The Spot: Bink's Midtown 2320 East Osborn Road, Phoenix 602-388-4874 www.binksmidtown.com
See Also: - Scratch in Downtown Phoenix: Happy Hour Report Card - Sam Pillsbury Spills on the Reason He Landed in Arizona, and Launches a Wine Column for Chow Bella - Bink's Midtown Is a Must (Especially When It Comes to Veggies)
The Hours: Happy Hour is offered daily from 2:30 until 6 p.m.
The Interior: The rustic little converted-from-a-ranch-house restaurant seems like a long time coming. Bink's has always been a favorite, but we rarely found ourselves out north enough to enjoy it as regularly as we craved it. That's why we welcome Bink's Midtown with open arms. Its chic but inviting patio sits in front of the restaurant and is the ideal spot to take in the happy hours.
The Food: It's so reassuring to walk into a happy hour with no reservations about the quality of the menu items. Sweetbread nuggets ($9), two different salads ($4 for a small), curried mussels ($11) and a bacon burger ($8) are all great options and sure to please, but we have to go for Bink's fries any time we visit. The cute little $4 bucket with three accompanying housemade sauces is a great value and easily one of the most addicting items on the menu. A close second goes to the crispy, crunchy flaky deep-fried BBQ ribs with a tangy, sweet honey hot sauce ($9).
After getting a little too fried, it is nice to try the veggie selection that Bink's prides itself on sourcing as locally as possible. We got the mixed greens salad with blue cheese, shaved apple and pumpkin seeds ($4 for a side, $9 for a full plate) to counteract the deep-fried appetizers we chowed down on earlier.
The Drink: While $4 draft pints is a pretty standard deal for happy hour, $6 wells is kind of outrageous--seeing as how most restaurants discount well liquor at $3. Rather than take a risk that the wells were above average, we stuck with the wine on tap for $5 per glass. Like their veggies, Bink's sources their wines as locally as possible, with local vineyard AZ Stronghold making up half of the wine selection. Hooray for Arizona wine!
The Conclusion: This is obviously a foodie's happy hour, but the ambiance and drink specials are pretty good too. We just wish, as usual, that they would discount specialty cocktails during happy hour so we can try some of the good stuff too.
Grade: A
