Happy Hour Hound: Max's Wine Dive

The determined Happy Hour Hound has to be willing to turn on a dime should circumstances demand it. Such was the case with an evening that began at Piranha Killer Sushi. We should have cut our losses at the outset; one look at the drinks menu of sticky, sweet cocktails, clearly not calculated to complement fresh and briny sushi, should have been enough. But it takes effort to hoist one's self up on the high bar banquettes, so we stayed for a decent, non-happy Rob Roy (Scotch, vermouth, bitters) and a cloying Lemon Drop and split.

Fortunately, the drinks density in certain parts of town is now great enough that Max's Wine Dive was within easy pub-crawl distance. Max's offers $2 off all wines by the glass at happy hour (4-7pm Mon-Sat, plus late night) — and their selection is enormous. Additionally, there is a list of $8 apps, also enormous on the evidence of our blue chips with truffle mornay sauce, blue cheese crumbles, and applewood bacon. Some of the best wines sampled were the Sincerely Shiraz from South Africa, a San Telmo malbec from Argentina, and Spain's Orchid tempranillo, grenache, syrah blend. Hey, it takes time to finish a mound of cheesy chips.