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The DC Council has passed an emergency relief bill designed to help those struggling from the coronavirus crisis. One welcome provision for bars and restaurants: they can now sell alcohol for pickup and delivery, from bottles of wine to pre-batched cocktails.
Many restaurants are adding the drinks as an amenity to their pickup and delivery food menus. You’ll also plenty of “discounts” on wines and beers to match regular retail prices. Alcohol options are currently available on most delivery sites; Caviar is expected to add the option soon. Looking for more delivery ideas? Check out what some of our favorite restaurants are doing.
Coconut Club
540 Penn St., NE
Pickup or DC delivery via online order
Owner Adam Greenberg is offering #TikiToGo with guava-tequila mixes and blend-your-own frozen pina coladas as well as wines and beers. The drinks join luau-style fare, complete with leis to make it a home party (minus the guests, of course).
Columbia Room
124 Blagden Alley NW
Pickup or delivery via online order
One of the city’s top cocktail bars is offering its concoctions to-go—from an apple-celery gin and tonic to a negroni bianco sbagliato. You can also find creative zero-proof concoctions to-go like a non-alcoholic Getaway or a bay leaf soda. Owner Derek Brown says he’s also looking to move some of his cocktail classes online using Zoom. His plan is to host half-hour sessions with a limited group of people who buy gift cards, place to-go orders, or donate to a charity. Stay tuned for details.
Emilie’s
1101 Pennsylvania Ave. SE
Pickup; call 202-544-4368 or e-mail FeedMe@emiliesdc.com
If you’re craving orange wine, natural bubbles, or just something red and delicious at home, look to chef Kevin Tien’s eclectic wine list—the whole seven-page book is available for takeout at 40-percent off, plus a select list of $25 bottles. The Capitol Hill restaurant is getting pretty creative (and expansive) with its takeout options overall, from morning pastries to evening Vietnamese meals, Hot Lola’s chicken sandwiches, and tons of offbeat pantry items like caviar and miso butter.
Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab
750 15th St., NW
Pickup via ChowNow and delivery via UberEats and DoorDash
Joe’s is well known for its excellent happy hour. In the absence of that, the restaurant is bringing happy hour prices to your door. You can now get $2 beers and half-priced bottles of wine to accompany your stone crab claws, BLT wedge salad, and steak.
Komi/Happy Gyro
1509 17th St., NW
Pickup via online order
You used to have to book a $175 tasting menu to hear Komi’s sommeliers describe wines such as a “natural, juicy Greek nouveau.” Now you can just select them online as part of chef Johnny Monis‘ all-vegetarian Happy Gyro carryout. The menu features meatless riffs on Greek diner classics like souvlaki and reubens, while the wines—all 40-percent off—range from natural bubbles to Sicilian reds. There’s also a DIY tallboy option.
Maxwell Park
1336 9th St., NW; 1346 4th St., SE
Pickup or delivery via online order
Before Covid-19, sommelier Brent Kroll‘s wine bars in Shaw and Navy Yard were some of the most interesting places to sip in the city. Now the team is offering a similar experience at home with a 30-page “distant discount” wine catalogue, available for pickup or delivery at 30-percent off. (Delivery is free when you purchase $40.) The options are expansive: everything from Lambrusco to offbeat whites, oenophile splurges like a $182 (with discount) Ulysse Colin Blanc de Noir, and cool finds like a $42 Donnhoff Estate Riesling 2013.
Planet Wine
2000 Mt Vernon Ave., Alexandria
Pickup and delivery call 703-549-5051
Neighborhood Restaurant Group’s Alexandria bottle shop is delivering an enticing selection of wine, beers, and ciders at their regular retail prices (largely in the $13 to $25 range for wines, and starting at $12 for a six-pack of beer). The order minimum is $30 with a $5 delivery fee, and available within a 5 mile radius (VA only).
Poca Madre
777 I St., NW
Pickup and delivery; call 202-838-5300
Chef Victor Albisu’s mod-Mex restaurant now has Tecate six-packs, mezcals, and margaritas to go with its mole fried chicken or build-your-own duck tacos. The 32 oz. batched cocktails ($25) make five drinks and range from a cranberry-rosemary marg to a mezcal-orange agave mix. Just pour over ice. The to-go menu is available from 4 to 9 PM. Delivery is available to most DC neighborhoods with a $50 minimum and $3 delivery fee.
Service Bar
926-928 U St., NW
Pickup and delivery; call 202-462-7232; also available on UberEats and other platforms with increased pricing to accommodate the 30-percent fee they charge
This fried chicken and cocktail favorite is offering its cocktails in 32-ounce containers (enough for 4-6 drinks) along with ice and instructions. (They’ve also got a YouTube channel with extra cocktail how-tos.) Among your options: a saffron gin and tonic, burnt orange sour, and spicy paloma. Batched cocktail prices range from $40 to $60. Select beer and wine are also available, alongside Service Bar’s crispy mozzarella balls, chicken nugs, and buckets of country fried chicken. Find the full menu here.
Seven Reasons
2208 14th St., NW
Delivery or pickup via online order
Chef Enrique Limardo’s pan-Latin restaurant is getting as whimsical with carryout as it was with dine-in. Starting tonight, the bar is packaging batch cocktails and you can head to its Instagram for tutorials on how to prepare them, such as the cachaça and coconut Tranquilo y Tropical. Wine, beer, and non-alcoholic drinks are also available. The food menu includes comforts like a half roast chicken as well as ceviches, sandwiches, and vegan options (coming very soon).
Tiger Fork
922 Blagden Alley NW
Pickup and delivery; call 202-733-1152
This Hong Kong-inspired hotspot is turning its most popular cocktails (along with those of sister bar Calico) into adult juice boxes. Try the “8 O’Clock Light Show” with rum, yuzu, and mandarin or a lavender lemonade with gin. Individual boxes range from $8 to $12, while four-packs are $28 or $40. You’ll also find half-off bottles of wine and discounted sakes and canned beers—all available from noon to 9 PM, Tuesday through Sunday.
Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.
Jessica Sidman covers the people and trends behind D.C.’s food and drink scene. Before joining Washingtonian in July 2016, she was Food Editor and Young & Hungry columnist at Washington City Paper. She is a Colorado native and University of Pennsylvania grad.
