Tag Archives: hotel bars

Food and Drink, Night Life, The Daily Feed, The District
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Town & Country Goes to the Farm


‘Town and Country’
courtesy of ‘Don Feduardo’

You might have seen this already. Tonight’s last call will truly be the last for (insert-cliché-here) bar Town & Country at the Mayflower, closing to make room for a relocated Thomas Pink store in what appears to be a complete renovation of the hotel’s ground floor.

The Social Chair and I stopped by last night to have a round and toast the bar’s history, but this was actually my first visit there. I’ll miss it in theory (I love the room) but the cocktails she and I had were underwhelming at best. Have you been? Are you going tonight? Any favorite memories?

And if you need a replacement old-school, wood-paneled room for your drinks, don’t fret! There’s still Blue Bar, the Occidental, Round Robin, Off The Record …

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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Details Loves Tabard Too

 Photo courtesy of
‘Magnified’
courtesy of ‘Samer Farha’

Details Magazine has included our own venerable Tabard Inn in its list of the Top Ten Hotel Bars, joining such illustrious lounges like London’s Connaught (though not the Algonquin in NYC? that’s an omission shocking to this lover of creaky cosy hotel bars).

They may get the clientele a little wrong (“policy wonks”? come on, that’s just lazy, there’s more to it than that) but they get the atmosphere right. And it’s fantastic to see one of my favorite places get well-deserved props.

Later today I’m continuing the love with a profile of Tabard’s mixologist Chantal Tseng. No better time to relax in that well-worn lounge in front of the fire than in this neverending winter…

Downtown, Food and Drink, We Love Drinks
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We Love Drinks: Round Robin

Round Robin Bar

"Round Robin Bar" by Jenn Larsen, on Flickr

Let’s say you need to get drinks with colleagues after work, or have incoming relatives or friends who aren’t particularly interested in the “real” Washington but rather want the “politico” version (and this last problem may be really relevant in a few days). I don’t think you can go wrong in those instances with the Willard Hotel’s Round Robin bar.

Even if you don’t actually see a Washington “insider,” the traditional dark wood and green walls fairly ooze influence. Beaten down leather banquettes, little pub tables, and that famous round bar in the center – all in a small nook off the side of the Willard’s opulent lobby. You even get a bowl of nuts to snack on, gratis.  

I know! – it’s like that soft cashmere sweater you reach for to make you feel cosy and cared for – it may have some unsightly moth holes, and you wouldn’t wear it out on a hot date, but you still snuggle up with it sometimes.
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