Cactus on Alki offers up a great happy hour on warm days, with pull-up glass doors to welcome summer breezes. Happy hour is from 3-5 p.m., seven days a week; a bit too soon for some, but for others, a great excuse to get out of the office early. Bebidas include $5 margaritas and mojitos, made with such tangy, fresh juices you’d be hard-pressed to have just one. (Five-dollar sangria, wine selections and $3.50 Dos Equis beckon those looking for something a little less exotic.) Bocaditos include perfectly balanced $4 grilled jalapenos filled with herbed goat cheese, wrapped in bacon and served with buttermilk crema; blue corn calamari; and smoked chicken quesadilla ($1 more will get you a Quesadilla de Hongos— mushrooms for vegetarians.) For $6 you can gorge yourself on a happy hour serving of nachos: fresh chips smothered in cheese, roasted corn, black olives, jalapenos, chipotle-tomato salsa, buttermilk crema and guacamole or, Camarones d’el Diablo, crispy white Mexican prawns with spicy diablo sauce and mango-pineapple mojo. The food at Cactus is reminiscent of that amazing road trip down south you once took— or have been jonesing for. You can’t help but leave Cactus with a full belly, a burning mouth, and a warm glow to take you out into the night. ZIBBY WILDER
