\u2019ve downed. During our visit, Missy the bartender kept a growing influx of customers serviced at lightning speed, and with an easy smile to boot. <\/p>\n

If you demand elbow room with your cocktails, get there before 5 p.m., otherwise get ready to gossip with the throngs who start filtering in quickly afterward as though a rumor of juicy importance just leaked out. <\/p>\n

Parrilla de chismes
\n1440 University Ave.
\nCresta de la colina
\n260-8023
\nHappy Hour: 2 to 7 p.m., daily <\/strong><\/p>\n

Bebidas: 4<\/strong>
\nDomestics and imported ales are served in bottles and tall drafts called \u201cbig mamas.\u201d A full gamut of liquors includes rum, tequila, bourbon, gin and a dozen flavored vodkas. There are no signature concoctions, which means you call the shots.<\/p>\n

Comida: 4<\/strong>
\nThe Thai shrimp skewers scored high in flavor, and if you trust our hazy recollection, we counted 10 medium shrimp on each. Burgers are plump and charred, and the chef understands that blue cheese (not Ranch dressing) works best with Buffalo-style chicken strips. Other reduced-price options include flatbreads, Chicago-style dogs and rosemary-garlic potatoes covered in so-so vegetarian chili.<\/p>\n

Valor: 5<\/strong>
\nFor every drink purchase, a colored plastic chip is bestowed for a free second drink. The antidote for regaining equilibrium after trading them all in is a menu featuring the above-mentioned foods priced at only $3 apiece.<\/p>\n

Servicio: 5<\/strong>
\nAlthough customers must approach the bar for food and drink transactions, the staff is fast and alert, and the wait time is short for plates to arrive at your table.<\/p>\n

Duration: 5<\/strong>
\nFive hours, seven days a week! We challenge other bar owners to match it.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dr. Ink SDUN Columnist While staining my lips red at an Uptown wine bar recently, a group of friends moseyed in flaunting a cache of plastic coins from Gossip Grill\u2019s happy hour. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to check it out!\u201d they exclaimed. \u201cEach chip is worth a free drink redeemable whenever we go back!\u201d Within days […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":912,"featured_media":243818,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"It\u2019s not a rumor\u2014Gossip Grill has best happy hour","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/912"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243817\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}