D.C. Nights--Dining and Drinking

In many ways, the food at Lauriol Plaza takes second place to the swirl margaritas that have made this three-level restaurant on the outskirts of Dupont Circle overflow with people from the moment spring sets in. With two possibilities for outdoor dining, the partially covered third-floor rooftop and the street-level dining under the awning, Lauriol Plaza is always packed. And the reason why: the swirl margaritas--in strawberry and mango. Or original, it's up to you. You won't be disappointed with a pitcher of swirls for around $15 to split among your friends. They come with warm tortilla chips and salsa, and if you have to wait for a table, grab your swirls and your chips and crowd around the outdoor area with the scores of others. Crowded? Yes, and starting around 5pm. But when you get to your table, it's pretty well-spaced out and you're not sitting in anyone's lap. And you can just sit there and enjoy your swirl and your chips without eating, if it's not super crowded.

Now, when it comes down to ordering food from the menu, it's more of a challenge. You can't go wrong with any of their margaritas, but you can go wrong with some of their food. You shouldn't go in expecting authenticity. The best bet: to eat the Brazilian salad. The vinaigrette has a delicious tang to it, and the avocados are ripened close to perfection. The chicken enchiladas are decent, but nothing special. There's a special there--shrimp prepared in a Spanish style with a cream sauce--that I would recommend. I've never had the dish in Spain that I can remember, but it tastes better than many of the other options on the menu. Friends of mine have also had the bistec (or carne) salteado(a), which is better than the straight up Mexican fare--the burritos, enchiladas, and chiles rellenos.

Go to Lauriol Plaza expecting to be fully satisfied by delicious drinks, which offset the mediocre (but cheap) food. If you don't like the Dupont scene, go a little farther up between Georgetown and Glover Park and hit up Lauriol Plaza's sister restaurant, Cactus Cantina, which also has indoor and outdoor seating.

If you're one of those D.C. residents who rarely leaves the D.C. metro area, it's time to hop on the Metro or jump into a cab and head to Arlington's Latin American fusion restaurant, Gua-rapo. It has two sister restaurants/lounges in D.C. proper--AguaArdiente and Gazuza--but Gazuza is more bar than restaurant, serving a rather limited bar menu, and AguaArdiente was practically empty on a Thursday night, when I went for dinner, located somewhere around American University.

The message: Just go to GuaRapo; you won't be disappointed. There are two floors to this restaurant-lounge and outdoor sidewalk seating as well. There's always a good crowd here, but the wait, if any, is pretty short--20 minutes max in my experience. And the 20 minutes can be well spent at the bar, slowly sipping one of GuaRapo's mojitos, the best in the D.C. area. Once you're seated, either inside or outside, you'll open up the menu and see a wide range of choices. You could eat entirely off the tapas menu, which I have done many times, or you could eat some tapas and then split a main dish. Getting tapas and a main dish for each person is, in my experience, too much food. Now--what to eat. You can't go wrong with any of the empanadas, particularly the chicken- or beef-filled ones. I would avoid the just cheese one, as I found it to be a little too greasy when I had it. In addition to ordering an empanada, be sure to order an arepa, an open-faced corn cake topped with either shrimp or beef. Next up, garlic shrimp. And if you like chorizo but haven't had a lot in your life, it's not bad here, and good for American standards. If you're a chorizo lover or are accustomed to eating it in Spain, I'd skip it. It comes sliced in half lengthwise and grilled. The entrées I've had with friends--ropa vieja, chicken, and the paella. It was all good from what I can recall--the ropa vieja tasted delicious, and the chicken was good as well. The paella was good also, but not as great as these two other dishes. It's pretty difficult to go wrong at GuaRapo--and when you do, your reaction is: this is not as good as my last dish. GuaRapo is named for the juice that comes from sugarcane, and they have drinks with that name. Personally, I never strayed from the mojitos, but if the mojitos are any indication of how could the other drinks are, I'd highly recommend them too.

Now, for the atmosphere. Guarapo definitely has a hip, trendy scene. And the abundance of Spanish speakers frequenting GuaRapo is another testament to the quality of its fare. In the downstairs, there's a live band playing Gypsy Kings-type tunes, and upstairs there's a lounge with a DJ. You can venture up there after dinner or go there and make a night of it.

