Oh happy hour

Normally I wouldn’t touch “happy hour” wine with a 10-foot swizzle stick. Not even at Pierponts. Happy hours favor well drinks and specialty drinks, for starters. Certainly bar and grills – or is it barS and grills? – are simply not the preferred venues for decent wine. God knows how long the bottle has been sitting open behind the bar, and the wine choices usually range from “mediocre” to “Oh my Lord.” There’s a reason why people drink beer, I’ve discovered, and it’s . . . bar wine.

And when proprietors select a wine to discount for happy hour, it’s a safe bet it’s not a wine that will make one happy. But in the interests of research, I decided to take one for the team. Down at Harry’s Country Club, in the River Market, they put on a happenin’ happy hour. Rather than paying $20 for a half-bottle of a halfway-decent wine (Harry’s for some reason offers wine in half-bottles), I threw caution to the winds and tried the 14 Hands Chardonnay, vintage unknown. Hey, it was Happy Hour. It was $3 a glass. It was non-oaky. It was. . . not bad.

Go figure. It was drinkable. So was the 14 Hands Cabernet Sauvignon, although less so. I liked it better than the Skinny Dip beer the server talked me into trying, and WAY better than the weirdly sweet margarita that came my way after I sniveled about the beer.

On our next foray to Harry’s, we’ll stick to the stick-to-your-ribs Happy Hour menu (city fried chicken, steakburgers, you get the picture – but also a salmon plate that’s a steal from 4 to 6:30 p.m., if you can make yourself eat that early). We’re also curious about the Whiskey Flights, dozens of the smoky spirits in categories such as Irish, Single Malt, Bourbon – select three 1-oz. pours for $10. It could be a hoot.

This week’s wine recommendation is a nice summer sipper. It’s a mere $8 retail, and worth every penny: a bottle of Colombelle 2005, a surprisingly good French wine that is a blend of two grapes I was not previously familiar with: Colombard and Ugni. It’s not as fruit-forward as the peerless New Zealand sauvignon blancs (chant with me: Villa Maria, Villa Ma-RI-aaaa), but it called them to mind with its citrus/melon flavors and clean, refreshing finish. Harry’s ought to snag a boatload of these.

Swizzle has Sizzle

Swizzle.

That’s my eight-thumbs up recommendation of the week. The newish neighborhood restaurant at 71st and Wornall was conceived as a cocktail bar – hence the name alluding to the stick that accompanied said cocktails in a long-ago, far-away time – with a few tapas offered for good measure.

It’s a loud restaurant, is Swizzle. “It was supposed to be a TAPAS bar,” I informed my dining companions. “But word is that the chef they hired turned out to be so darned GOOD that the owners changed the original cocktail lounge concept to fine dining.” I happily fished out another mussel drenched in a delectable Dijon cream sauce.

“No kidding!” Laura widened her eyes. “Wow!” We contentedly moved on from the mussels to some amazing, pan-seared, steroid-enhanced sea scallops over a ragout of fingerling potatoes and wild mushrooms, and a truly tasty pork chop with some sort of fruit compote sitting juicily next to a mashed potato-turnip concoction that flirted with some bitter, braised greens.

It was only later, when we were outside the noisy establishment still exclaiming over the quality of the dinner, that I discovered the reason for Laura’s amazement.

“The food is so GOOD!” she enthused. “I can’t believe it was going to be a TOPLESS bar!” A look at her face showed her to be dead serious. This is what brick walls and the ensuing dining din can do to communication. (There was also an especially enthusiastic birthday celebration going on, doubtless involving buckets of swizzle-themed shmancy martinis.)

Apart from the high quality of the dishes, Swizzle is to be commended for its wine list. Round-the-world offerings range broadly, in varietal as well as price. Bonardo, Cabernet Franc, Aussie Merlot. . . what to choose, what to choose? It was difficult to pass up the Rosso di Montepulciano, but I set aside my Italian compulsion, and ventured to the central Spain region of La Mancha.

We were appreciative of the modest charms of a Condesa de Leganza Crianza, available for a mere $16. A bottle. That’s right, sixteen dollars. You go, Swizzle!

This fortunate pick was a deep red, with medium body and a nice nose, and the Tempranillo wine was flavorful, dry and fruity, with a cherry tang leading to a smooth finish. I felt as if we were cheating, enjoying wine so cheaply. But leave the guilt at home – there’s an Opus One on the same list, at 14 times the price. And the yummy food ain’t cheap, not by a long shot. The salads alone were $12 apiece. That's high, especially for Kansas City. We averaged $40 a person, even though we split some dishes.

We also shared the three-chocolate mousse, a scrumptious circlet of confectionery heaven set in the center of a large plate artfully drizzled with raspberry sauce. It was beautiful, AND tasty. How do they DO that???

One appetizer, three salads, two entrees, two beers, a bottle of wine and a dessert: $135, or thereabouts, before tip. So: not inexpensive. But well worth it. Even if our server HADN’T kept her shirt on.

Postscript: I went looking for the Crianza, and found the 2002 at several locations, with retail prices of $6.99, $10.79 and $12.99.