AfterWork: The District Lounge in Orange
If you asked me for a nightlife recommendation, and I suggested that you check out the post office in Orange, you might think that I had gone postal.
But you would be assuming that I was talking about the current post office, and not the city's original post office from the 1920s.
If you walked into the historic building that housed the early 20th century post office, you would find yourself in The District Lounge, which delivers on many fronts, but not the mail.
The District is a dance-and-DJ hot spot Thursdays-Saturdays, and offers one of the county's only seven-day-a-week happy hours (2-7 p.m., with an extended happy hour on Thursdays to 10 p.m.). Regrettably, the bar has no food discounts during happy hour, but makes up for that with its popular Monday-night "Build-your-own-burger" offering, and the Tuesday "All-you-can-eat" tacos for $5.
The former post office (the original vault is now used for liquor storage) has taken on the look of a speakeasy lounge (lots of red velvet and framed photos of pin-ups on the wall), and the menu has undergone some serious renovation.
Most of your favorites are still there – it's a burger, burrito, sandwich and salad kind of place - but they have been raising eyebrows and tantalizing taste buds with some interesting variations on a theme, including beer-battered burritos, potato tacos, potato bacon cheddar spring rolls, Irish nachos and the eye-popping "Lava Burger," in which the cheese is infused inside the burger.
Contact the writer: 714-796-5051, ext. 1110, or bkoltnow@ocregister.com
