Eat Out. Glendon Bar and Kitchen [Thirsty Thursdays!].

Thanks to the unsympathetic 10 and 405 freeways, you're never as stuck and hopeless as you are if you're in West L.A. during rush hour. But what a perfect excuse for a happy hour! Even in the equally sympathetic area of Westwood, reduced-priced drinks and food is a welcome distraction until traffic dies down.

The Glendon Bar and Kitchen understands. It offers not one, but two happy hours, where most things off their menu are HALF OFF. Pretty decent, I would say. That means you can get the delicious garlic fries (see above), which are crispy and not too garlic-y, for $4, or any of their good-sized pizzas (perfect for sharing between two people) for $6-7.50. Drinks-wise, you can grab wines for $6 or drafts for $4, or go for their martinis, which are $5 all day. If you're doing the math, you can easily have a few drinks and dinner for under $20!

Cheap grub comes at a small price though. The atmosphere when I sat at the bar for happy hour was quite a ruckus, thanks to a huge birthday party happening behind me. All the demands by the party made the bartenders obviously frazzled and distracted, so that meant we had to try and grab their attention on many occasions (we even got up to go get our own plate of fries sitting on the side of the bar because the bartenders were too busy to see it sitting there). We were forgiving because the service was nice when we got it, and we weren't in any rush to get drinks or food, but I can see this becoming a problem. Also, despite Glendon's close proximity to UCLA, the happy hour crowd was older and more business-type, but that may just be due to it being summer.

Come casual and prepared to sit back and you'll have a great time with great deals. I mean, it's better than sitting in traffic, right?

The Glendon Bar and Kitchen is located at 1071 Glendon Ave. in Westwood. Happy hours are every night at 4-7pm and 10pm-midnight.

-- Chau Tu

Photo credit: the BEAT

Eat Out. Musso & Frank Grill.

Musso & Frank Grill on Hollywood Boulevard is Hollywood's oldest restaurant. Since 1919, it's been a popular eatery for movie stars, writers, directors and producers. F. Scott Fitzgerald, Charles Bukowski, Ernest Hemingway, Charlie Chaplin and Rudolph Valentino were all customers. It's still a favorite of Hollywood's current A-List, Sofia Coppola was there on Saturday night.

They are known for their martinis and their steaks, but have a wide menu selection and it's the kind of place that you can't go wrong no matter what you order. They make a tasty sidecar, a refreshing margarita, serve white wine in a big chilled glass, and iced tea on a little saucer with lemon wedges. The martini-style drinks come in small (for today's American standards) glasses, with an additional amount served alongside in a mini carafe--perfect for a top-up when your drink is getting low.

The crab cocktail is delicious (large chunks of crab with classic cocktail sauce served in a little cold metal cocktail bowl with lemons on the side and two cocktail forks on either side), the shrimp cocktail is similar, with de-tailed shrimps which I much prefer to tail-on. We all shared an iceberg lettuce wedge salad that came with thick-sliced juicy red tomatoes. The only complaint was, the blue cheese dressing was on the mild side, it could have had more flavor. The bread is sourdough, made exclusively for Musso's. It's fresh, soft and delicious.

I had the baked halibut, Italienne style, and it was really good. It was flavorful, remarkably hot and a nice size portion. The filet mignon, grilled salmon, roast half chicken and New York steak all looked great too.

We were celebrating a birthday, and two moist rectangles of cake (carrot and chocolate) were brought out with candles for the birthday boy. The waiter was very nice ... it's the kind of place you can sit around for a while in the booth and talk when you're done with your meal. At 10:30, the music went up, retro jazzy music of course. That, and the beautiful warm lighting made it a perfect choice for a special dinner.

-- Leslie Anne Wiggins

Photo credit: yalumbastories.files.wordpress.com