RSS FeedThe Passenger: A Quiet Cocktail On Penn Quarter’s Edge
The Passenger (1021 7th St NW) sits on a calm block of 7th Street in the Convention Center’s shadow, three short blocks from the bustling heart of Chinatown. The lounge’s frontage is simple and nondescript, its name written in small script on the two front windows. The exterior exudes low-key cool and can be easily overlooked by passers-by. Yet there is no better place near Penn Quarter – or possibly in DC – for a quiet and expertly-crafted cocktail.
While only a few quick steps across Mount Vernon Square, The Passenger could not be farther from the flashing advertisements and mass market bars. Inside sit leather booths and exposed brick; at the bar stands a favorite narrow concrete pillar covered with patrons’ graffiti. The bar isn’t large but the interior is comfortably spacious.
Perhaps you’re looking for a martini to unwind with after work, or maybe Manhattans and Cosmos to share with a mixed group of colleagues. Whatever you drink, know it well: the Passenger’s menu is brief and beer and wine come second. Here, the cocktail is king.
This lack of information is not a limitation, however. The Passenger’s staff is heavy on creative suggestions. Looking to try something new? Just ask. They are indeed experts of their craft – mixologists, drink artists, whatever you want to call them. Rather have a classic? They’ll happily oblige, pouring perfection in a glass.
This is certainly a hidden treasure just outside Penn Quarter’s far northern edge. And while reinventing the cocktail has lately become all the rage, I love this bar because it takes the opposite approach: old-school cocktails that can be enjoyed in a minimalist, relaxed atmosphere. Because this is your father’s lounge.
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THF is a Penn Quarter resident who blogs about the culture of drinking at thehipflask.wordpress.com.
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Comments
Excuse me but on 7th NW NORTH of K Street isn’t “on Penn Quarter’s Edge” and it’s even beyond the edge of Chinatown. This is like the sleaze realtor who tried to tell me a property at 4th and Q NW is “Logan Circle.”
With all due respect to Charles, the author said it is 3 blocks from the heart of Chinatown (7th and H), and it is. If you’re too lazy to walk that far, don’t go. With that attitude, you’d probably spoil the mood of the place anyhow.
Sounds like Charles had a rough time with his realtor. I can introduce him to several who I know are honorable people, two of who live in Penn Quarter and one who worked here as a concierge for years. Charles, if you need a new realtor – I am not one in case you thought that – let me know and I will introduce you to three honorable realtors.
But Charles raised the question: who decides where Penn Quarter begins and ends? Just like Penn Quarter has changed over the decade some of us think its boundaries have as well. It’s a neighborhood, not an incorporated village, town, or city. From my vantage point, Chinatown is part of Penn Quarter as much as are Jaleo, Shakespeare, Woolly, E Street Cinema, and the Newseum.
I also realize that Penn Quarter would have different boundaries to different people, often depending on how familiar with it they are. When I lived in Bethesda and met people who rarely came downtown, I would ask them where downtown DC was in their minds. More often than not, it included most if not all of a number of neighborhoods taht I think of as being adjacent to downtown: Dupont Circle, Foggy Bottom, much of Capitol Hill, Southwest, Logan Circle, and Shaw as well as all the area between these neighborhoods.
Those living in any of these neighborhoods are more likely to say their neighborhood is adjacent to or just outside of or north, south, east, or west of downtown, not that it is part of downtown.
Different perspective, different definition.
Good review on the Passenger. I wouldn’t say the place is
“quiet” though. The Columbia Room inside though is a fancy,
relaxing room.
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I’ve been meaning to try this place out, and now you’ve given me a great reason to get in gear. Can’t wait to check it out – thanks!