Tell all your friends! Tell your neighbors! Michael Mina's givin' out free food at Stonehill Tavern. Okay, so it's not exactly his tasting menu; It's just a few canapes, about three or four types per night, served at the bar every Thursday from 5:30 PM to 7 PM. They're doing this for the rest of the year.
I called them to ask what to expect, and the nice lady who answered mentioned that the hors d'oeuvres can be anything that's fresh or they feel like making that day. Kobe beef sliders? Tuna tartare? Lobster spring rolls? Who cares? It's free and it's presumably made by the same chefs who craft Stonehill Tavern's super luxe dinners.
Plus, she said, their cocktails are discounted to $9. Usually they retail at about $16-18.
If this sounds like Happy Hour, it is; but don't dare call it that. This is Michael Mina's at the St. Regis, after all. Call it what they call it: “social hour”.
Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.