Bars in Ontario

A person's choice of drink says a lot about them, though admittedly not as much as the fact that they're drinking it from a handmade amphora carved from the crystal skull of a hippogriff. Today's grapey Groupon lets you ooze sophistication and effortless worldliness from every pore without requiring immediate medical attention. For $20, you'll get $40 worth of pours and plates at Versai The Wine Bar, a Euro-like hot spot in Yorba Linda that specializes in rare sips, small plates, and nightly re-creations of Hannibal crossing the Alps using shadowpuppets. Versai The Wine Bar is open from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Seeing nothing but kippers and meat pies when you look at the edible clouds in the sky is a sure-fire signal that your belly craves some British grub. Today's Groupon sends your appetite across the Atlantic for $25 worth of grub and libations at The Royal Falconer for $9. Journey to either of two locations, Riverside or Redlands, for genuine English fare, crisp brews, and the company of hearty pub goers.

Gone are the days of lazy bar burgers built on beer-soaked buns and soups infested with over-salted peanuts. The cooks at 6740 hand-build custom creations for the people who nest in the place's cozily swiveling bar stools or seek shelter in the pub's sturdy red and gold wall seats below a soothing incandescent glow of booming jukebox tunery. Because any swimming pool needs pool toys, you can fill your stomach pool with fresh fare like garlic, thyme, and rosemary-marinated grilled herb potatoes ($5.95); signature Buffalo wings in spicy, regular, teriyaki, or barbeque sauce ($6.95 for a dozen); and 8 oz. Flatiron steak sandwiches ($10.95).

After memorizing the menu, start a food-eating contest with yourself by devouring a basket of chili-cheese fries (shoestring fries, $2.99, plus jack-and-cheddar chili mix, $1.29) or sixteen Angel wings tossed in your choice of one or two sauces (buffalo, blazing habanero, firecracker, Thai peanut, spicy barbecue, garlic parmesan, or blasphemy, $14.99). For the main event, chow down on a pulled-pork sandwich ($9.99), or the dos tacos, stuffed with steak or chicken and lettuce, cheddar and jack cheeses, and salsa inferno, and served with a side of tortilla chips and salsa ($7.49). Burgers, wraps, and pizzas fill out the remainder of the robust menu.

Bartenders mix more than 30 specialty martinis at Lounge 33, a riverside bar that owes its sophistication to owners Angela and George Tavaglione. The owners’ extensive menu of mixed drinks includes nods to highbrow entertainment, including The Godfather, a drink that fuses Johnnie Walker Green Label and Disaronno amaretto, or the Dirt and Spice martini, an avant-garde combination of Absolut Peppar and olive juice, Tapatio hot sauce, and lemon. Though the focus is on mixed drinks, the Tavagliones also stock wine and beer, while their skilled cooks prepare flatbread pizzas and italian meatball sandwiches guaranteed not to pop a meatball out and send it rolling to the top of Mount Smokey.

When barbecue-chicken sandwiches, teriyaki burgers, and a bunch of beef tacos washed up on Margarita Beach, the clouds began hurling large beerdrops earthward and the breeze blew away the sand to reveal a dance floor. Soon, DJs and bartenders flocked to the site, bringing with them stories of ‘80s-themed parties, beer pong, more beer pong, and Fist-Pumpin’ Fridays that quickly attracted crowds of people hungry for food and entertainment. TVs eventually got wind of all the excitement. So, they packed their vacuum tubes and flew in with visions of UFC fights and college sports. To this day, partiers still take in the open air on a patio that a nameless sailor left behind, feeling the delicious weight of turkey hoagies in their hands, thanking heaven for quesadillas, buying cocktails for pictures of bikini-clad models, and then watching the stars sputter out when Margarita Beach’s clock strikes 2 a.m.