Far Bar - Baseball World Series Happy Hour in Little Tokyo, LA

I just missed 3 shots of sake for free. Every time Shohei Ohtani hits a home run, the Far Bar in Little Tokyo pours a free shot of sake for everyone who's there.

I was across the street during that game at another Happy Hour, watching the LA Dodgers battle the Philadelphia Phillies, the afternoon Shohei Ohtani hit 3 home runs in one game. 

Oh well, wins some, lose some. Happy Hour at the Far Bar, in downtown Los Angeles, is a deliciously fine time with or without winning a free sake shot. 

I started watching the Dodgers at different restaurant/bar Happy Hours around Los Angeles during this year's Baseball Playoffs because I'm too cheap to buy cable TV channels, plus there's nothing better than watching baseball Playoffs with fellow fans. And a senior *LA Metro ride is only 35 cents, so I hit the rails.

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The star attraction for the LA Dodgers is Shohei Ohtani, originally from the Nippon Professional Baseball League in Japan. The Dodgers have two other Japanese players, so I wanted to hang out with the locals in Little Tokyo (in downtown Los Angeles).

I found the Far Bar on 1st Street in Little Tokyo a cool restaurant/bar with cheap food and drink specials, and their Happy Hour goes 4 hours, from 3pm to 7pm, Monday thru Friday. 

The tall neon sign above the outside entrance has "Chop Suey Far East". A flyer outside says "Free Shohei Sake Shot When He Hits A Home Run". Shohei Ohtani has hit 55 Home Runs this regular season. That's a lot of free Sake Shots! Who knows how many he will hit in this year's Baseball World Series? 

When you enter the historic Far East Building, the Far Bar's large front room has half a dozen tables and a long bar lined with television screens. 

If you keep walking to the back and bear right, past the restrooms, then make another right, you enter a long outdoor patio, or a smaller bar in the back room. I planted myself in the small room with a bar and four small 2-chair tables. 

For a quieter experience, sit in the outdoor patio. I like the small back bar for watching the LA Dodgers on two TV screens, while nursing a Sapporo Draft with a Sake Shot for $9. Even the wait staff and the cooks do a quick peek in the bar for the TV screen baseball scores. 

The draft Sapporo is smooth and light, and the Sake is sweet - it's a good combination.

I decided on the Happy Hour Shrimp Tacos for $8. You get two small but loaded tacos. Inside the corn tortillas were whole, lightly sautéed shrimp.

The Pico de Gallo salsa is chunky with tomato, chopped onion, and jalapeño.

The additional Salsa Verde is mildly spicy when topped with a light Cilantro Cream. These are very tasty tacos, well worth the Happy Hour price.

That was enough to last me for half of the ball game. For the second half of the game, I had another round of Sapporo + Sake Shot, and Wasabi Fries. 

The French fries are McDonald's-style, thin and crispy, just the way I like them. The fries are topped with a wash of Wasabi Mayo and flecks of dried seaweed. Across the pond in Europe and the Far East, they like mayonnaise on their French Fries, and it works for me. Next time, I would ask for a small cup of Wasabi Mayo on the side to dip the fries. I do like a lot of ketchup (or Wasabi Mayo) when I have fries.

The first time I came here, early in the Dodger Playoffs, the small back bar was jammed and I barely squeezed in.

For my next game visit, there was plenty of room at the bar and small tables. The back room bar is less raucous than the front of the house.

I ordered a Sapporo and a Sake shot again. This time I tried the $10 Ming Wings from the Happy Hour menu. They were crisp, Japanese Tempura-style. The batter is light, with the possible addition of cornstarch instead of  heavier flour. 

They have a sweet coating similar to a Thai dipping sauce.  The chicken wings had whole spicy red chilis, chopped green onion, and specks of garlic - a very tasty chicken wing coating. 

The order included 5 chicken wing pieces, combining drummets and flats. They were large and meaty, moist and perfectly cooked.

The last Happy Hour item I ordered was Teriyaki Mango Sliders for $7. They come 2 to an order.

The Teriyaki Mango relish on each small beef patty is sweet and tangy. You get about 3 bites per Slider. No cheese, but that's okay.

The regular menu has a nice variety of entrees and specialty drinks, with prices in the low teens and twenties. (Click here, to see the full menu.) The menu is mainly Asian Fusion cuisine. Far Bar is a casual setting that gets rowdy on sports game days.

