Happy Hour at Downtown & Vine

Lately, when I've wanted to go out with friends for drinks, I've discovered that it isn't that easy to find restaurants with vegan options on their happy hour menus. Tapa the World and Kasbah are vegan-friendly, as is Capital Dime, but most happy hour menus seem to have nothing for vegans.


Last week, when I was searching the Internet for a suitable place to meet my friends Cathie and Bonnie for happy hour, I came across Downtown & Vine, a wine bar on K Street. They didn't have an actual happy hour menu, but their regular menu included several small plates with vegan options. The first thing we ordered was Kate's Hummus, which was served with a beautiful assortment of raw vegetables. We also ordered a side of baguette slices to go with it.

We also had Marcona Almonds and Bruschetta. Other vegan items we could have ordered included the House Olive Mix, Baguette & Round Pond Olive Oil, and Kettle Potato Chips.

If you're looking for something more substantial, they also have a very nice Vegetarian Sandwich, made with hummus, roasted eggplant, red pepper, artichoke, and arugula.

If you're wondering whether the wines are vegan, the resource I use is Barnivore. Unfortunately, most of the wines served at Downtown and Vine haven't been checked out yet by Barnivore. The Domaine Carneros (Taittinger) sparkling wines are listed as vegan-friendly, however, so I had a lovely Brut.

Downtown & Vine is located at 1200 K Street, Suite 8, and their phone number is 916-228-4518. Their website address is http://downtownandvine.com/, and their Facebook page can be found at https://www.facebook.com/DowntownAndVine. The restaurant is open Monday through Thursday from noon to 9:00 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from noon to 10:00 p.m.