Hotel Restaurants That Feel Special

The Jefferson hotel, up 16th Street from the White House, has a couple of lovely restaurants and a cozy bar. But it also has the Book Room, tucked into a quiet corner. Here you can order off the menu from Quill (the bar) or The Greenhouse (the airy lunch place under the Jefferson skylight). . .

. . . The intimate nature of the Jefferson hotel’s Book Room means it can’t handle many patrons at once. But snagging a fireside table, or that small alcove, called the Nook, is certainly worth the effort.

Chef Jose Garces brings Buenos Aires to the Nation’s Capital, declares the website for Rural Society. And that is pretty much what the restaurant, part of the Loews Madison hotel, at 15th and M streets NW, is: an Argentine-style parrilla, or big grill, restaurant. Here meats and fish and vegetables get the grilled treatment. . .

. . . but, escaped Nazi tales aside, Argentina’s real little secret is the huge percentage of the population that is Italian or of Italian ancestry (as much as 62.5%). Which is why Rural Society also features house-made pastas and Argentine pizza.

Even on the grayest days, Juniper at the Fairmont hotel, at 24th and M streets NW, all windows and skylights, invites thoughts of better seasons to come. Seasons and regions as well: Juniper serves modern American regional dishes.

The Graham hotel in Georgetown calls The Alex its craft-cocktail lounge. The room also serves real food and is available for private parties. But . . .

. . . what is fascinating is the “steampunk” interior! Look at that ceiling, resembling a motherboard but of copper pipes and lights, and all those rivets on tables and chairs . . .

Steampunk as an aesthetic harks back to 19th-century steam-powered machinery and glories in its utilitarian look. The Graham hotel, named for Georgetown resident Alexander (The Alex, get it?) Graham Bell, is on Thomas Jefferson Street NW, hard by the C&O Canal.

If ever we thought we were entering a man-cave, it would be a visit to the Root Cellar Whiskey Bar at the W Washington Hotel, on 15th Street, whose POV rooftop lounge looks out at the White House. (Actually it’s usually not as dark as these pictures suggest, and there are windows ) . . .

. . . Here, tucked into the lower level of the hotel’s Pinea “Southern European” restaurant, is the place where they serve the “brown stuff”–bourbons, rye, Scotch, Irish and Japanese whiskeys. The year-old spot, which used to be a wine bar, also serves small plates.

There are several Irish pubs in D.C., but The Dubliner on Capitol Hill has the look (well-worn wood), taste (Guinness Stout, Kilkenny Irish Cream Ale, Irish Beef Stew) and the sound (real Irish bartenders and live Irish music) of the isle. It’s a family-run place, opened in 1974 by Daniel Coleman, whose Irish immigrant father ran a saloon once Prohibition was over. Son Gavin and nephew Danny now run the show. The place has a well-worn look, though Gavin swears those classic bar stools were new when he bought them. The Dubliner is in the Phoenix Park Hotel, at North Capitol and F streets NW.

The Living Room at the Ritz-Carlton Georgetown doesn’t have a theme or a gimmick, it just has modern grandeur. Here you can enjoy cocktails and light fare, and in the evening, thanks to the 130-foot woodburning fireplace, passed S’mores!

ONE OF THE CRITERIA my late mother used when judging a restaurant was how comfortable the chairs were.

I used to laugh at that. But I now realize that, when I eat out, the quality of the cooking is not the only thing that matters to me. Yes, temples of cuisine could force me to stand barefoot while being served and I would put up with it. But for getting together with friends for drinks or dinner, I like a little atmosphere with my appetizer.

In recent times, some Washington hotels have tasked themselves with serving up glamour or exoticism or high style, qualities that would lure hotel guests, of course, but also turn their premises into a destination for locals. After all, they’re paying for the real estate already, so they might as well amp up the decor factor, right?

My choices here are idiosyncratic as, well, as I am. Your list will be different, I’m sure. Take a moment to browse these spots—in the Fairmont, the Graham, the Jefferson, the Loews Madison, the Phoenix Park, the Ritz-Carlton Georgetown, the W Washington—then add your favorites in the Comment box. That way we’ll all have a great list.