The Capitol Offender

Cafe Asia

This place may seem like your typical happy hour sushi place with $2 ichiban beers, $1 sushi pieces, located downtown –so I guess it is your typical happy hour, but this place doesn’t strike me like that.  The décor is very funky and has a retro look to it.  There are two levels; the bar is downstairs and where all the action is.  There are plenty of tables in the bar which can be reserved ahead of time or you can throw your name in when you get there.  The bar area is a pretty decent size with a little alcove to gather with your colleagues or gather with your friends so you can bash your colleagues. Unlike other sushi happy hour locations, the sushi here is delicious and one of my favorite spots for sushi as well as happy hour.  I typically start with some edamame and then order the usual tuna and shrimp tempura rolls followed by eel. I always judge a sushi place based on how good the eel is and whether it’s gamey or not—it’s perfect here and not gamey!  Café Asia happy hour is from 4:30-7:30 which is longer than most HH’s and is filled with great people watching, although at times it can be packed, I always find a spot at the bar and never wait long for a $2 Ichiban.  It can be relaxing and a great way to let loose and have some Sake Bombs with your dinner without judgment from the staff or the other patrons.  It seems to be a judgment free zone which is where I prefer to be after having 6+ Ichibans (I swear they are laced with something because I always get too drunk from them).  Don’t forget to visit the restroom, they are coed!

Logan Circle's newest spot

 

Logan Circle’s newest hotspot opened this fall called ChurchKey, located upstairs from their restaurant Birch & Barley. ChurchKey is unlike any other bar I have seen before in DC, very similar to New York’s Superdive bar, but without the keg service. This bar has over 500 bottled beers and over 50 beers on draft. Most beers have a small (starting around $4) and large size (beginning at $8). Naturally I went for the large size which I paid for the next day more so than my friend who was smarter and got the small beers—I drink more of the crisp beers as I don’t like thick heavy beers.  The menu has a wide variety for all types of eaters and ranges from Poutine (Canadian favorite-French fries with melted cheese curds and gravy, which happens to be my favorite late night snack and sometimes a fatty hangover favorite while visiting Montreal) to tater tots and everything in between, such as flatbreads (pizza) and salads. All food was good but not exceptional—we were there for drinks and the ambiance not the food, which is a good thing because otherwise I would have been disappointed-I suggest stick with the flatbreads.  Great place no matter what night you go, Sunday was booming until beyond midnight. Lines form around the corner most Thursday-Saturday nights so be prepared to wait.  Although you may have to wait in line it is well worth it because it is a great place to  eat, drink, watch a game or hang out in the lounge area. I will be heading back to this place soon, but will either drink or eat less because my large beers turned a low key Sunday night into quite an expensive night. Beware of how much you are spending because it adds up quickly. Two homo thumbs up for this place!

I'm in Miami BITCH

So I just returned from a family trip to Miami for 5 days...Lots to cover about the trip so bear with me and the length of this entry.  First off, I should mention that my boyfriend accompanied us on this trip which was great, but a first family trip together with my parents’ mo son and his beau which went very well and totally normal.  We stayed at the Ritz Carlton South Beach (above left picture) which was amazing—excellent service and excellent food/drinks/location.  My whole family fell in love with the frozen Mojito that the Ritz serves…delicious but dangerous both physically and financially, but thank God I was traveling with my rents so I didn’t feel the financial pain of this drink.  The drink is very stiff to begin with and then of course they add a floater on top so you are feeling pretty good after one, let alone four.  One of my favorite parts of the trip (other than being on Mom and Dads tab) was the Miami Duck tour.  Yes, duck tours are cheesy, but I am cheesy and love them.  I’ve been on a couple other ones and each time I have been belly laughing.  The Duck tour takes you around all of the famous islands where celebrities live (Star Island, Palm Island, & Fisher Island) as well as hitting up Ocean Drive, which is known for its people watching.  Our guide would make fun of everyone on the street and/or try to make them dance—sometimes the people would play along and sometime they wouldn’t, which is when they got made fun of.  The driver also points out all of the local Reality Show locations such as Miami Ink, Kourtney and Khloe do Miami.  Miami is a Cheesy city (in a good way) and this tour is the best way to take it all in, it more of a show than a tour.  You will literally be laughing to the point of tears and possibly to the point of peeing your pants.  Ocean Drive is full of ¾ naked people and their weird pet snakes but that is what makes Miami so great is that everyone fits in and anything goes. 

