out and about: sandpiper all day happy hour

Here’s the thing. We are 100 percent loyal to our favorite restaurants. The ones that never let us down. The ones whose food we know is going to be up our alley. The ones who’s staff treats us like family; where we can let our hair down and chat away.

Where we can slowly order shared plates and not be made to feel like we have to get out for the tables to be turned.

And the ones where the food is always excellent. Changes according to season. Where there are always new options to try.

These are the place we frequent again. And again. And again.

Because, why wouldn’t you.

This is sandpiper.

And, as they are always evolving, we had to try out their newest iteration. The all day happy hour. Offered only on fridays and saturdays (although happy hour is offered during the early evening hours during open days) from 11am to 5:30, it’s kinda perfect for the parental sneak out late lunch date.

And lets not forget the fact that any favorite restaurant that’s also located 5 minutes away from the house is always a win.

burgeon hazy ipa

gin gimlet

You can’t celebrate happy hour without some drinks, so that’s what we did. Our current fav’s. Hazy IPA and a gin gimlet.

housemade blue corn chips: fresh salsa and guacamole

I love that sandpiper makes so many nods to it’s galaxy taco predecessor. Which makes sense, because it’s mostly all the same players. And these blue corn chips just hit different. There’s something about homemade chips. Especially when accompanied with guac and salsa.

Our only problem was we scraped the bowl on both the guac and the salsa before we had even scratched the surface of the chips.

But is that even really a problem?

yellowtail aguachile: apple, onion, cilantro, lime

Was it really a surprise? You knew we were getting the aguachile before you even got here, didn’t you. ‘Cause we always get the aguachile. Because it’s always different. And, always excellent.

non-happy hour featured oysters: bullwhip hot sauce, mignonette, lemon

Got some oysters for me… love love love that they now sell them singularly, since jamie gave up oysters since the bad oyster event of 2015 at eddie v’s. Before then he’d happily split a half dozen or more with me. I am still picky though, so I chose the kushi. One of dylan’s perfect k oysters (he only likes oysters that start with a k, kumamoto, kushi, kumiai. etc.).

chicken wings: buffalo, Old Bay, celery, blue cheese or ranch

We’ve had the wings at sandpiper before… but not this iteration. They were more of a sweet chili, slightly spicy prep. And I got to tell you, I am digging the buffalo.

I loved the way the buffalo was flavored before, instead of the wings being fried and then tossed in buffalo sauce. It seriously changed the flavor profile, and may have sent me down a homemade buffalo wing spiral. Stay tuned for that.

This one is a 100 percent reorder for me. Also made so easy by the fact that I’m team flats and jamie is team drums. Perfect pairing, indeed.

baja fish taco: blue corn tortilla, cabbage, pico, crema

Once again, the nod to galaxy taco coming in hot. And for me, it takes me back to when trey was experimenting with the blue corn tortillas back in the tbl3 days. And the most mouthwateringly delicious red snapper tacos you ever tasted. but I digress.

These fish tacos were so perfectly flakey. The ratio of batter to fish was perfect - with the batter complementing, not overpowering the fish. You’ll probably want more than one… even though they are huge. Just saying.

prime rib slider: sliced prime rib, horseradish cream, au jus -friday and saturday only

Y’all know how I feel about prime rib. And especially sandpiper’s prime rib - which prior to this, you could only get in its traditional form, for dinner, on friday and saturday. And while it’s still only available friday and saturday, you can now get a sandwich all. day. long.

And you are gonna want to. The meat is so tender, you literally need to take a moment, just to take it in. The flavor is that amazing. The as jus, which is the same flavor profile as the “gravy” served with the dinner version; and I’m not gonna lie, i love being able to dunk it over and over.

I love horseradish, so the cream is fantastic, and the arugula provides the perfect peppery bite.

And seriously peeps. I’m writing this and trying to figure out when we can get back asap, while drooling on my keyboard.