The Far Bar hits all the bases for Happy Hour during the World Series Playoffs. The crowd is there to cheer on the LA Dodgers, and you can't help but join in with high-fives, fist pumps, and chants of "Let's Go Dodgers". And the *LA Metro's Little Tokyo rail stop is half a block away.

Far Bar
347 1st St, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Phone: (213) 617-9990
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday:  3pm - 12am 
Friday - Saturday:  12pm - 1:30am
Sunday: 12pm - 12am

Happy Hour: Monday - Friday 3pm - 6pm

Social Media:
Twitter: x.com/farbartweets
Instagram @farbar_la
Facebook: facebook.com/farbarlittletokyo

* LA Metro

Website: www.metro.net

Seniors 62+/ Medicare/ Customer with Disability: www.metro.net/riding/fares/seniors

When you are a senior (62 +) with a senior-issued LA Metro TAP card, it only costs 35 cents per ride during off-peak hours. The normal base fare is $1.75 per ride - it's a steal. 

White Castle Hamburgers - Video Review

Fresh from the microwave my latest Deal of the Day is a White Castle Original Slider from my local Dollar Tree. You get 2 tiny dinner roll sized burgers, so you could say I'm living small, not large!

This Cheap$kate Dining Deal is from White Castle, the first hamburger chain in the United States started in 1921. The chain originated in Wichita, Kansas started by Walt A. Anderson. You can read White Castle's interesting history by clicking here.

I never had a White Castle Hamburger until I moved to Los Angeles. And that first bite was over a decade ago when you could get them at a pop-up fast food joint on Hollywood Boulevard, as a promotion for the release of the movie "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle."

Now I sometimes get them at, of all places, The New Beverly Cinema in West Hollywood where they are sold as a movie concession meal alongside hot dogs, They are heated up in the microwave and sold two at a time for a few bucks. If you are a movie buff then The New Beverly Cinema, that's owned and often programmed by Director Quentin Tarantino, is the place to be.

Typical White Castle Burgers are simplicity itself - just a bun, fine-chopped onions, pickle, and a thin hamburger patty (but no pickle in frozen versions like below.)

I see packages of them now in grocery frozen deli cases, and lately, at my local Dollar Tree store - two burgers for a dollar! I immediately grabbed a couple of packages to do a Deal of the Day cheap$kate review for you.

Ralphs Supermarket frozen boxes of White Castle.

Click on any photo to see larger.

White Castle frozen sliders are the most popular ones on the market. They are sold cooked, frozen, and need to be reheated. These frozen versions do not have pickles since microwaving is involved - pickles and extreme heat are not meant for each other, but you can always add your own gherkin slices when the burger is ready to eat - kick them up a notch with a slice of American cheese.

White Castles are much smaller than I am used too - these burgers are closer to Happy Hour sliders. And that's okay with me.

The buns are actually white bread dinner rolls, and light and springy to the touch, even with microwaving - which only takes a minute or so. The buns hold up quite well and did not get soggy being zapped.

There is a sprinkling of finely chopped onion for a little extra texture. Because of microwaving they lose some crunch, but you can still taste slight onion rawness. It reminds me of a Big Mac's use of minced onion - they are there to compliment, not overpower, like typical thick sliced onion can (In-n-Out burger fans know what I'm talking about.)

There is no ketchup, mustard or mayo, so add your own if desired.

Since the bun is small, the hamburger patty is too. These hamburgers are meant to be eaten in two or three bites - not enough heft to take the time for savoring too deeply. Most peculiar is 5 holes punched into the beef patty. I Googled to find out and the reason is the meat cooks evenly, yea right, sounds like phony baloney to me, more like it's to use less beef per patty!

The ground meat is lightly seasoned and has a slight onion powder flavor. The patty is very thin, so don't get these if you are jonesing for a meaty meal. But what is delivered by White Castle is still satisfying - especially for the Dollar Tree price point of $1 for 2 slider/burgers!

So, on my Cheap$kate Dining Scale of 1 to 9, 9 being best, I give deli case White Castle Hamburgers a solid... well watch the video below for my rating!

White Castle - Video Review

Play it here, video runs 2 minutes, 56 seconds.

My YouTube video link for viewing or embedding, just click here.

 White Castle Hamburgers are no competition for LA classics like In-N-Out Burger or Tommy's Burgers, but for a quick bite, they will do the trick, especially when I'm craving a snack at a midnight movie in the New Beverly Cinema.