Tater Tots and sangria at The Must

Thursday night was our first meet up with the foodie crew from Vinovents, and the venue of choice for that night was The Must -- a wine bar and gastro pub nestled in the corner at 5th and Spring in downtown LA.

Driving there after work from West LA took about 45 minutes -- about par for a 5pm commute along the 10 eastbound. Some parking meters are available along Spring street, but more than likely you'll have to resort to one of the $5 lots in the area, which is precisely what we did.

Upon arrival we were greeting by the other foodies, as well as a flight of sangria pitchers situated on the table:


Pictured left to right, you have black, white, and red sangria. The black sangria--overly bursting with fruit pulp--was much too thick for a typical sangria and almost had the consistency of a cheap, watered-down smoothie. The other two were better, with my preference for the white as it was least sugary and tasted more like a wine than the other two.

Here's more of that pulp I'm referring to:



The Must has a formidable happy hour menu which includes select sangria, wines, beer, some cocktails, and about a dozen apps, all at discounted prices from 4-7pm. This is easily one of the better happy hours I've come across in recent times.

Enough with the fibrous drinks, let's eat! So as a first course, someone in the group ordered the fluffernutter to start the night. Now, normally the staff at Exploratory Dégustation prefers to order dessert as the last course, but when something tastes this unbelievably good, we're happy to have it during any course.




This was outstanding. The combination of bananas, roasted peanut butter, and marshmallow fluff all encompassed by grilled brioche made for an explosion of flavor and mouth feel. Do-over on a scale of 1 to 10: 42.

With dessert clearly out of the way, it's time for some savories. First up is a basket of house-made(?) pretzels with spicy grainy mustard:



These soft, warm chewy pretzels with course chunks of salt were very satisfying and a bargain at just $3 during happy hour.


Next up is the small-elbow noodle mac' and cheese with bacon:




A little too heavy with the bread crumbs (can I get some mac' and cheese with those breadcrumbs?) in my book. And I prefer the larger elbow macaroni, but overall this was tasty.

Here we have grilled brioche with cheddar and Manchego. Too much bread going on here:



If you look closely you can actually see some cheese between the thick slabs of brioche.


Deep-fried chicken sliders:



I didn't have any, but the consensus from others was that these were good.

Cheese plate with Point Reyes blue cheese, brie, Parrano Robust, and a fig almond cake:


The cheeses were excellent--especially the Point Reyes; the fig cake, however, was a bit dry and lacking in flavor. I should also note that the rustic bread was not sliced through properly which made for difficult if not impossible clean rips with the hand. I'm surprised I didn't elbow anyone when I ripped off a slice.


Portobello sliders with smoked mozzarella, sun dried tomatoes, and caramelized onions:


Everyone praised these and for good reason. The rich, complex flavors melded very well, and the toasted mini-brioche held up well and wasn't overpowering. These went fast; I easily downed three of them.


Lastly, Tater Tots with Velveeta wine fondue and smoked pepper ranch:


This is comfort food kicked up a notch, and I certainly felt most comforted after eating a dozen of these. I finished off the night with a pint of Allagash Curieux 11.2%. Potent stuff.

Overall it was a great experience. The place was packed but not too loud, and the service was friendly. As the night went on, the happy hour goers moved out while the first-dates and sit-down diners moved in to reclaim the tables.

Special thanks to Shelley and Vinovents for arranging this wonderful happy hour.