Other highlights of the trip were the bars and restaurants we went to.  My favorite restaurant of all the nights we were there was Ola.  It is located one block off of Collins and is AMAZING Latin American food—our concierge recommended it.  The waiter recommended all of his favorites, and I ordered each of them.  My/the waiter’s favorites were:  Salmon ceviche to start and then the Sea Bass for an Entrée—I am typically not a Sea bass fan, but this was truly the best piece of fish I have EVER had.  Other great dishes we ordered were the Mystery Meatballs (Kobe beef meatballs), the shrimp empanadas and braised pork. Everyone LOVED their dishes and recommends all of them.  All of the food had great Latin American spices that gave it that little extra kick to each dish.  Other must do’s in Miami: hit up the Delano (pool bar) for drinks (top right picture), Clevelander on Ocean Drive (above left picture)—finally a cheap drink on the ocean in an open air bar with great bands playing on a stage that goes over the pool, LIV at Fontainebleau for the club scene, and drinks on the rooftop of the Gansevoort.  So much to do here so little time…Hope to get back again this winter to report more!

Westhampton Beach, NY

Being from a suburb of NYC in northern New Jersey most of my friends naturally moved to NYC after college and began their lives. I however, chose to take a job in Washington, DC and now visit my friends from home as often as possible. A few good friends rent a summer share on Dune Road in Westhampton Beach, NY which is an hour and a half from NYC without traffic-which is never the case. We woke up early Friday morning and headed to WHB to my friends house share. WHB or possibly just my group of friends have the typical weekend routine down.  Friday nights at Casey's and Saturday nights at the Drift Inn. Friday we head to Casey's in a large van that of course allows us to bring our open containers in as we head to Casey's. Casey's is a typical Irish bar packed with NYC 20 somethings like ourselves looking to escape the daily grind as we drink and dance the night away all the while making complete fools of ourselves but of course without any shame (meanwhile we should all be ashamed, especially me dancing with a 60 year old regular lady who may or may not have something wrong with her. Saturday we wake up grab breakfast in the very cute town of WHB. Unlike most people's views of the Hamptons it is very quaint and not snooty. Of course it has upscale stores but definitely has a welcoming vibe, not too mention has a beachy feeling to it--feel free to eat in your bathing suit although you might be out numbered by people dressed up in their proper Hamptons Attire. We spend the day on the beautiful beach, very quiet--the only other people on the beach were about 50-100 yards from us. As the afternoon goes on so does our hunger and thirst (but not in that order) as we need to get ready for the "Drift". We walk a couple doors down to John Scott's Restaurant which is right on the bay and has live reggae music playing outside in the afternoon. John Scott's draws in a crowd of 20 somethings as well as families--this doesn't stop us from getting ridiculous and sharing vulgar jokes and/or calling each other vulgar names. After we get a nice buzz going at John Scott's we head back to home to begin pre-gaming and start getting ready for the night. This night a limo picks us up (same price as the van) and brings us to The Drift Inn around 10pm which is early but we were avoiding a long line later in the night.  the place is an outdoor club as you can see in the picture and is located right on the beach...I know the place is crazy when I am one of the least drunk/embarrasing people at the bar.  Very crowded and typical hamptons priced drinks but a lot of fun and not as far as bars in the other Hamptons. Sunday morning rolls around and so does my hangover and dreadful 6-8 hour drive back to Washington, DC.  Excellent weekend and will be back shortly!

Sunday Funday in DC

After being here in DC for my first weekend in about 5 weeks, I decided to take advantage of being in town and this great weather, so I met some friends for drinks at one of my favorite locations..Circa (www.circacafes.com) located directly across the street from the Dupont north metro stop with outdoor seating. Located across from the metro stop means its a great spot for people watching or more often freak watching which is equally as fun especially when you are hungover and want to shoot yourself and then you see a homeless man with feet five times the size of yours--things are looking up or maybe that is the booze talking. We enjoyed some white wine, pizza and wings...From here we decided to changed locations to Clydes (www.clydes.com) in Georgetown for half priced wine and more wings. Half priced wine is every Sunday and goes until 1030pm. We were able to get bottles of wine for $16 and up-great deal! From here we headed to Mr. Smiths in Georgetown (www.mrsmiths.com) which was when my night/day starting fading as was my memory.  However Mr. Smiths is typically a college bar/piano bar but never lets me down on a Sunday night...drink specials for Yeungling on Sundays.  It was about 1am and time to go to bed/pass out.