Death & Co
124 Blagden Alley, NW.
When DC’s top cocktail bar, Columbia Room, closed in 2022, it was devastating news to the drinking scene. But the blow was softened by its eventual replacement: the New York cocktail spot that helped inspire it in the first place. The lineup of drinks spans from “bright & confident” to “rich & comforting.” A riff on a piña colada swaps Granny Smith apple juice for pineapple and adds a horseradish kick.
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Grazie Mille
1100 15th St., NW.
You could begin and end a night out at this loungey sibling to Italian restaurant Grazie Nonna. Start with a cocktail–maybe the vesper-like Vatican with Roku gin, Italicus, and lemon peel–then move on to snacks such as delicately fried artichokes or a baton of focaccia with stracciatella-and-tomato dip.
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Little Blackbird
3309 Connecticut Ave., NW.
Ashok Bajaj’s latest revamp of this Cleveland Park storefront is a throwback to its wine-bar roots–it was Bardeo in the early aughts. Now wine-pairing suggestions accompany Mediterranean small plates, and a rotating by-the-glass list features crowd pleasers alongside offbeat picks. “Playful pairings” may sound gimmicky until you try the genius of a PB&J with Lambrusco.
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Medina
1328 Florida Ave., NW.
Can’t snag a seat at Middle Eastern restaurant Maydan? Head across the alley to its sister bar, decked out to look like a Bedouin tent. Cocktails include mezcal and passionfruit with serrano-salt air as well as martinis served from a cart with olive-oil-washed vodka or gin and accoutrements such as smoked olives and bottarga. While the focus is the drinks, the mezze board with tinned fish, tomato-eggplant jam, and other goodies is an attraction of its own.
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Turncoat
5406 Wisconsin Ave., Chevy Chase.
In Friendship Heights, drinking options past 9 pm are slim, so this bar at the Heights food hall (open till midnight!) is a welcome addition. The kitschy speakeasy theme extends to cocktails like the Clawfoot Tub, served in a small bathtub, but it’s actually a well-balanced combo of gin, tonic, and pineapple foam.
This article appears in the July 2024 issue of Washingtonian.
