FANS OF DR. DREMO'S TAP HOUSE have known since 2005 that their favorite dive bar's days were numbered. But up until last year, it was unclear just how much time regulars had left to hang out at the unpretentious watering hole, housed in an old car dealership wedged between Wilson and Clarendon boulevards down the hill from Arlington County's Courthouse area. Now, it's just a few more days before Dremo's is shut down for good — to eventually make way for a new residential and retail development.
The bar's final night is set for Sunday; an auction is scheduled for Monday at 7 p.m., during which everything, including the trademark totem pole, will be sold off. Of course, you can't auction off all the memories from Dremo's, which opened in 2000 after the site served a seven-year stint as Bardo Rodeo and Ningaloo. Dremo's owners hope to reopen in the vicinity, but the future is unclear.
The charms and quirks of the place might best be summed up by Mike Miller of Arlington, who wrote about it for The Post's Sunday Source in 2006:
Continue Reading "Arlington's Dr. Dremo's Enters Its Final Days" »
"SOMETIMES I FEEL in Virginia we're still working off a prohibition mentality. The rigid construct of state laws is not reflective of modern times."
— Virginia state Sen. Chap Peterson, Democrat of Fairfax, on alcohol laws that bar restaurants and bars in the commonwealth from mixing wine or beer with spirits and pre-mixing a drink with alcohol.» "Virginia's Sangria Ban At Issue in 2 Hearings" [WaPo]As The Post's Anita Kumar reports, it is illegal to serve traditional sangria in Virginia, according to laws dating to 1934. Alcohol regulatory authorities have handed out citations to La Tasca in Alexandria, and Crystal City's Jaleo has been forced to alter its sangria recipe to be in accordance with the law. The Virginia General Assembly is considering tweaks to the commonwealth's alcohol laws to allow the sale of sangria.
Photo by Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post
THEY AREN'T POPPING celebratory corks just yet, but following a three-year liquor license moratorium, District residents in Glover Park may have a handful of new alcohol-serving restaurants to choose from later this year.
At a meeting earlier this month, members of the neighborhood's Advisory Neighborhood Commission voted unanimously to lobby the Alcohol Beverage Regulation Administration for a five-year extension of the moratorium when it lapses in April. But, the ANC also approved an amendment to the moratorium that will allow for three additional class CR licenses. These permit restaurants to sell beer, wine and spirits.
The last moratorium, approved in 2005, has had "a very strong and stabilizing effect on the neighborhood," according to Alan Blevins, an ANC board member. Crime and public lewdness are down, he said, and the commercial district has been able to attract retail outlets beyond restaurants. "We already have a significant number of restaurants. We're trying to strike a balance between them and other establishments," he added.
Jackie Blumenthal, president of the Glover Park Citizens' Association, said her organization supported the ANC's decision. Blumenthal acknowledged, however, that there were "differing points of view" on the issue. While some residents wanted to extend additional licenses to fill empty storefronts on Wisconsin Avenue, others, she said, "remembered the disruption and violence that was prevalent" before the moratorium was instituted.
Continue Reading "Glover Park Weighs Liquor License Shifts" »
LOOKING FOR A SEASONAL COCKTAIL that exudes warmth yet still has a kick? Hudson Restaurant's beverage manager, John Hogan, seeks to quell your craving with his concoctions.
Hogan recommends his wild honey and cherry Manhattan — made with Wild Turkey-infused honey, Lillet rouge, cherry brandy, whiskey-aged bitters and served with a honeycomb lollipop.
There's also his sour apple and cinnamon martini made with cinnamon-infused vodka, apple brandy and Granny Smith apple purée and served with a honey-dried apple slice. Both Hudson's cocktails and late-night eats are available through the wee hours.
» Hudson, 2030 M St. NW; 202-872-8700, (Foggy Bottom-GWU/Dupont Circle)
ON A RECENT EVENING, a pair of diners sat in the window seat at Queen of Sheba on 9th Street NW in Shaw. Between them, they shared traditional Ethiopian vegetarian plates, like Atkilt, a stew made with carrots, potatoes, cabbage, red pepper and onions. They glanced directly across the street, at the Shiloh Baptist Church, raised their Heineken beers and took a swig.
It was a somewhat ordinary scene — but, after a nearly two-year battle for a liquor license, it's one that owner Embzam Misgina now takes comfort in. "It was very difficult," he said, of the unexpected fight he faced with the church when opening his restaurant in early 2006. "We wouldn't have opened here if we had known."
It was unexpected because both a corner liquor store and a nearby Giant supermarket sell alcohol. Yet, when Misgina applied for a license, the church contested it because Queen of Sheba was located less than 400 feet from Seaton Elementary School. Twenty-two months, a legislative change and protest hearing later, the restaurant was allowed to start serving alcohol a month ago.
Continue Reading "After Battle With Church, Shaw Restaurant Thrives" »
THOUGH IT only sporadically looks a lot like Christmas in Washington, area drinksmiths are mixing up a variety of Yule-kicking elixirs. At Tryst, patrons cram the overstuffed sofas to sip Peppermintinis, drinkable candy canes that sail down the bar like toys on an assembly line.
