Happy Hour: At Troiani, a good, cheap bar menu until closing

Happy hour |

You don't have to worry about fighting rush-hour traffic to make last call for happy hour at Troiani Ristorante Italiano. You don't even have to nudge for elbow room during peak dining hours.

That's because at Troiani, in downtown Seattle at the corner of Third Avenue and Madison Street, happy hour has just been extended to closing time, and the happy-hour crowd can spill over to the dining area when the bar gets packed.

Has there ever been a more accommodating time for happy-hour revelers than in this tough economy?

The food is better, too. Take the juicy prawns blanketed in pancetta, with the sweet scallion pesto balancing the tart lemon — hands down the best nosh at Troiani. Its rustic prochetta sandwich — slices of roasted pork with tangy peppers and a bed of garlic aioli on a crusty bread — looks like something your kid could slab together for an after-school snack. But perfect comfort food nevertheless. In fact, some of the best appetizers and small plates on the bar menu ($1-$9) were the lower price items.

The chargrilled flatbread, topped with some combinations of meat, veggie and cheese, goes for $2 to $4. My tip: Get the sweet sausage, with the arugula, bell peppers and smoked provolone. Nearby, three guys in pinstriped suits apparently got the same dish and debated whether this was a poor-man's pizza or an open-face sandwich. (This is what happens when happy hour runs to closing time. We won't leave, even when we run out of actual things to talk about.)

Troiani, 1001 Third Ave. in Seattle, offers happy hour Mondays-Thursdays from 1 p.m. until around 9 p.m., Fridays 1-10 p.m., and Saturdays 5-10 p.m. Bar appetizers, small plates and desserts, $1-$9; well drinks and martinis, Manhattans, Cosmopolitans, lemon drops and wine and draft beers, $5; and Pabst drafts, $3 (206 624-4060 or www.troianiseattle.com).

Tan Vinh: 206-515-5656 or tvinh@seattletimes.com