The Draw: Free spirits and high spirits reign at this only-in-DC restaurant/bookstore/lounge/performance space. Named for poet Langston Hughes, who once lived nearby and worked at a local hotel as a busboy, B&P is a place of open-flow rooms, communal tables, and couches meant for sharing. It all adds up to moments of natural opportunities for easy mingling and conversation.
The Scene: An internationally diverse collection of activists, writers, and community workers linger in this true neighborhood hangout. There is always something happening here, whether a film screening or an author reading. (If it’s Tuesday, it must be spoken-word night.)
Hot Tip: Locals flock here in groups, but singles from out of town are the next biggest population, so no worries about arriving solo.
The Draw: One of the tonier gathering places in the U Street Corridor, Local 16 draws an upscale clientele, who especially like the shielded rooftop deck and its night-sky view. Heaters help keep the deck open nine months of the year, but the first-floor bar/dining room and second-floor lounge are themselves hot destinations, where DJs, candlelight, hardwood floors, and 10-foot-high windows combine for dramatic effect.
The Scene: An expensively attired, perfectly sculpted mix of international, Washington-prep, and artlessly cool sophisticates land here nightly, but especially on weekends.
Hot Tip: Local 16’s Sunday Jerk ‘n’ Reggae Time is a popular event, when diners dress down (somewhat), sip pink Jamaican punch, dine on grilled jerk chicken and butterflied shrimp, and listen to reggae music in the afternoon and guest DJs come sundown.
The Draw: Locals count on this 17-year-old institution for laid-back good times and nightly live rock ‘n’ roll, Latin, blues, and jazz. Venture in alone or with a pack of friends and you’ll emerge in expanded good company. Singlets can take their pick: shake and move it on the first floor, head upstairs to Big Daddy’s Love Lounge & Pick-up Joint for heavy flirtations, or seek quieter conversation and a damn fine view on the rooftop.
The Scene: Ensconced in a three-level townhouse in the middle of Adams Morgan, Madam’s is hard to miss, especially with the band set up in the storefront window, its music streaming out to the street. Saturday (blues night) is when the saloon is most crowded, as a motley bunch of Washingtonians gets down to serious dancing. With its eclectic furnishings, paintings of nudes, and mounted animal heads, Madam’s Organ inspires impetuous behavior in the most straitlaced of wonks.
Hot Tip: You can’t beat the bar offerings and deals. (One sign inside reads, “Redheads forever pay half-price for Rolling Rock.”) But consider eating elsewhere, at Las Canteras, for example, or the Black Squirrel, just down the street.
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