Half cabin-themed dive bar, half high-tech “media haus” with an enormous stage and bitcoin suppose tank workplaces, there are layers to the 12,000-square-foot Pubkey Bar within the former Hill Nation Barbecue house. The bitcoin bar debuted in New York’s Greenwich Village in 2022, however its new digs in Penn Quarter are six occasions bigger, with sufficient house to throw occasions for 250 individuals. The brand new bar and occasion house opens on Friday, December 19.
“It’s the identical factor we’re doing there, however on a a lot bigger scale,” says Dan Kablaoui, the pinnacle of meals and beverage. That features facilitating bigger discussions about bitcoin and tech coverage with an enormous stage behind the spherical bar. Kablaoui says that with the in-house Bitcoin Policy Institute always “stumping on the hill for bitcoin,” they hope the again house “feels just a little bit extra like an embassy than it does a restaurant.” He hopes that the laid-back ambiance, replete with vintage carpets and leather-clad couches, will welcome individuals from throughout the aisle who join over a beer only a few blocks away from Capitol Hill.
There are assembly rooms that may double as non-public karaoke rooms, and, after all, a glass-encased podcast recording studio that may be broadcast stay throughout the entire bar. Paying in bitcoin is inspired, with a straightforward QR code for bar-goers and payment-platform Sq. accepting bitcoin with out the three to 4 % bank card processing charge.
However if you happen to keep on with the entrance of Pubkey, it looks like one other darkish, wood-paneled bar with hefty burgers, half-smokes, and chopped cheese sandwiches (an ode to the NY location) on the menu. On second look, individuals would possibly discover that the Spaghett, a Miller Excessive Life cocktail, known as the Pleb ($8, a time period for normal individuals taken with bitcoin), there’s an over-the-top tiki drink, the Orange Capsule Whale ($100) which you can solely pay for with bitcoin, and the fryers are stuffed with Snake River Farms tallow.
Kablaoui says that the entrance house ought to really feel like an approachable native bar, with late-night offers for trade of us and Capital One attendees, plus lunchtime fare that ranges from bone-in ribeyes and pork chops to crispy crab truffles and oysters from former Espita chef Alexis Samayoa. Day by day hours begin at 11 a.m., with doorways staying open until 1 a.m. Sunday by means of Tuesday and until 2 a.m. Wednesday by means of Saturday.
Manifest Bread rolls out easy pizzas and night service
With a loyal DMV-wide following and status for supplying bread to loads of high-end eating places round city (The Dabney and Lutèce, to call a number of), we’re maintaining a tally of this Riverdale Park, Maryland, bakery that simply added dinner service final week. Husband-and-wife crew Rick and Tyes Prepare dinner took a leap of religion this 12 months, closing Manifest Bread for a few months to expand into a bigger full-service restaurant. The night menu is served from 4 to eight p.m. Thursday by means of Saturday, with an anchovy-packed tomato pie ($25), a garlic and spinach-covered white pie ($24), and rabbit ragu lasagna ($27) on the opening nighttime menu. Manifest will even serve scrumptious desserts like a Basque-style cheesecake with apricot saffron preserves and an affogato with house-made vanilla ice cream.
A common Palestinian restaurant out of NY is coming to D.C.
NYC’s hit Palestinian restaurant Ayat expands to D.C. subsequent spring with a newly introduced location proper off of Washington Circle (2112 Pennsylvania Avenue NW). Expect all of the greatest hits — hummus, nutty muhammara, and rooster shawarma, to call a number of — from co-owners Abdul Elenani and Ayat Masoud, who debuted the primary Ayat in 2020. There at the moment are multiple locations throughout New York, together with the newest outpost in Astoria, plus exterior of the town. Further ones are en path to the Higher West Aspect, Philadelphia, and Dallas, per a press launch. The three,500-square-foot D.C. version, located on the foot of Foggy Backside’s tony 2112 Penn workplace tower, plans to serve lunch and dinner each day. Ought to NYC’s Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani come right down to D.C., he’ll doubtless pay a go to; he’s a huge fan of the place.
An award-winning Baltimore chef with D.C. ties is doing a brand new tapas bar
Spike Gjerde — the James Beard Award-winning chef of Woodberry Kitchen fame who ran critically acclaimed A Rake’s Progress in D.C.’s Line lodge until its 2020 closure — is again within the lodge recreation, however this time, in his residence base of Baltimore. In collaboration with lodge model Ash, Gjerde will unveil a subterranean tapas spot known as Bar Dalí in early 2026 (909 Charles Avenue). Positioned within the hip Mount Vernon neighborhood, the brand new Hotel Ulysses eating enterprise is called for eccentric Spanish artist Salvador Dalí. Gjerde will even oversee the meals and beverage program for Swann House, Ash’s occasion house located above the restaurant. Gjerde’s newly shaped hospitality firm Ecco Mission contains La Jetée, the French bistro he opened this fall within the outdated Cindy Lou’s Fish Home at Harbor Level. Gjerde says his objective of Ecco Mission is to showcase world cuisines utilizing regenerative farms and native meals methods.
