The Place:

The Night Kitchen, 216 Stewart Street, 206-448-8810, DOWNTOWNThe Hours: Tuesday-Sunday, 6-9 p.m. Closed Mondays.The Deal: $5 wells, $5 house wine and $3.50 drafts, which might give you an idea of how pricey they can get during their sadder hours, plus a happy hour menu with a selection of specialty cocktails, more popular appetizers, and desserts.Despite a creative full cocktail menu, Night Kitchen chooses a few accessible favorites for their $6 happy hour fare: the Gingerdrop (vodka, lemon juice, house-made ginger syrup), the Gold Rush (whiskey, lemon, honey syrup), and the Lychee Press (gin, Soho Lychee Liquor, lemon-lime soda). The focus on these three, though, allow for impeccable craft: the Gingerdrop has a stronger ginger bite than anyone could anticipate from its sugared rim, and, although the Gold Rush sounds like a cold hot toddy, it packs a flavor far more vibrant.The happy hour food is okay, but the prices alone can’t tempt anyone away from their far more extensive full menu. But between their amazing sweet potato fries, tempura-esque beer battered broccoli and a half pound of wings for $4, having appetizers for dinner here is entirely possible, and most come with a couple of their house-made sauces. Like every other food-slinging establishment on the Pike Place perimeter, Beecher’s features prominently on their menu, and this reflects in their fried Beecher’s curds. In case you felt your arteries clogging reading all that off, they do offer their green salad or a cup of gazpacho for $5.The Digs: A dark, tiny storefront on Second and Stewart by the ancient Bergman Luggage, Night Kitchen is easy to miss–but upon walking inside, it unfolds into a comfortably-sized restaurant, with even a oft-unnoticed couch-filled back room in case their smallish front area fills up. It’s decorated unpretentiously, mostly in black. But its occasional glimpse of whimsy–mismatched couches, specials written in neon chalk, colorful staff, handwritten staff suggestions in the bathrooms–make it not the polar opposite of its namesake children’s book. (The name is, honestly, is what drew me there in the first place.)The Verdict: The bottom line with Night Kitchen’s happy hour really comes down to the hours themselves; consistent with their target audience, they serve those of us whose schedules run a little later. It’s hard to find a happy hour past 6 p.m. in the downtown area, especially one that peddles quality booze as opposed to haphazard wells. While even at happy hour you’re subject to the normal Night Kitchen spendy pitfalls, like casually asking for ketchup or hot sauce and getting unexpectedly charged the tiny ramekin they give you (like their entire sauce collection, they make both in-house), it’s easy to overlook when the quality of the food matches up, and you can still make their happy hour after getting off work at 6 or 7. Since they don’t even open until 6, it’s not even too packed in there, either, which is refreshing in the downtown area. The Night Kitchen’s happy hour is fantastic after a hard day at work or while charging yourself up for a long night out–and, although not as cheaply, they’re still there for you after-hours to soak everything up.