Marssa

Historically, restaurants have had a number of motivations for offering happy hour.

Sometimes, it's a bald attempt to get you to come in and buy drinks with the lure of a free buffet, though such deals have dwindled considerably over the years.

Sometimes, it's a slightly more subtle effort to get you to come in and buy drinks by offering bargain-basement prices on certain foods but no reduction in drink prices, profit on the latter generally being much higher than on the former.

Sometimes, though, it appears to be simply a bid to tempt people to come in and try the place on the theory that a positive experience with food, atmosphere and service might prompt them to come back for a full meal. And it's in this category that I think Marssa's happy hour fits.

Marssa is one of the restaurants at Loew's Lake Las Vegas. Its happy hour is unusual because it's only one hour, fairly late in the evening -- 6 to 7 p.m. -- and runs Tuesdays through Saturdays, while most are earlier in the evening, Mondays through Fridays, when business obviously is slow. Even more unusual is that if you go to happy hour at Marssa you'll be seated at a regular table in the dining room, either because the restaurant has no separate defined bar area or in keeping with paragraph four above.

Still more evidence that Marssa is hoping happy-hour revelers will return after a sample: While we stated when we arrived right about 6 that we were there for happy hour, we were presented with both menus, "just in case." That gave us a chance to peruse the regular dinner menu, which might have tempted someone who didn't have our specific mission.

As for the happy-hour menu, it's not extensive but has a nice variety. Some of the dishes don't seem to be offered on the regular menu, while others are but are discounted between 6 and 7.

There are discounted drinks as well. Sake ($6) was of reasonable quality, and while the carafe was so large we wondered if we'd ever get to the end of it, we didn't mind the effort. On the other hand, the Marssa Martini ($6) probably represented the last time I order a specialty cocktail without asking what's in it. I've got a pretty broad tolerance for flavors, but this was one I definitely have yet to acquire. Served in a tall cocktail glass, it was a lovely clear amber color evocative of autumn, but possessed undefinable flavors. Upon inquiry, they turned out to be sake, Midori, sweet-and-sour mix, plum wine and a splash of cranberry juice, which wasn't enough to salvage all of that sweetness. Lesson learned.

I was, however, enamored of the crunchy salmon roll ($8). A representation of the new wave of fusion sushi rolls, it combined salmon, cream cheese and avocado, wrapped and fried tempura-style. So you had the crunch of the coating, the assertive flavor of the salmon playing off the blandness of the cream cheese and the creamy richness of the avocado for a pleasing pastiche of flavors.

Beef Kushiage ($8) was successful as well, and again in large part because of contrasting textures. The beef had a velvety texture and was coated in ultra-crunchy panko crumbs. On the side was a dish of tonkatsu sauce, a sweetish Worcestershire-and-ketchup concoction that tastes better than it has a right to, considering the ingredients, and which was a natural, considering that the beef dish was somewhat analogous to tonkatsu itself.

Marssa's Pacific Rim theme was extended to the Philippines in the presence of lumpia ($7), skinnier than some (but with plenty of chicken, not so common these days) tightly rolled, extremely crisp-crusted cylinders with an appealing contrast between the splintering crispness of the wrapper and the moist denseness of the filling.

Service throughout was fine, our waitress making it clear that we were welcome to stay for something off the regular or dessert menus or from the sushi bar, without being heavy-handed.

And while the interior was quite pleasing and we were entertained by passing seafood cocktails trailing fog in a stagey but enchanting effect, the real show was outdoors, which is one of the best reasons for going to Lake Las Vegas for happy hour or anything else. We watched people strolling along the desert lake, a couple playing with a Dalmatian and kids on bikes.

And that's something that's tough to find almost anywhere else in the valley.

Las Vegas Review-Journal restaurant reviews are done anonymously at Review-Journal expense. Contact Heidi Knapp Rinella at 383-0474 or e-mail her at hrinella @reviewjournal.com.