Portland Happy Hour: High Noon

What: High Noon
Where: 822 SW 2nd Ave
When: HH Mon-Fri, 3pm-7pm
Honeys Heart: Lots of happy hour food & drink options

Sometimes you just have to embrace being a #basicbitch and go see 50 Shades Darker with your girlfriends. If you saw the first 50 Shades movie, you know that a certain level of tipsiness is necessary to endure two hours of horrible dialogue and "kinky f***ery", so with that in mind, Kel, Dana, and I met for happy hour at High Noon before heading to the movie theater.

High Noon's slogan is "Southwest by Northwest" and their menu highlights Southwestern dishes like frybread, arepas, and nachos, all prepared with local ingredients. While the decor borders on gimmicky (at least they got rid of the John Wayne mural?), we were impressed with the number of food and drink items on the happy hour menu and the prices.

From the happy hour menu, we ordered the Nachos ($5), Hush Puppies ($4), and Street Corn ($3), plus Grapefruit Drops ($6).

The nachos were tasty and a decent-sized portion and the hush puppies were good too. I never say no to street corn and High Noon's version did not disappoint.

While my first Grapefruit Drop was on the weak side, a pet peeve of mine when it comes to happy hour drinks, the second seemed like a standard pour, making the $6 price tag feel like more of a steal.

Since none of us had tried frybread before, we also ordered a Sweet Pork Frybread with Roasted Pasilla Verde ($9) off the regular menu.

High Noon describes frybread as "southwest scones" which I don't think gives an accurate picture of this dish. Frybread is more like flatbread that has been fried... so exactly what it sounds like and not like a scone at all. Descriptions aside, it was flavorful and delicious, and worth the non-happy hour price.

I should also mention that the service was a bit touch and go, depending on what server was helping us.

However, overall, we left very satisfied with our happy hour experience at High Noon and I would recommend it as a great post-work spot for the downtown crowd.

Boston Restaurant/Bar: The Pour House

What: The Pour House
Where: 907 Boylston St., Back Bay
Honeys Heart: The Nachos

I didn't have class (again) last Thursday so Scott and I decided to meet up for drinks after we finished work. Scott was in the mood for nachos, so after consulting my new favorite Boston blog Nacho Patrol, we headed over to The Pour House.

Scott and I plopped ourselves down at the bar and ordered a round of margaritas and the Nachos Pollos ($8.75) which come loaded up with cheddar cheese, jalapenos, black olives, shredded lettuce, tomatoes, grilled chicken, black beans, salsa, and sour cream.

Here's what they looked like when we got them:

And here's what they looked like by the time we finished our margaritas and a round of Sam Summers:

I think we did a pretty good job...

In addition to their amazing nachos, The Pour House also has some pretty good greasy food specials. These include:

• Wednesdays from 6-10pm: 1/2 price chicken sandwiches
• Thursdays from 6-10pm: 1/2 price on all Border Bargains (burritos, tostadas, quesadillas, etc.)
• Saturdays from 6-10pm: 1/2 price burgers (that means as little as $2 for a plain burgers)

Their frappes (aka milkshakes) are also supposed to be good. Scott and I watched some mudslides being made and they did look pretty damn delicious. Might have to sample one of those during my next visit...