Downtown Washington DC/Penn Quarter news and urban commentary

First Drink/Bite: Denson Liquor Bar In Penn Quarter (600 F St NW – Lower Level)

Posted by pqresident

November 24, 2014

Denson Liquor Bar, a cocktail oriented lounge, opened for service last week in Penn Quarter at 600 F St NW (lower level of the former OBA (Oriental Building Association building – descend the staircase to enter below Fuel Pizza)). This building sat fallow for years and has been redeveloped in the last two years.

We stopped by Saturday night for a cocktail and dinner and were pleasantly surprised. The main bar with sliding glass doors interspersed behind covering shelves of liquor is a bit to the left after entering. Booth seating is available around the perimeter in an elevated area. The whole space exudes art deco and we also appreciated that there are no televisions which spurs on patron conversation.

We enjoyed the following:

Pre-dinner cocktail: Aviation – A shaken cocktail with gin, maraschino liqueur, crème de violette, and lemon juice. The drink was nicely put together with all flavors in balance – lemon and violette more at the fore with the gin lurking in the background.

Dinner: Chicken Green Curry Pie – A chicken pot pie with green curry sauce garnished with mint and cilantro. The garnish enhanced the slightly spicy curry chicken mixture inside the dough shell. The mixture was a little too runny for our taste and stood to be thickened but the flavoring was on point.

Drink: We went with a white wine off the list, a Domaine Roger Champault Sancerre (Les Pierris), that was served at the correct temperature and was a good companion to the spiciness of the curry.

Dessert: Denson Candy Bar – All we can say is WOW! This is what a peanut butter cup aspires to be albeit in finger sandwich form. Two triangular finger sandwiches bookended with dark chocolate filled with peanut butter and feuilletine (crushed wafer flakes) grace the plate. Small salt flecks sprinkled on top give it a salty/sweet contrast. The chocolate should have been a little thinner to allow for easy cutting. Otherwise, it…was…just…delicious.

Drink: Our bartender gave us four small liquor samples (mostly rye whiskey) to try. We selected the tasty Catoctin Creek Roundstone Rye and were given a custom blended drink, dry in taste to match the dessert. The one inch cocktail ice cube was an attentive touch.

The cocktail menu has both shaken and stirred cocktails and a dinner menu is available until 11:30 pm. The dinner/dessert menu is not online but click on the photo above to zoom in and you can catch most of it.

We hope our next visit is just as fun and tasteworthy. We officially welcome Denson Liquor Bar to Penn Quarter!

Denson Liquor Bar
600 F Street NW – Lower Level
Washington, DC 20004
202-808-8720

Hours…
Sunday to Saturday – 5 pm until closing

Website – Facebook – Twitter – Instagram – Interior Photos [via Urban Daddy]