Happy Hour Chronicles: Vinoteca

pic courtesy of We Love DC

pic courtesy of We Love DC

Vinoteca, once you find it, lives up to the hype. “Everyone goes to Vinoteca.” “My friend had a great engagement party there.” “It’s the best place in the world!” (Choose the true statement)

Tucked into a demure rowhouse off U Street, Vinoteca surrounds you with a clean and modern Italian feel once inside.  What is an Italian feel?  You be the judge.

The happy hour crowd is jovial but not rowdy, a welcome change for the U street scene, especially across the street at Solly’s where standing room can be not nearly roomy enough. The bar is adorned with greenery in tasteful and modern glass and crowded with tasteful and modern young professionals.

Happy hour extends to the high stools around a counter separating the bar area from the dinner seating.  Wine by the glass is half off, though the delightful bartenders may cut you a deal on a bottle.

Stop onto Vinoteca for a glass (or glasses) of wine after a long day at work. You’ll be transported to a world where clean lines, sunlight, and good wine are at the front of your mind.

1940 11th St NW
Happy Hour runs from 5-7pm every day.

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(Not Just Another) Free Museum Day on June 1 & 2

The_Phillips_Collection

Stretch your legs and your mind during the 30th Annual Dupont Kalorama Museum Walk (June 1 and 2, 2013). June 1 10am-4pm June 2 1pm-5pm. Nine diverse museums will open their doors free of charge for this weekend long celebration in one of Washington, D.C.’s most beautiful neighborhoods.  Discover Anderson House, Dumbarton House, Fondo del Sol Visual Arts Center, Heurich House Museum, Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site, National Museum of American Jewish Military History, The Phillips Collection, The Textile Museum, and the Woodrow Wilson House free of charge.

Family Fun… Free Admission…Shuttle Busses…Fun Scavenger Hunts for All! Stretch your legs and your mind as you take in some of the priceless art usually only seen for the price of admission.  In addition to a wide variety of exhibitions and a neighborhood-wide scavenger hunt, many sites are offering special programming. Enjoy period music in the gardens at Dumbarton House, stop by The Textile Museum’s Celebration of Textiles, take part in Jazz n’ Family Fun Days at The Phillips Collection and celebrate the memory of a loved one at the National Museum of American Jewish Military History with a skit, video, journal, or other creative format.

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Open Studio Tours in Mid-City: Artist-Led Tours Take You Inside

pic courtesy MidCityArts

pic courtesy MidCityArts

For the first time, Mid City Artists (MCA) is offering curator led tours of their open studios on May 18th and 19th.  Local curators Laura Roulet, Sondra Arkin, Judy Sherman and Blair Murphy will be leading tours at designated times throughout the weekend.  Each curator will visit 4-6 studios in about two hours. You must reserve in advance and the meet up location will be sent to you in a confirmation email.  Please RSVP through our website.

12:00pm til 5:00pm, Sat May 18 @ Mid City Artists, 1716 14th St NW, Washington, DC 20009

Visitors can hop from one studio to another within vibrant Mid City and witness an expansive offering of art and culture by the city’s most-talented and creative artists.

price free

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DC Style Is Real featured on Field Trip

DCStyleisRealCollagePosts from DC Style Is Real can now appear wherever you go when you, once you’ve downloaded the app, that is, walk around DC. Instead of digging into the archives of the blog, you can find stories by location. Set the app to follow your location and turn day-to-day life in DC into something more akin to a staycation.

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Terminators: Opening Reception

Terminators_Postcard_ImagePartnering with Oslo, Norway based arts collective No Place, Transformer presents Terminators, an exhibition of works in a variety of disciplines by Norwegian artists Jørgen van Eijk, Ole Martin Lund Bø, Donkey and Punch, Sebestian Helling, and Henrik Pask in their first DC exhibition.

6:00pm til 8:00pm, Sat May 11 @ Transformer, 1404 P St NW, Washington, DC 20005

Identifying Washington, DC as the “inner core of the United States, where decisions that effect the rest of the world are made,” in considering the exhibition collaboration with Transformer, No Place deemed it essential, both aesthetically and ideologically, to work with artists that have a sense of deconstruction in them. The artists chosen for the Terminators exhibition all explore deconstruction in their artwork: a deconstruction of their own artwork, past events, physical objects in themselves, or their own personality. Inviting open dialogue through visual formats, No Place member and Terminators curator Karen Nikgol states: “Order and deconstruction share an interconnectedness wherein strategies of order can only be comprehended once broken down and analyzed – particularly through aesthetic expression. Our aim is that the sense of deconstruction as presented in an orderly environment will produce an understanding of how strategies of order are built and created. Deconstruction begets termination, or finality. It is in finality that one is able to apply the retrospective view, to look back and understand. The works of all the artists in Terminators deconstruct AND terminate, affording the viewer the benefit of bearing witness to both the process of deconstruction, and the ever-present sense of nostalgia that deconstruction carries with it. In this way, Terminators is not really about deconstruction – it is about the reflection inherent in terminating.”Dedicated to advancing emergent expression in contemporary visual art, Transformer is honored to have the opportunity to work with No Place in an effort to broaden cultural, political, and artistic discourse through the presentation of the participating artists’ ideas and work.

price free

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Passport DC

pic courtesy Passport DC

pic courtesy Passport DC

This May, travel across the globe without ever leaving the city.

10:00pm til 7:00pm, Sat May  4 @ Washington, DC, Washington, DC

Cultural Tourism DC is presenting the sixth annual Passport DC—a month long celebration in May comprising international programs and events around the city. Visitors and residents have the opportunity to travel around the world without ever leaving the city with tours of more than 70 embassies and hundreds of other international cultural activities that include street festivals, performances and exhibitions. The festivities kick off on Saturday May 4, 2013, with the Around the World Embassy Tour.

price free

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Back To Black in Eastern Market

pic courtesy Girl Meets Food

pic courtesy Girl Meets Food

Let’s face it — Washingtonians love their speakeasies. The latest in the growing roster is Harold Black on Capitol Hill, located quaintly at REDACTED. Just kidding, it’s right above the Italian restaurant Acqua Al 2 across from Eastern Market.

Unlike other such bars dotting the District’s landscape, HB feels like a true speakeasy. It’s only open at night, and you need a reservation, which is only procurable via text message from a number that isn’t published. Because of course there’s no sign, you have to walk into a door marked only for the adjoining restaurant SUNA, walk up a staircase, at which point you open a sliding door that reveals the most secret bar you’ve never seen.

It’s equal parts Boardwalk Empire and 007, on the rocks. The decor is dark and vintage – even the bathrooms have an old-time W.C. feel. You’ll see what I mean.

The mixologists at HB don’t mind taking risks and use some awfully obscure liquors in their creations. Stone-pine liqueur, shochu, stone water madeira, just to name a few. All the special cocktails (aptly titled elixirs) are a not-unreasonable $12.

There’s a full bar and a few beers available too, for those not feeling quite so adventurous. If you’re one of the fortunate ones, you might just get one of the big spherical ice cubes they make at the beginning of the evening.

As a distinguished establishment, they have a few non-negotiable rules (no cell phone use, no flash photography, keep conversation low and civilized), but curiously the first rule isn’t to not talk about Harold Black.

There are several booths and some seats at the bar, but this place is very exclusive. You can’t book any more than six people at a time, and reservations are strictly limited to 90 minutes. Highly recommended.

Harold Black
212 7th St SE
202-540-0459

On a final note, since DC Style Is Real is in its last week – it’s been a joy reviewing local things for you over the last few years. Until next time, friends.

Written by Joel Church.

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