Undercover Cocktails: DC's New Speakeasies

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OVER THE PAST couple years, in-the-know foodies have burrowed into underground dining at secret restaurants in New York, San Francisco and Chicago.

In Washington, though, it's drinking on the DL that's catching on. Since Todd Thrasher began shaking and stirring at the speakeasy-style Alexandria lounge PX in 2006, a wave of underground watering holes has surfaced. These bars are featured everywhere from local food blogs to the New York Times, and while some establishments are grateful for the attention, others have a more complicated relationship with the press. On one hand, mixologists want to share their craft with as many people as possible; but, they also want to encourage quality over quantity.

These are some of the concerns the speakeasy Hummingbird to Mars has faced. When bartenders Owen Thomson, Justin Guthrie and Derek Brown first started it on the second floor of Adams Morgan's Bourbon, they didn't want any press at all — though not for reasons people might expect. Since all three had full-time bartending/sommelier jobs, Thomson explained, "we wanted [Hummingbird] to be fun. To not be work. So we didn't want 300 people showing up." That's why patrons were greeted at the door by a contract requesting confidentiality — particularly from members of the press. Naturally, it didn't take long for word to spread. Eventually, The Washington Post ran a feature "outing" Hummingbird's location. "One thing that was so wrong about that article," says co-creator Brown, "was the idea that we were trying to keep out 'the bridge-and-tunnel crowd.'" In fact, Hummingbird gave permission for food blogger Amanda McClements to write about it because, Brown said, "There's somebody in Gaithersburg, Md., who's really into cocktails, and we don't know them."

Other underground bars welcome press wholeheartedly. Punch Club, a weekly party at the all-but-abandoned Warehouse Theater, sent out a press release when it opened on New Year's Day. "We didn't know if we could get people to come any other way," said founder-mixologist Dan Searing, especially since the Warehouse, which has been dark for more than a year, is awkwardly located near Mt. Vernon Square. "It's interesting," says Searing, "because it used to be that word-of-mouth was word-of-mouth — you'd tell friends, and they'd tell others. But now, word-of-mouth is pretty much the Internet, and the Internet is the real media, too."

That's a major reason the U Street cocktail lounge the Gibson is now transitioning from underground to mainstream. While the bar has no sign and requires patrons to buzz in, it also has two-hour waits at any given time. The Post, the New York Times and a number of blogs helped popularize the bar. But that's fine with Gibson bartender Brown. "With Hummingbird, we weren't sure how to relate to the press," he said, "but the Gibson is a totally different animal."

The Gibson doesn't call itself a speakeasy, Brown says, as it's far from illicit. It is hidden, though, so you have to know about it to find it. Some food bloggers say this — along with having to wait 14 minutes for your $14 cocktail — is downright pretentious. "We're worried about appearing to be exclusive," Brown says, since the bar is strict about limiting capacity. "We just want an environment where people can talk and enjoy themselves."

Punch Club's Searing, also spokesman for the DC Craft Bartenders' Guild, postulates that the relationship between secret bars and the media is tied to the struggle between wanting to stay underground and gain success. "There's a fine line between perceptions of authenticity and exclusivity," he says.

» Hummingbird to Mars, rotating location and hours.
» Punch Club, Warehouse, 1017 7th St., NW; Thursdays, 6 p.m.midnight; 202-783-3933 (Mt. Vernon Square)
» The Gibson, 2009 14th St. NW; 202-232-2156. (U St.-Cardozo)

Written by Express contributor Suemedha Soo
Photo by Regan Kireilis for Express