H2O Gets in the Flow
By Fritz Hahn
Washington Post Weekend Section
Friday, April 2, 2004

Last Friday at H2O, "Sex and the City" actor Jason Lewis mingled with fans and posed for pictures. On the outdoor patio, a chef wearing a towering toque blanche grilled burgers and hot dogs. Well-dressed Washingtonians munched on the free food while taking in views of the Jefferson Memorial and boats cruising Washington Harbor. Inside, DJs spun the latest hip-hop, top-40 and Latin hits while a diverse crowd danced across the marble floors.

Hip-hop pioneer Slick Rick stopped by Saturday night, signing autographs, chatting with the crowd and taking a quick turn on the microphone. Personalities from WKYS-FM worked the turntables, and the sounds of hip-hop and reggae echoed through several rooms. Lines stretched down the block.

What's impressive is the sheer scale of the 42,000-square-foot H2O Restaurant and Lounge, known to generations of Washingtonians as Hogate's restaurant. There are two vast dining rooms, a smaller lounge area surrounded by tables and booths, the "East Wing" with a stage for live Latin bands, numerous bars, multiple DJ booths and an outdoor patio on three sides of the building. More than 1,500 people come through in one evening.

Just don't call it a nightclub.

"I want to stay away from the term 'nightclub,' " says H2O owner Abdul Khanu. "I'm pushing this as a restaurant and a lounge. There are a lot of seats, and we serve food all night. The lounge has music and dancing, but I don't want to be just a nightclub."

Khanu, who owns Platinum nightclub and ran the lavish VIP Club until it closed in January, says that he feels "tainted" by his 17 years in the club business, and that people will never give his restaurant -- officially H2O at Hogate's -- a chance. To be fair, Khanu has kept H2O focused on the restaurant side. Former Hogate's chef William Bednar was lured back into the kitchen, where he creates oysters Rockefeller, crab cakes and huge platters heavy on lobster tails, shrimp, clams and mussels -- as well as dozens of Hogate's famous rum buns. Lunch is served after 11 Monday through Friday. Sunday brunch features gospel music with radio station Heaven 1580-AM once a month.

"I don't want people to think, 'Oh, he's just opening up for dinner; it's really a club.' This is a full-time restaurant," Khanu says. "My restaurant hours dominate the 12 hours a week we're focused on the lounge."

What Khanu terms "the lounge" is really a night of nonstop dancing and drinking inside and out of the sprawling building. About 11 p.m., the tables are removed from the dining rooms, but there's plenty of seating on couches in small alcoves and numerous round banquettes that line dance floors and patios. The upscale touches that marked the VIP Club are evident here, from the forest of solid mahogany panels that cover every soaring wall to the attractive marble floor. Tall windows overlooking the water offer excellent views. "It's a big space, so I had to make it as cozy and warm as possible," Khanu says. "I wanted it to feel like a yacht."

It's clear Khanu doesn't like comparing the popular VIP Club with his new venture -- "It's a totally different animal," he says -- but it's going to be inevitable. As on F Street, Fridays are "International Night," with a mostly white and Latino crowd arriving early for an open bar from 9 to 11 and staying to dance to hip-hop, salsa and thumping house music. "Soul Food Saturdays" caters to a predominantly African American audience, with a free buffet, free drinks, a reggae room and the aforementioned WKYS DJs. "We've kept a similar late-night format," Khanu says. "In that sense, it's similar [to the VIP Club]. But we've never said, you know, 'The Friday party was at VIP, now it's at H2O.' We left all that behind. We're trying to build a new clientele."

If anything, the crowd at H2O is more mature than VIP's, especially for Thursday and Friday happy hours, where the business suits are sharp and the mood is mellow. That changes when special celebrity guests are in the building -- and lately H2O has been focusing more on stars who meet-and-greet patrons than on bands "who just get on stage, perform and roll out." Everyone from NSync's JC Chasez to cast members from "The Real World" have come through to press the flesh, although guest DJs have been fairly common.

Another notable aspect: H2O's single-level layout makes almost the entire building accessible for the disabled; on my visits, I've noticed several patrons in wheelchairs taking in the scene.

I'm not shocked to hear that Khanu's long-term plans have nothing to do with DJs, dance floors or happy hours. "I want H2O to compete with the likes of Sequoia," he says. Looking at the views, the parking (there's an underground lot with 300 spaces) and the late-night options, you don't doubt he wants to take on the Georgetown waterfront's best-known restaurant. The only question is whether he can convince the public that H2O is more than a place to party on the weekends. "There are a lot of people who doubt that I can do or will do a restaurant instead of just a nightclub," Khanu says. "I want to show them that I'm determined to do it."

The cover charge for H2O is usually $10 on Friday and Saturday nights, but can be bypassed by signing up for the guest list on www.H2Odc.com. To beat the lines, arrive before 11 p.m.