Quite simply, the food at Lebanese Taverna on the upper part of Connecticut Avenue is delicious. Start off with some of their appetizers--hummus (the best I've had in a restaurant) and kibbeh (ground beef crushed wheat shells with lamb and pine nuts)--and share them with your friends. The spinach salad is also quite tasty; however, if you're at Lebanese Taverna, you shouldn't really be ordering salads unless it's tabouleh. You may be tempted to order lots of appetizers (or mezza, as they call them here), but don't only order appetizers. Leave room for the entrées--they're incredible. I can't speak for their seafood, but any and all of their meat dishes are excellent. I ate at Lebanese Taverna twice while living in D.C., and I ordered the Fatteh Blahmeh both times. Fatteh Blahmeh is a lamb dish--it's pieces of lamb served over chickpeas and Lebanese bread with warm yogurt and pine nuts. It's a very rich meal, good for the colder winter months. My friends have also had their falafel, their kabobs, and the ouzi--and they have been excellent as well.

The food is well-prepared, the portions are generous, and the service is good as well--on a date, they know how to let you linger over the food, and in a group setting, where you need to settle the bill quickly before going out to a bar, they know how to take care of things quickly as well. Lebanese Taverna aptly combines excellent food, good service, and a little old-world ambience for a great dining experience. The inside is good for a date--the lighting is soft--and the outside is good for enjoying a meal with friends. This is one restaurant I miss. Finally, the wines are very reasonably priced--they have a decent selection of wines by the glass, and their bottles range from $25 to $60.

There's no place better than D.C.'s Fox and Hounds. I've never received a better deal for a drink in any city in the world that I've visited. For $4 (at any time of the day; this is not a happy-hour price), you get any mixed drink--vodka tonic, gin and tonic, whiskey soda--for $4. And, the key--you receive a glassful of vodka and a small bottle of tonic on the side. To even add the tonic to the glass, you have to have a sip of vodka first. This place is made for people who like stiff drinks. In the summer, they have a terrace out front that closes at midnight, when you can move inside. In winter, you can go inside and sit in one of the booths and pick tunes on the jukebox.

The crowd here: young neighborhood Dupont Circle residents, dressed in flip-flops and T-shirts, looking to enjoy a drink or a few. The Fox & Hounds isn't the kind of place you make a night of on a Friday or Saturday night--it's more the place where you end up for one more drink before going home--but it is a place to make a night of any other day of the week. It's busy, but never overflowing. The waiters and waitresses are friendly and understand that you're there to enjoy the big drinks and the company of your friends--they're un-intrusive but friendly. Pretension is never a word used to describe this neighborhood joint--amid the 20-somethings that frequent the terrace and the bar, there's always an older crowd (residents in their 40s who lived in Dupont when it wasn't as trendy) sitting at the bar, sipping beers and watching the sports games playing up front.

There is a lamp hanging from the center with a Fox & Hounds figure in it, hence the bar's name, and a somewhat dank feel to the inside, but it's a great place. Go with the expectation that you're going to get the best bang for your buck on drinks in a bar that feels like it's been around for years.

Call it by any name you'd like--its former name, Savino's, or its current name, Clouds--and the most important factor doesn't change: the potency and incredible taste of the drinks. Clouds serves the best martinis in DC. My personal favorite: the mango martini, which comes with a fresh wedge of mango. Other greats on the martini menu (you can't really go wrong with any of them): the espresso martini, the white chocolate martini, and the refreshing apple rosemary martini, which comes served with a sprig of rosemary. The drinks are spectacular, but what about the decor? The inside is set up like a trendy, small lounge. It has an ethereal, flowing feel, muted tones, willowy sheer curtains, chairs, and couches low to the ground, lounge music with a Euro-trash hint playing in the background. The bar serves up perfectly mixed cocktails aside from martinis and an array of shots (the B-52 is delicious) upon request. The crowd--I'd say Clouds attracts a trendy Euro-minded crowd mostly in their mid to late 20s. It's an ideal place to come on a Saturday night before hitting up one of the dance clubs on Connecticut Ave., e.g. the 18th St. Lounge or Five (if that's your scene). Finally, Clouds has a restaurant area behind another curtain. I've eaten here once, and it was okay: Mediterranean, tapas, pasta. Good, nothing great. I'd go to nearby Levante's (Med/Middle Eastern) for dinner, or, for more American food, Dupont Grille, also very close.