The Sport, Adams Morgan’s critically acclaimed sports activities bar with Filipino aptitude, wrapped up a six-year run over the weekend (2411 18th Road NW).
The Sport made a last-call closing announcement on Sunday, February 16, saying its final dish can be served that very same night time. Eater has now realized the subterranean area will endure a full renovation and rework into an extension of Tiki on 18th, the Sport’s tropical sibling bar upstairs. Additional particulars on the two-story tiki takeover stay below wraps for now, however it’s wanting like an early spring opening.
D.C. bar vet Jo-Jo Valenzuela and enterprise associate Oscar Guardado changed Ventnor Sports activities Cafe with the Sport in 2019. Their Filipino-influenced ingesting den rapidly drew discover for a refined pub menu stuffed with satisfying lumpia, scorching pork sisig, adobo rooster wings, funky sandwiches, pork belly-topped nachos, and different meals that reminded Valenzuela of house. A lot of his dishes nonetheless reside on at Tiki on 18th, which continues to function every day as common beginning at 5 p.m.
The pint-sized Polynesian perch Tiki, recognized for its lengthy listing of Caribbean rums and considerate interpretations of historic classics served in funky glassware, arrived above the Sport in summer time 2019. The slim, leafy setup later added a bonafide sit-down bar to get pleasure from its common volcanoes and frozen pina coladas.
Each day completely happy hour (5 p.m.-7 p.m. weekdays; 3 p.m.-6 p.m. Saturdays; all-day on Sundays) continues to characteristic $10 Zombies and nitro rum drinks, plus $5-and-up bites like atchara-topped barbecue rooster or Spam sliders and soy-marinated beef skewers.
Sports activities had been an enormous focus at its now-closed downstairs counterpart, which made ample use of 14 wall-to-wall TVs for large video games just like the current Tremendous Bowl LIX. Each day completely happy hour featured half-priced meals, $6 beers, and $10 cocktails. Friday night time karaoke was additionally a preferred affair right here.
For its closing night time of service, the Sport hosted a communal dinner that includes meals from its Filipino buddies at Maryland favorites Kuya Ja’s Lechon Stomach, Lapu Lapu, and Manila Mart.
“We got down to create greater than only a bar — we needed a spot the place neighbors grew to become buddies and the place each recreation, large or small, felt like a shared expertise,” per a closing assertion from the Sport.
Guardado’s household owns the constructing previously occupied by Ventnor, which closed in 2018 after a 14-year run. Guardado can be behind Dupont Circle’s Rosebar Lounge.
