Barrel Home in Logan Circle is internet hosting a sequence of pop-ups earlier than its grand opening. {Photograph} by John Rorapaugh, LeadingDC.
Barrel Home. 1341 14th St., NW.
The long-lasting whiskey barrel facade in Logan Circle dates again to the Forties when the storefront was house to Sammy’s Barrel Home liquor retailer. The booze enterprise moved subsequent door in 2015, and in newer years, the area was transformed into an (ill-fated) Foxtrot market.
All alongside, it appeared like a missed alternative for a bar. Now, although, the homeowners of Wunder Garten in NoMa are turning it into a restaurant and bar with a cocktail backyard out again. Within the meantime, they’re internet hosting a sequence of pop-ups over the following few months—together with the flowery Shamrock Shack main as much as St. Patrick’s Day.
Homeowners Christopher Lynch, who additionally beforehand owned L’Enfant Cafe in Adams Morgan, and Biva Ranjeet say their finish imaginative and prescient is a European-style cafe, the place you’ll be able to come for espresso and pastries within the morning and cocktails and lightweight bistro fare within the evenings.
“It’s one in all these hubs of a neighborhood the place you simply go in, you should purchase only a cappuccino—in an actual cup‚” Lynch says. “Or you’ll be able to go in and get buffalo mozzarella and olives or one thing like that and share a bottle of wine with a good friend.”
The homeowners just lately transformed the again parking zone right into a 4,000-square-foot consuming backyard with faux-grass, a pergola, and bushes. However the bar will bear extra intensive inside renovations in July and August. When it has its grand debut this fall, the indoor area will function a loft within the again the place bands, DJs, and vocalists can carry out. Lynch says they gained’t usually cost a canopy; fairly, there can be some sort of leisure each time you are available in. “I envision a home band, sort of just like the Roots on Jimmy Fallon. A guitar and a drum and guitar, and so they’re all the time enjoying within the night,” he says.
There’a additionally an enclosed patio, the place they are going to be constructing out a full bar within the coming months with expanded beer and wine choices along with cocktails. They’ll even be constructing out the kitchen, which is able to serve easy dishes like a half rooster, nicoise salad, or cheeseburger with fries.
Barrel Home truly opened in December with a holiday-themed pop-up. The most recent Shamrock Shack pop-up—which runs by way of March 19—is decked with a inexperienced throne the place you’ll be able to pose with a gnome, plus umbrellas everywhere in the ceiling, and a “pot of gold” ball pit for adults on the finish of the rainbow. Among the many drinks: inexperienced beer, an Irish Cream espresso martini adorned with a shamrock, and the “Shamrock Shake,” a frozen combine with pistachio and Skrewball peanut butter whiskey. Little Miner Taco is supplying the meals.
The bar will transition to an “edgy” Japanese popular culture pop-up from March 20 by way of April 20 for cherry blossom season. That can be adopted by a Delight-themed “Pixie Hole” pop-up, which is able to channel a fairy backyard, although you’ll have to remain tuned for particulars.
“It’s a gay- and woman-owned enterprise, so we will simply hold loads of Delight flags up,” Lynch says. “However we don’t love to do one thing that’s odd.”
Meals Editor
Jessica Sidman covers the folks and tendencies behind D.C.’s food and drinks scene. Earlier than becoming a member of Washingtonian in July 2016, she was Meals Editor and Younger & Hungry columnist at Washington Metropolis Paper. She is a Colorado native and College of Pennsylvania grad.
