Best of the Beach 2022: Craft Beer Restaurant/Bar, Happy Hour
Craft Beer Restaurant/Bar
Hermosa Brewing Company
These days it’s a rare eatery that doesn’t have local beers,and a rare bar that still serves just burgers and hot dogs. Even so, Hermosa Brewing stands out for creative food that would grace an upscale space and beers that will satisfy a demanding brew connoisseur. The food menu includes beer-friendly Korean-style tacos, carnitas fries, and buffalo cauliflower, plus some of the best wings you’ll ever find. And there are surprising daily specials like a red pepper bisque with crab salad on the side. The beers are HB Brewing’s own, and a cicerone stands ready to help with pairings. If you want to enjoy the best food and beer together, this is the place to be.
Hermosa Brewing Company
1342 Hermosa Ave.
Hermosa Beach
(424) 398-0014
Runner-up:
HopSaint Brewing Company
5160 W. 190th St.
Torrance
(310) 214-4677
Happy Hour
Vida Modern Taqueria
An advantage of working at home during lockdown is that you can cut out and hit the happy hour specials without your boss catching on. There are restaurants (and we won’t name them right now) that offer happy hours with low prices, but only for a small selection of food and with smaller portions. Vida Modern Taqueria is not one of them, because they not only offer good deals on their most popular items, they’re prepared with the same care and portions that you’d get at peak times. It’s enough to make you turn off the ringer on that cell phone, and turn on the autoreply that says you’re in a meeting. A handy tip: if you see your boss out on the patio at Vida enjoying a mushroom taco and a margarita, pretend you don’t recognize each other. A wink will be sufficient.
Vida Modern Taqueria
1723 S. Catalina Ave.
Redondo Beach
(310) 430-7787
Runner-up:
Hennessey’s Tavern
8 Pier Ave.
Hermosa Beach
(310) 372-5759
1712 S. Catalina Ave.
Redondo Beach
(310) 540-8443
313 Manhattan Beach Blvd.
Manhattan Beach
(310) 546-4813