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Where can you get a glass of cold beer, a bowl of crawfish and play nostalgic games all in once place? Try West 4th/Jane in Santa Monica. The newish bar opened in June just across the street from Border Grill in the old 3 on Fourth space. It’s an understated place, which is kind of refreshing for Santa Monica, but that doesn’t mean it’s totally no frills. The beer list is vast and includes everything from Schlitz to Allagash, and the food menu is just as varied, from tater tots to mussels.

I, along with a group of bloggers, was invited to partake in the beer, food and games for a blogger vs. blogger Connect 4 tournament. While battling each other for the title of #1 Connect 4 Player/Blogger, we munched on all sorts of deep fried foods, most of the potato variety: French fries, sweet potato fries, curly seasoned fries, tater tots, as well as polenta fried calamari. We also had hot dogs and bacon-crusted French toast, which the Los Angeles Times described as being made with French bread, but ours was soggy and not crisp as French baguette should have been. We also drank Telegraph beers to accompany all this bar food, and they paired well.

Sweet potato, curly seasoned and French fries

Polenta fried calamari

Bucket o' beer

Connect 4, hot dog and Telegraph

Bacon-crusted French toast

Since then I’ve been back a couple of times, once just for a drink and another time to try West 4th/Jane’s Wednesday night crawfish boil. These follow-up visits were much more satisfying. My pint of Allagash white ale was served really cold, which is how I like it. And the crawfish meal, which comes with a boiled potato and corn on the cob, was tasty, too. And at $10, it’s a good deal, too.

A minute later, I ripped this little guy's head off and ate him.

West 4th/Jane also has a weekday happy hour from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. with 50 cent wings, $3 for select beers and $5 house bubbly. There are different drink specials every night. And a huge plus: food is served until 1:15 a.m. every night.