Happy hour |

It was around 4 p.m. and the doors to The Kingfish Cafe were already opened on my recent stroll by the block. It's still too early for the stellar dinner that has made this Capitol Hill establishment our city's most celebrated Southern food joint. So what gives?

James Brown was blaring from the speakers. Some hipsters nursed $2 Red Stripe beers at the bar. Soon, a trio of women, who had biked in, munched on yam fries and yapped away on this usually quiet strip.

The Kingfish Cafe recently started happy hour.

The bar food looks familiar, just done with a Southern accent. Some catfish sticks coated in cornmeal and served with a spicy tartar — crunchy, filling bites.

That block of mac and cheese — it looks like a casserole or a lasagna, but stellar all the same. It's made with pepper jack, doused with a sharp cheddar sauce and topped with Parmesan. It's salty and spicy, perfect bar food. But it will cost you two laps around Green Lake.

There was bourbon in the barbecue pork sliders that had not burned off, which only made them even more of a soggy mess and forgettable.

The bar food falls on the sweet side: yam fries covered in cinnamon, sugar and other spices, and chicken wings coated in an orange candied glaze. You'll either love or hate these jerk wings — sweet and spicy.

The $2 Red Stripe is your best drink deal. The $6 cocktails are too sweet. That spiked lemonade — Jack Daniels, honey, fresh squeezed lemon and 7UP — is even sweeter than it sounds. Let it dilute for 5 minutes. You will thank me later.

The Kingfish Cafe, 602 19th Ave. E., offers happy hour Mondays-Fridays 4-6 p.m. Bar food $3-$8.75 and $6 cocktails, $5 wine, $4 well drinks and $2 beer (206-320-8757 or thekingfishcafe.com).

Tan Vinh: 206-515-5656 or tvinh@seattletimes.com