Jane Jane’s New Sister Bar is a Puerto Rican Cabaret in Union Market Known as Bar Betsie

A dramatic neon purple curtain and customized dark-wooden cubicles make up the playful and comfy aesthetic of Bar Betsie, which brings divey vibes, surprisingly upscale cocktails, and all-American ingesting snacks to the Union Market district. The most recent creation from the house owners of Jane Jane, Ralph Brabham, JP Sabatier, and Drew Porterfield, swings open on Tuesday, March 18 (1328 4th Road NE).

Whereas the trio’s unique Logan Circle bar was named after Brabham’s mother and mirrored the Southern type of hospitality he and Porterfield grew up with in North Carolina, Bar Betsie honors Sabatier’s Puerto Rican mom, Betsie Giró. Her influences are seen within the many tequila drinks (her favourite spirit) and even basic San Juan-style miniature homes from his grandmother’s residence lining the partitions.

“There’s references and echoes to who they’re as as folks in our lives, and we form of do add little issues in honor of them all through the menu which might be similar to nods to those superb ladies,” Sabatier defined. The rising hospitality group did not got down to identify bars after their moms, explains Brabham, however after a number of options fell via, “they’ve come to embody a little bit little bit of their presence and personalities in a little bit and refined method, of our respective mothers.”

Nevertheless, the house owners didn’t wish to “pigeonhole” Betsie as a Puerto Rican bar, Sabatier says, so that they carried out a number of analysis journeys to Chicago to seize the essence of an American dive with all of the drama and camp that designer Brian Miller created at Jane Jane. The purple velvet-covered swooping cubicles and a theatrical marquee over the bar displaying not simply the quintessential cocktails however their elements alludes to these influences, plus there’s a rum-fueled chilly brew drink on the menu known as Cafe Caribe (a basic spot in San Juan) and the playful Let Me Simply Say This (a typical phrase of his mom’s) made with Angostura, rum, lemon, and Orgeat. The cocktail record is so much shorter than the 25-to-30 inventive cocktails on Jane Jane’s menu at a time and this displays how they needed to create extra of a enjoyable, celebratory house than an elevated cocktail bar.

Rey Lopez/Eater DC

“I miss old skool, enjoyable bar vibes,” says Sabatier. “It’s our little slogan for this: it’s a celebration, and everybody’s invited, simply because we would like it to be a really welcoming, cool, enjoyable occasion vibe.” The cocktail record displays that with solely 12-to-15 signatures at a time, with many on faucet. Even shooters make an look on the drinks menu, with Sabatier joking that they’re going to convey again check tube pictures filled with tequila and blackberry flavors, lemon drops, and a Midori-mezcal combo. There’s additionally extra beer and wine on the menu, together with pores and skin contact glasses and native brewery pints, which they struggled to promote at Jane Jane, the place “90-plus-percent of all of our gross sales are cocktails, not one glass of wine was promoting.” Sabatier used to work at Rappahnnock Oyster Bar, which previously occupied a stall at Union Market, and at all times felt like the world was keen on wine and beer.

Rey Lopez/Eater DC

Rey Lopez/Eater DC

The bites on the menu replicate American finger meals pulled from throughout the nation; Sabatier maintains that, “should you want silverware, it’s a restaurant.” Company can dip into creamy chipotle queso and Buffalo hen dip, stab lil smokies cooked down in grape jelly and barbecue sauce (one other nod to North Carolina), or scoop up a fried pickle dip made with native Gordy’s Pickles and topped with cacio e pepe-influenced breadcrumbs.

Makan alum chef Justin Chang consulted on the menu, preserving to extremely easy, however tasty, elements to make snacks shine. Home-marinated olives with lemon peels and entire roasted garlic cloves pair completely with the Negroni on faucet (or the marginally upscale Negroni Bianco).

Comforting bites can function a late-night snack, however you may also order a number of and pull collectively a “little dive bar lady dinner,” Change advises. Just like the crowd-pleasing Cheez-Its served with each drink at Jane Jane, each desk at Bar Betsie will get a glass bowl of neon-orange cheese balls after they sit down. Snag a refill for $4.

To start out, Bar Betsie is open Tuesday via Sunday (starting at 5 p.m. on weekdays and a pair of p.m. on the weekends) and shutting up at 2 a.m. each evening besides Sunday, when doorways shut at midnight. There are many hidden “peek-a-boos” put in by Miller all through the moody bar, which observant visitors should uncover themselves within the first few weeks.

Brian Miller