It's also the perfect place for a party: Backroom Bar can be rented for private events to dial up the secrecy factor, many hosts implement a password system. A few small bites are available, but you're probably there for the shooters ($9), copious cocktail offerings ($12.50) and bottles of champagne ($25-$300). Once you're on the invite-only roster, you can add up to three friends. The only way to get in is to be invited onto "the list" by an existing member, or be with a friend who is. Dubbed Backroom Bar, the room has leather tufted banquets, a huge chandelier and clusters of plush sofas that encourage conversation among guests, who are often dressed to the nines. (Deb Lindsey /for The Washington Post)īehind a walk-in refrigerator door in Capo's Delicatessen in Shaw, there's a glitzy lounge that's twice the size of the sandwich shop. Happy hour Fridays 6 to 8 p.m.īehind that refrigerator door, guests will find Backroom Bar, a glitzy lounge that’s twice the size of the sandwich shop. You better believe the wine list is well curated. For the elevated experience, head to Au Petit Bouchon, where Bordeaux-born chef Mark Courseille serves refined French dishes. At happy hour, on Fridays, you'll have a chance to rub elbows with diplomats and practice your French with a $4 beer in hand. Once you pass a security check, you and up to three guests can visit the embassy's eateries, including Cafe Descartes, a casual bar with a small seating area and foosball table. Start by filling out an application online and submitting a photo for a free membership card. In a true act of diplomacy, the French Embassy offers the public access to its bar, cafeteria and fine-dining restaurant - but, like getting a passport, you have to jump through a few hoops. The food menu includes seafood-heavy small plates, while the classic-leaning cocktails include a daiquiri ($13) and a brown-butter old-fashioned ($16). The bar, decorated with lobster cages, oars and a ship's wheel, is named after a seafarer who supposedly invented the hole in doughnuts. If there's room - only 25 guests are allowed at a time - you'll be admitted through a false door. But if you're in the shop and spot a raised whiskey flag, give it a pull: The flag acts like a doorbell, ringing a bell on the other side. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post)įrom the same team as Nocturne and also housed within a Sugar Shack, this nautical-themed bar requires an online reservation as well. Have fun, if you can get in.īartender Megan Kyker opens the door leading from Sugar Shack, a low-key doughnut shop in Alexandria, into Captain Gregory's. In another category still are the places so mysterious, few are even aware they exist.įor those looking for an adventure, hunt down these hidden spots, ranked easiest to access to most difficult. Then there are real clandestine bars - ones that require an invitation from someone in the know. Several calling themselves speakeasies have sprung up across Washington over the past few years, only to reveal themselves as merely retro bars that anyone can get into. That’s when he points them toward a walk-in refrigerator door in the back, where a watering hole is tucked away in plain sight. "They'll come in looking lost," says Koch, a managing partner at the 14th Street newcomer Chicken + Whiskey. To really get in the speakeasy mood, The Last Word offers several absinthe creations.Ĭheck out the complete list of all the best hidden bars across the country here.Charles Koch can always tell when it’s someone’s first time inside his restaurant.Ī friend probably told them to swing by for a drink, but all they see is a fast-casual eatery with a food menu that's suspiciously lacking in cocktails. The beverage menu is comprised of chapters ascending from lighter cocktails to heavier nightcaps and also includes an impressive selection of bourbons. A red light and a small plaque with “The LW” are the only indications that a speakeasy is hidden behind a plain door on the corner of Huron Street and 1st in Ann Arbor. Livability named The Last Word in Ann Arbor as the best hidden bar in Michigan. They often require a secret code to enter before you can even take a sip of one of their specialty cocktails. In fact, speakeasies and secret bars have been growing in popularity recently, probably because they offer such a unique experience. And while Prohibition ended around 1933, speakeasies live on. Historical speakeasies were originally secret, underground bars created in the United States during Prohibition so that people could still enjoy alcohol when the sale, manufacturing and transportation of alcoholic beverages was illegal throughout the country.
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