Josephine: Elbow to Elbow, Inside and Out
By Fritz Hahn
Washington Post Weekend Section
Friday, April 18, 2008
The buzz: At midnight on a Saturday, the crowds clustered on the wrong side of the velvet ropes at Josephine are so deep you'd think that the lounge was giving away Grey Goose cocktails inside, not charging $300 for a bottle of it.
Crowds are nothing new in the burgeoning K Street night-life district, but Josephine has more well-dressed would-be customers pleading with the doormen than anywhere else on the strip. Why? Because Josephine blends elements of nightclub and lounge better than any of its similarly bottle-service-focused neighbors.
Once the lucky few are waved in by the black-suited bouncers, they find a cavernous underground space that has a retro-chic French touch. The sides of the room are lined with mismatched overstuffed couches and settees covered with bright fabrics, as well as sturdy coffee tables. The walls feature flocked wallpaper and pattern-covered columns that wouldn't look out of place at an updated Versailles. Large, ornate chandeliers hang over the bar.
Down a short flight of stairs is a sunken area with the main dance floor and more couches, plus raised platforms for scantily clad go-go dancers.
The club has a calculated racy edge, including the two stripper poles in the middle of the dance floor and the red corsets and fishnets worn by the female bartending staff. The crowd (international, urban, preppy) picks up on the vibe, dancing in hedonistic fashion on couches and tables or anywhere else they can find space. (That can lead to severe roadblocks trying to get to the bar, though; moving around remains my biggest frustration.)
Through a door is the Gold Room, with wallpaper depicting gigantic gold bracelets and necklaces. The couches and bar follow the same color scheme. There's a separate DJ and sound system, so patrons in the Gold Room can rock to hip-hop while the main room grooves to tribal house. The sound systems at Josephine are among the best in the city, with crisp highs and deep bass no matter where you stand.
It's what you'd expect from a group of owners whose r??sum??s include stints managing Eighteenth Street Lounge and MCCXXIII and promoting events at Fly, Play and Indebleu.
Getting in: Co-owner David Karim says the crush at the door is due to a numbers crunch: Josephine has 22 tables for bottle service, and parties who've agreed to spend a minimum of a few hundred dollars get guaranteed (and priority) admission. Those groups range from four to 15 people, depending on the size of the table. Given Josephine's relatively limited capacity and the popularity of bottle service, Karim estimates that only "about 80 people" without reservations can be inside on an average Saturday. "Maybe throughout the night it's 200," as club hoppers come and go, he says, but that's still not a lot.
The other (but not surefire) way to get in is to RSVP with one of the night's promoters. Visit JetsetMafia.com or http://www.jamiehess.com on Thursdays for a chance at free admission until midnight. Soulstice Productions ( http://www.soulsticedc.com) and E.Lund Events ( http://www.elundevents.com) offer guest list spots on Fridays. Since Saturdays are so packed, promoter and co-owner Alain Kalantar says, there's no guest list except for those who have a table.
What to wear: Jeans with a blazer for men, colorful cocktail dresses for women. Forget about sneakers -- "even Diesel," one flier says. When you talk dress codes, "people say, 'This isn't New York. This isn't Miami,' " Kalantar notes. "But there's nothing wrong with trying to catch up with New York and Miami."
The sounds: The main room features house music Thursday through Saturday, more progressive early in the week, with such guests as the well-known DJ Scumfrog taking Friday night slots. Popular hip-hop rules the Gold Room on weekends. The latest addition is Wednesday's hip-hop night in the main room, hosted by former Redskin Gary Clark.
In your glass: Cocktails, primarily ones with "and" in the name, though shots fly off the bar. A limited selection of beer includes Heineken and Amstel Light.
Price points: The minimum charge to reserve a table can run from $300 on a Thursday to $500 in the Gold Room on a Friday to $2,000 for the prime spot next to the dance floor. (Two grand is the minimum for 15 to 20 people.) Liquor fees are a little lower than nearby spots, but a bottle of Grey Goose is still $300. If you're just going to the bar, cocktails with name-brand spirits are $9 to $12.
What people are saying: "Even when you have a table, it's hard to get in," says Maria Salnik, a dental student who reserved a table because she had friends visiting from out of town. "It's really crowded. When you're dropping money on a table, you don't want to feel like a piece of meat." On the other hand, she says, "I love the decor. I like how it caters to two populations: hip-hop in one room, dance music in the other. They're catering to both markets. That's smart."