And the creme de cacao-spiked Mexican Chocolate, pictured here, made with hazelnuts, vanilla powder, cocoa and pureed chipotle chilies, swaddles the taste buds like a warm blanket.
'Tis the season to spot a Who's Who from Whoville in the Willard InterContinental's Round Robin bar.
Mixologist Jim Hewes' traditional warmers are as inviting as the choir singing Christmas carols in the hotel's jewel box of a lobby. The Bishop, mulled port topped with a raft of orange slice, fills the sinuses with notes of hearty allspice. Buttered rum layered with white sugar and lemon zest is a surefire cure for Grinchy tidings.
Sebastian Zutant, the resident sommelier at Proof, has come up with a pair of zingers. The Caramelized Apple features maple syrup, star anise, brown sugar and a luxurious homemade applesauce, all shaken with apple brandy, Chambord and Calvados.
His Sherry Cobbler is a lip-smacking update on a 1920s recipe: cinnamon-infused syrup, spicy pumpkin puree and velvety Lustau sherry draped over shaved ice. This may be the best Sno-Cone ever.
IS THE SEVEN DAYS grocery store an asset to Columbia Heights? Or is it contributing to public drunkenness?
The store, located at the corner of 14th and Fairmont streets NW, has been the target of accusations from neighbors that it's contributing to public drinking and booze-fueled brawls, The Post's Clarence Williams reports.
As with many issues in Columbia Heights, the neighborhood's rapid revitalization is said to have its part in the spat. Longtime residents complain that newcomers worried about property values are pushing for increased scrutiny of the store. Those newcomers, however, say the alcohol-related problems are legitimate and require city action.
One larger issue for the neighborhood is the sale of single-serve containers of alcohol, including malt liquor. Seven Days' owner, Abdela Mohammed, signed a voluntary agreement in 1991 — the same year it received its liquor license — that said the store would not sell single containers of alcohol. However, single sales have gone on anyway.
Continue Reading "Columbia Hts. Grocery Store Caught in the Middle" »
TO WATCH TODD THRASHER of Alexandria's Restaurant Eve and PX make a drink cultivates a sense of possibility — whatever he's making will be intensely relaxing and surprisingly delightful, whether it's minimalist liquor on the rocks or a multi-ingredient cocktail.
As he begins, Thrasher unveils his gear from a travel tool case — which, by the way, holds seven knives, a juicer, a microplane, scissors, arm bands, string, a mini-spatula and a swizzle.
On a blustery afternoon, Thrasher makes Express an Elixir, a labor-intensive concoction for which he simmers water with nutmeg, allspice, star anise, cardamom, cloves, brown sugar, apples and orange peels. Then he strains the reduction, adds simple syrup, sparkling water and a tablespoon of vitamin C powder, which he pours into a soda siphon for carbonation.
"It adds creaminess to the cocktail," said Thrasher. "I like playing with texture. We do it for food; why wouldn't we want to add texture to drinks?"
Continue Reading "Mixologist Crafts 2 Cocktails to Ward Off Winter" »
BREAK OUT THE BUBBLY! On this date in 1933, the 18th Amendment was repealed allowing Americans to consume alcohol without penalty. And one bartender is leading the charge to make today a day of celebration.
Jeffrey Morganthaler, a bartender in Eugene, Ore. has taken his plight to the pages of Food and Wine, Wine Enthusiast and Spin, among other places. He argues that Repeal Day more relevant in the U.S. than any holiday that involves the consumption of alcohol, including Cinco de Mayo, Halloween and St. Patrick's Day.
Morganthaler writes on his Web site:
Repeal Day ... is not celebrated by anyone in this country, yet it is the only day which truly has any connection with alcohol. I've been celebrating Repeal Day for years by forcing this information down the throats of my customers, and now I'm forcing it on you.Whisky distiller Dewars apparently got the message. As has Derek Brown, the sommelier at Dupont Circle's Komi, who is inviting others to join in a toast at Tabard Inn on N Street NW at 9 p.m.
MANY DRIVERS on Kenilworth Avenue in Prince George's County are just passing through, on their way to and from points between the Capital Beltway and Route 50. So it's likely that most of them haven't noticed that right there on the highway sits a little cultural landmark.
The spot in question is Chick Hall's Surf Club, the D.C. area's last true roadhouse — and it's almost history. Reports The Post's David Montgomery:
Not to take away from a few other joints that bear elements of that classic American style of refuge, but Chick's is the last of the originals, combining all the essential ingredients: Planted hard by the highway. Offering live music six or seven nights a week — preferably country, honky-tonk, a rootsy blue sizzle. Charging little or nothing at the door. Featuring a big oak dance floor — but no line-dancing, friend, and no mechanical bulls or Urban Cowboy airs, either.The owners have sold Chick's for $1 million and it's unclear, Montgomery reports, "what the buyers have in mind, except it won't be a country roadhouse."
Akira Hakuta of washingtonpost.com paid Chick's a visit, and filed the video dispatch above.
» "Good Times Flowed At the Surf Club, But the Tap's About to Run Dry" [WaPo]
» "Last of the Roadhouses" [WaPo]
Addison Road