Sushi & Kushi IMAI: Happy Hour Seven Days

Filed under: Midtown, Eat — StyleGuide @ 8:39 pm

My parents came of age at the same time as Sinatra and Martin, and all my life they have honored what I consider a very Rat Pack tradition — “cocktail hour.”  While they only drink on weekends,  when the clock strikes 5 Thursday through Sunday, crudites, cheese, crackers, wine and martinis appear and levity begins.

This is the happy hour I grew up with, a family tradition as treasured as opening presents on chilly Christmas mornings.  However, life in L.A. — what with late hours at work, traffic jams, and trips to the Parking Violations Bureau to pay near-constant parking tickets — doesn’t always lend itself to a 5 p.m. cocktail hour.  That’s why seven-day happy hours have a special place in my heart (or is it liver?). 

Sushi & Kushi IMAI has mastered the art of the seven-day happy hour.  Housed in an odd triangular building that juts out where Wilshire and San Vicente collide, the bar makes up half the seating area but maintains a welcoming, restaurant-like feel. 

The food is an improvement over my parents’ celery sticks and homemade dip of equal parts ketchup and mayonnaise.  Happy hour offerings include a house salad of mixed greens and a big bowl of edamame, each for under $2 and served by the restaurant’s friendly young owner.  Salmon/avocado roll or spicy tuna roll runs a slim $3, and sashimi (salmon, seared albacore or tuna) goes for $6.50.  Don’t eat fish?  Grilled lamb chop and vegetable tempura round out the menu.  A mere $3 gets you a large Kirin or glass of wine, or choose a large hot sake for the table for $5.50. 

When hit by nostalgia for those home-style cocktail hours just like Mama and Daddy used to do it, I head to the corner table at Sushi & Kushi IMAI.

When:  Happy hour, 5:30-7:30 everyday

Where: 8300 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, Ca 90211 

Call: 323.655.2253

www.sushiandkushiimai.com/

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