Naming your something (in this case a bar) “The Passenger” sets a pretty high standard of quality of other “The Passenger” somethings to live up to: the very excellent Iggy Pop song, the very excellent Antonioni movie (feat. the very excellent Jack Nicholson)…
Thankfully, “The Passenger”, the bar, which opens today in the Warehouse space on 7th between New York Ave and L (where you go to watch your Psychotronic movies every Tuesday-ed) under the very capable tutelage of Tom (of “Cork”) and Derek (of “The Gibson”) Brown, lives up to the set standards.

(^{photo from washingtonian})

It is a bar Chinatown in all it’s poor-man’s Times Square/forced pseudo urbanity needs- AN HONEST TO GOD NEIGHBORHOOD BAR.
The space, itself, looks pretty much the same as you know and love it, with the exception of the bar being now angled and extended which I, for one, am thrilled to see, because it will avoid the gruesome 3 man deep in the trenches vibe of ordering drinks. For those into more special things and events-in about a month or so will be opening up The Columbia room in the back-a smaller scale cocktail laboratory/special events place.

Last night was the official press preview which I, with Danielle our great drink writer being out of town, stumbled upon. By the time we got there, after 10, the party had been going on for a while (event started at 8:30) and while I was instantly recommended the Gin Punch, the time for it had passed because it is their happy hour special (at 4 dollars).

Funny thing about press previews in a city as small in DC (a village really) is that, lets face it, everyone knows everyone and if you go to enough of these, after a while, it does start to feel as oddly comfortable as a houseparty. Everyone is trying everyone’s drinks, sharing cooties, recommending snacks, talking “shop” etc
So, lets name drop and cross link for a minute:

• Orr Shtuhl, City Paper’s Beer spotter, offers us a sip of Arrogant bastard, one of the 4 well selected beers they have on tap. (Later we have a Dale’s Pale Ale, because lets face it, you can’t go wrong with a Dale’s)
• Amanda Mattos from DCist leans in for a hug and recommends The Martinez
• Justin from ReadySetDC comes by to introduce himself and we share some tremendeous and spicy beef jerky (in a basket)
• Melissa McCart of CounterIntelligence is snacking on the communal bowl of toasted almonds
• Sommer Mattis from DCist points to my drink and asks: What is that? (it is a “December 5th” cocktail at the time (made by Derek) and yes, she definitely does want it)
• I ask Tom to make me a drink (there is no cocktail menu, you just tell them what you like and wait to be vowed) and he hands me something which he won’t tell me what it is (aside from “a delicious, adult beverage”) and I have Fritz Hahn of WaPo’s Going Out Gurus try it and he doesn’t skip a beat and says: “It is Tom’s green chartreuse drink” which it proves right (there is also tequila and some other unexpected things in there, but it is most definitely delicious) and orders “a whiskey drink” because Tom always “knocks the whiskey drinks out of the park”

Then, before you know it, it is after midnight, the lights are up, the music is off (”Do they really think these subtle hints are going to work on people like us?”) and we leave while the staff stays to finish up the finishing touches for today when inevitably all of Church Key’s patrons from the last couple of weeks do a 180 and decide to descend upon “the new bar”.
Just a word of advice: enjoy it for what it is: a great bar with top notch staff, excellent bar food (nothing tasted better than that grilled vegetable panini at about midnight), a wide wine variety (by the glass price range starts at 5 dollars and goes up to 14, proving there is literally, a little something for everyone), great happy hour specials and little surprises around every corner, cocktails wise.
But don’t use it to try and impress your date, have your young professional get-to-know you happy hour, or the like.
Just make it your own.

For more info – visit:
http://passengerdc.com/ + follow them on twitter and bff them on facebook

P.S.
For people into photos Prince of petworth already has a bunch up.