After being shut down for nearly two months in the wake of violating DC’s mask and vaccine mandates, the Big Board reopened over the weekend. The controversial H Street, Northeast bar and burger joint—which received multiple warnings and thousands of dollars in fines for failure to enforce masking and proof-of-vaccines checks—had its liquor license suspended in January. It reopened shortly after the license was restored last week.
Thanks to everyone who has supported over the last few months and all the years, and with eternal gratitude to the buckeye institute for representing us, we are happy to announce The Big Board is re-opening today at 5pm. Everyone is welcome.
— The Big Board (@thebigboarddc) April 1, 2022
Co-owner Eric Flannery welcomed the national spotlight as prominent right-wing pundits and politicians rallied around the Big Board’s defiance of DC mayor Muriel Bowser’s Covid rules. Several Republican members of congress, including Rand Paul and Thomas Massie, gathered at the restaurant to eat burgers of solidarity once its liquor license was suspended. A Daily Caller correspondent started a GoFundMe page for the business, which has raised $34,915 to date. Right wing advocacy group the Buckeye Institute, which represented the Big Board pro bono, announced a “hard fought victory” against DC officials to reinstate the restaurant’s operating license.
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.
