Try this new restaurant in the Warehouse District with a long happy hour, small plates

Every bar has its routines, and sometimes for regulars these can become rituals. That can apply at a restaurant bar just as surely as the neighborhood saloon.

I watched some of these take shape at the Warehouse District restaurant plates (yes, spelled lowercase). It was happy hour and a collection of people had descended from their apartments just upstairs to close out the day together around the restaurant’s large bar. By the corner of the bar, another pair of women were kicking off their evening with some cava and tapas.

It was a typical happy hour scene except for one crucial factor. I was joining this one around 6 p.m. and there were still plenty of time on the clock for the happy hour specials to play through.

Restaurant happy hours are even more enticing when they the kitchen is contributing to the deals. The happy hour at plates has a strong menu on both the food and drink side, but also extends the deal from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Thursday,  and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday through Sunday..

It's a good introduction to a Spanish-inspired small plates restaurant that should be better known beyond its dealmaking (and see details on two special events below).

Tapas and drinks

This is a familiar space built in the old and atmospheric Cotton Mill apartment building, a soaring, repurposed industrial chamber of brick, glass and cypress. It’s a big space ideal for bigger groups, as is the shared plates format from tapas to larger dishes.

It opened as plates last fall, the first restaurant from chef Farrell Harrison and manager Brian Weisnicht, two friends who came up through the local dining scene.

The bar has always been a centerpiece of this restaurant space, and it remains a beauty, braced by beams lined with bare bulbs like the inside of a streetcar. Drinks follow the strong Spanish lead of the menu, not just on the wine list, but also with cocktails and vermouth on tap.

If you’re familiar with vermouth mainly in a martini, the sweet vermouth and soda ($8 at happy hour) can be a lovely surprise. It's a simple aperitivo cocktail that tastes of cola and wine together, but is not sweet, has lower alcohol than most cocktails and with orange and olive gets your taste buds going. Spanish wines (including cava and sparking rose) are $8 at happy hour, and beer and well drinks are $6.

Some of the happy hour food dials into the idea of tapas bar drinking food. The croquettes ($6) simply swap in crawfish for the ham or shrimp you’d more typically find in Spain.

The plates version of pintxos work on the idea of these typical snacks, usually a simple, delicious combination of a few items secured by skewer, like pass hors d'oeuvres. This one was more of a finger sandwich of Manchego and Creole tomato between excellent bread ($6).

Chicken cracklin’ ($6) is cut by ras el hanout, the North African spice blend, for an earthy, subtly peppery flavor across the audible crunch of the crinkly sheets.

Don’t miss on main menu

While you’re on the happy hour drinks, no one will confine you to the happy hour food, and I certainly was not going to miss another go at the regular menu's crudo, which is my kind of cut. It comes in thick squares (like you might do it at home), very simply dressed with a bright, tangy green onion vinaigrette and dabs of lemon aioli (which you probably don’t have at home).

A newer don’t-miss dish on the regular menu is the roasted oysters with Viet-Cajun butter. They come out plump and taut like tiny balloons about to burst, which they do in your mouth, each in the dimple of an escargot pan filled with butter, thick with garlic and lemongrass and just a hint of sweetness.

When you head for happy hour and end up having dessert, you know the outing has become proper dinner. That was not my plan this time, but the tres leches came so ardently recommended by the happy hour crowd at the bar that it became inevitable. It’s a glory, holding its density and shape but tasting so lush you may suspect the kitchen snuck in a fourth leche somewhere.

Everyone likes a deal, and as New Orleans summer arrives many more of us will likely feel like we badly need one with utility bills eating more of our income and the stresses of the season compounding.

This restaurant can give you more than just Spanish-inspired flavors. It offers a style of eating, drinking and casual social communion that can feel just a bit closer to Spain. A restaurant that can pull off that trick is marking some time for whenever the right hours fall for you.

plates

1051 Annunciation St., (504) 582-9020

Dinner Thu.-Tue. (closed Wed.), 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Happy hour from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Thursday,  and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday through Sunday..

Note: happy hour information has been updated to reflect an expanded schedule since this story was originally published . 

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