The Lower Manhattan neighborhood of Tribeca—a portmanteau for Triangle Below Canal Street—is home to the namesake film festival, beaucoup celebrities and the Hook & Ladder Company No. 8 (where the Ghostbusters movies were filmed, NBD). The Olmos Park restaurant Tribeca Di Olmos, on the other hand, is home to a small but solid happy hour. (If only the restaurant were below a triangle, but alas, the McCullough traffic circle is as geometric as we’re going to get.)
Happy hour generously runs Tuesday through Saturday from 4 to 7 p.m. and features $15 bottles ($5 for a glass) of select wines; $2 domestics and $3 imports/craft brews; $3 wells; $5 martinis; and $10 Long Island, margarita, apple cider or red sangria carafes.
To start, my happy hour cohort and I perused the martinis. Tribeca offers five varieties of the cocktail, all made with Cinco Vodka. Among the options of dirty, Cosmo, Saint and ginger, the cucumber sounded too refreshing to pass up. Summery, boozy and just sweet enough, the martini came in a glass rimmed with chile salt.
Post-‘tini, we opted for a sangria carafe. If you’re looking to quiet your work-week sorrows with a healthy buzz, stick with the martini or a well cocktail—the sangria, while tasty, fruity and not overly sweet, is fairly timid in the ABV arena. Wine-soaked apple chunks bobbed around the four-glass carafe, and skewered orange slices and maraschino cherries adorned our glasses. While the cucumber martini took the crown, the sangria was a cheerful Miss Congeniality.
Happy hour snacks include truffled fries ($5), a grilled Caesar salad ($5) and, best of all, half-price pizzas. The four pizza options range from $6 (margherita) to $8 (wild mushroom with pine nuts, pesto and truffle oil) during happy hour.
The choice between house-made Italian sausage with roasted red peppers and fresh oregano ($7) and artichoke hearts with pesto, goat cheese, capers and red peppers ($7.50), proved difficult, but in the end we opted for the latter—with delicious results. The flavor combo in this pie was absolutely on point and even the capers, not usually my favorite addition, worked in harmony with the rest.
Rounding out our experience, the truffled fries also hit a good note. Though I question their menu description as “home fries”—a term which, to me, calls to mind chunks, wedges or cubes of potato, more so than Tribeca’s narrow, crunchy fry. These frites came in a paper cone, lightly dusted in sea salt, pepper and Parmesan, and accompanied by a savory bacon aioli. My only quibble: I wouldn’t have been upset with a bit more truffling of my fries. Always more truffling.
Sitting in the sunlit bar area, which has two TVs and is snuggled between the patio and the rest of the restaurant, the vibe was comfortable, classy and subtly European. Thanks to the happy hour menu—rather small but tasty and affordable—in combination with the atmosphere, Tribeca will likely lure me back.
Tribeca Di Olmos
4331 McCullough
(210) 320-0698
tribecadiolmos.com
