Penn Quarter Sports Tavern

Nighttime, daytime, it doesn't matter. The light inside this brick-walled sports bar generally comes from the flicker of 17 huge televisions, pulsing with the play by play. Fans here tend to travel in packs. You'll find clusters of alumni gathered around the same screen, especially during college-football season.

The menu offers a pretty standard array of bar munchies, but they're executed well. The burger, for instance, is a full half-pound of meat that's cooked to order and perfectly juicy. Optional toppings including sauteed mushrooms and grilled onions take the typical offering up a notch. The Reuben is good in a gigantic sort of way: a huge stack of corned beef on marble rye complemented by a generous slather of thousand-island dressing and sauerkraut. Bite-size fried ravioli are a welcome change from omnipresent mozzarella sticks. Caps fans take note: Bring in your ticket stub before or after a home game and you'll score a free order of wings and a free beer with your purchase.

-- Julia Beizer (Feb. 19, 2010)