Happy Hour at Ciudad!!

So on Thursday it was my friend Rob's birthday so we decided it was time to go out after class for some drinks and dinner!  First we went to Yardhouse at LA live , which had a two hour wait!  Apparently there was a Los Angeles Kings and Buffalo Sabres game at the staples center and all the fans had decided to camp out at Yardhouse until the game started.  So we hopped in our car an drove up Figeroa looking for decent place to eat.  California Pizza Kitchen is good, but we were looking for drinks.  Morton's has drinks, and a dollar sign heavy price tag for said drinks not to mention dinner.  Then we roll up on Ciudad and I quickly googled it from my phone.  "Happy hour till 7, half priced drinks and 3 dollar tacos!"  and we were sold!

We sat in the bar at this cute little high boy tables.  There were only four of us so we attempted to squeeze us all around one, but the waiters noticed and very nicely offered us to put two tables together.   Score 1 point for Ciudad.

  The options for drinks were $4.50 for a house margarite, house mojito, house sangria or house ciapirinha (see the rest of the menu here).  Now we asked the waiter what the heck a Ciaperurbadjda (cause I couldn't pronounce it) was he said it was muddled limes with simple syrup, soda and a rum made from sugar cane or fire water.  Well that sounded tasty, except for I wasn't sure how sugar cane = fire water but I was willing to try it expecting something along the lines of a gimlet.  It was not a gimlet.  It was made with Cachaça and OMG was it fire water.  I took one sip expecting it to be a sweet drink only to find it was a very SPICY drink.  And one sip was enough for me.  Lose one point for Ciudad (from me, one of the girls I was with loved hers and drank the whole thing.)

When the waiters came around again and I told them I didnt enjoy the drink and they quickly replaced it with one of the tastiest sangrias I've ever had (regain the lost point).  We proceeded to order a number of tacos and at the last minute I changed my mind and ordered the empanadas. Best decision I had made all day!

I also got the potato taco (just in case happy hour empanadas were not large enough to fill my appetite) which apparently was deep fried (which we know I love) and had some sort of tasty orange colored cream sauce underneath. (1 more point)

But the best part of my meal was the empanadas.  Two little flaky puffs of awesomeness!  First they come out on a plate with one empanada in a bright green sauce and one in a tangy orange colored sauce (different from the potato taco sauce.)  Unfortunately I didnt realize they were two different empanadas and I wish I had because one was WAY better than the other (though they were both super good).  The one that was playing second fiddle was the wild mushroom ( which I love) and a chipotle (orange) cream sauce.  Still very tasty.  The star however (which I foolishy devoured not realizing it was the only one I had) was stuffed with a purree of spinach, pine nuts, raisins and manchego in an oh so yummy salsa verde.  My darn camera phone doesn't do the plate justice, since the colors of the sauces were so bright and the empanadas were a golden brown perfect.  It should also be noted that I have no tolerance for heat or spicy foods, these sauces however had the warm flavors without the heat!  I am totally coming back here and ordering this again and again and again!  (+1)

Also happy hour only runs until 7 so around 6:50 the waiter comes by and asks if we want to order another round.  We don;t have to drink it now, and they wont even bring it out until we ask, but if we thought we might want another round to order it now to get the half off prices.  I have NEVER had that happen before!  It was just so nice!  Obviously another round was ordered (the ciapirinha, interestingly was left off the second round.)  Another MASSIVE point!

All in all out of 5 possible points, I give Ciudad's happy hour menu and service and whopping 4 points!

(note: I know that I said I wouldn't judge a place based on the service, but I mean,  theses people were super nice!  We obviously were not high rollers and I thought that was just awesome!)