McCormick & Schmick’s

A half-pound cheeseburger and fries for $2.95? We can't even get that at a fast-food place these days, and here it is at a white-tablecloth restaurant.

There are a few catches of course, but they're not terribly daunting: The bargain cheeseburger and other similarly priced foods are available at McCormick & Schmick's only from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. to closing weekdays, only in the bar, and only with a $3.50 minimum beverage purchase.

Happy hour? In a restaurant review? Yup. In case you haven't noticed, the national economy is in the tank and the Las Vegas version is right down there in the toilet. To bring in customers -- to stay afloat in all of that swirling water -- a raft of local restaurants have staggered onto the happy-hour bandwagon. Qualities (and even quantities) are wildly divergent, as you might imagine, but the dining-out consumer looking for a bargain usually can find one at happy hour.

McCormick & Schmick's actually came early to the party, having for a number of years offered a happy hour whose value has kept the jungle drums thrumming, for those on the network. I'd heard about it several years ago -- when that same burger was $1.95, if I'm not mistaken -- but never could quite make it during the prescribed hours.

McCormick & Schmick's happy-hour menu isn't the same daily, though there do appear to be some constants. The half-pound cheeseburger ($2.95) was a good solid burger (which is not to say too solid), the cheese reasonably sharp, the bun pillowy without being mushy. And the fries were in ample supply.

Cod sliders were slightly pricier ($4.95), but still an impressive bargain. Little fillets of the mild fish had been battered, fried until crisp and served on tender little potato rolls with lightly dressed shredded cabbage and a pretty good tartar sauce (which really can be good, as long as you're not getting it out of a jar) that had a tendency to drip out when we ate. Lots of fries with this one, too.

About those fries: They were the thin kind, slightly larger than matchsticks, and nice and crisp. I thought they were just great until the guy across the table said he thought they tasted stale. The difference: I was eating them with ketchup (one of those childhood holdovers) and he wasn't. Yes, they were fried in oil that wasn't as fresh as it could have been. No, this wasn't an egregious example of that. Especially if you use ketchup.

We also had a California roll ($1.95), which contained the dreaded surimi, the fish-paste faux crab that's beloved by lots of Asians for reasons the rest of us can't fathom. But the roll was deftly executed, its rice perfectly cooked and nori just the right texture, and the cucumber was crisp, the avocado almost creamy.

And it was $1.95.

Which is, after all, the whole point of happy-hour dining. Well, as far as restaurants are concerned I guess the point is to get you to drink lots of alcoholic beverages, which have a high markup and generate lots of profit. Maybe it's also to make you come in for a taste and come back at another time for lunch or dinner, just because you liked the place.

As far as consumers are concerned, it's about eating for less. Here are a few other examples from our McCormick & Schmick's happy-hour excursion: Cajun fries with lemon aioli ($1.95), grilled corn on the cob with chipotle butter ($1.95), Prince Edward Island black mussels in tomato-white wine broth ($3.95), Asian popcorn chicken ($3.95), blackened fish tacos ($3.95), Blue Point oysters ($4.95 for three) and black bean nachos ($4.95).

We ended up paying $3.50 for a diet cola, $5.75 for an OK glass of house Cabernet (Covey Run). Service was just fine, and there is booth and table seating as well as bar, in a space decorated in a sort of vaguely Irish pub theme.

As we ate, we noticed regulars coming in, many of them settling into booths with their $2.95 cheeseburgers.

Yes, there are dining bargains to be had out there. Just be sure to leave the office early.

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