A Happy Hour at Alamar

Alamar is a restaurant located on the first floor of The Grand, a beautiful luxury apartment building in Uptown Oakland. The owner and chef is Nelson German, a transplant from New York City. His food is influenced by his Domincan Republic upbringing as well as inspiration from Mediterranean and Asian cuisines.  

I met up with some friends recently for happy hour at Alamar. The three of us had wine and cocktails and ordered every food item on the happy hour menu.  

We started with a dozen West Coast oysters. At $1.50 per piece, these were a steal. The oysters were shucked cleanly and were small in size which I like. It was complimented with a tasty sambal mignonette sauce.    

I didn’t know what to expect when we ordered the petite chicken wing confit. They were basically sweet and savory chicken wings cooked with a thick bacon and honey glaze. These were not too shabby.  

The golden deep fried goat cheese with a lemon thyme honey drizzle had a picture perfect presentation with the smear of red beet purée. It came with sliced baguette. We each got one and it was too rich for me. I was also not a fan of the sweet drizzle.    

My favorite item was the parmesan truffle tornado crisp. I often see these at fairs, but I have never gotten one. The crisps individually break off as a potato chip and you can dip them in a garlic aioli. These were the best chips and dip I have ever had.     

The final item on the menu were the tostones, which are plantains that have been smashed to become flat and fried to a crisp. Chef Nelson seasons them generously with a tomato garlic salt and let’s us dip it in a sun dried tomato aioli. These bring back great memories of my time in Puerto Rico.   

Like this happy hour? Here is a link to another post I wrote on great places for happy hour in Oakland on localwisejobs.  

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