Description: Paratii Craft Bar rests on a bland little stretch of Ballard, with square plots, a mini mall, and condos everywhere: brand-new, identical, strung together. Inside, however, the space is broad and largely snazzy, with plenty of dark wood and soft lighting, though the cinder-block walls stir up faint but joyless memories (waiting rooms in automotive repair shops, mostly, but college dorms, too—brimming with lunatic roommates, apologies screamed at 3 a.m.). A nice collection of nautical riffraff lards the walls and dangles overhead: glass floats, navigation tools, driftwood, a ship's wheel, a globe, a message in a bottle, model ships, an actual sailboat, and a stuffed piranha sulking in a birdcage.

What's on the menu: A range of Brazilian-inspired entrées such as $15 moqueca (seafood stew) and $17 vatapá (sautéed shrimp and fish with coconut-milk sauce).

What else: Piranha soup! It isn't offered just yet—government regulations make the sourcing tricky—but Paratii's staff is working on it.

Happy hours: Mon–Sat 5–7 pm, Sun 5–10 pm.

Happy-hour drink specials: $4 wine (Corvina cabernet, Garganega pinot grigio), $7 cocktails (the Bahia has rum, pineapple juice, and cream of coconut), and $3–$4 select rotating drafts (Hilliard's, Jolly Roger, St. Bernardus Abt 12, more).

Happy-hour food specials: A trim list of $3 bites, including yucca fries, Mediterranean olives, spicy cashews, and the misto quente (Chicago ham and Dubliner cheese, served with herb-tomato relish on house-baked bread).