Great story today in NYT by the frugal traveller, Matt Gross.....about the virtues, the wonders, the delight of Happy Hour in Seattle, Washington. Because of our iceage licensing laws, Toronto can't have Happy Hours, half price cocktails, although as Gross describes, Happy Hour is great for tourists and for restaurants....

"THE dining room at Cascadia — one of Seattle's top restaurants, with a cutting-edge chef, luminous décor anda cellar lauded by Wine Spectator — was empty. No one sat on the green banquettes, eating Alaskan king crab with white-truffle gnocchi under the coppery mahogany paneling, and empty wineglasses sparkled on white tablecloths. Only an occasional wandering waiter disturbed this stillness.

Across a frosted-glass divider, however, Cascadia's bar growled with energy. Every stool was taken on this Friday night, and upscale Seattleites mobbed the lounge and the sidewalk tables, where the setting sun warmed their faces and melted the ice in their cocktails. Of course no one was at dinner — this was happy hour.

To the Frugal Traveler, no phrase is more inspiring than “happy hour.” The prospect of two-for-one drinks and post-work camaraderie fills his heart with hope. If only every hour could be happy! But in Seattle, those 60 minutes of joy have been elevated into evenings not only of cheap drinks but also of discount gourmet snacks at the classiest restaurants. From midafternoon till long after midnight, one can graze on the delicacies of the Pacific Northwest, and still get change from a Jackson.

...."Euphoria commenced around 4:30 p.m. at the Triple Door, a sleek downtown club ....and office workers came trickling in to snag tables. I sat at the long bar, drinking a cantaloupe martini that tasted too sweet until a plate of salty, spicy squid — stuffed with ground pork and garnished with cilantro — arrived to balance its sugars. (The snacks come from neighboring Wild Ginger, often ranked among Seattle's best restaurants.)

...."Nell and I ...made our way to Brasa, a southern-Mediterranean restaurant that celebrates happy hour by halving its bar menu prices. No mere snacks here: my $5.50 chorizo pizza was enough for us both, and as Nell and I chatted with an actor sitting next to me, we drooled over his $6.50 lamb burger. It looked like it would go well with an Alpine martini.