An Aug. 5 Weekend article about Galaxy Hut incorrectly said that the Arlington bar had lost its liquor license twice for selling alcohol to minors. The bar has been cited only once for underage sales. It currently does not have a license for hard liquor because it does not sell enough food to meet Virginia's minimum ratio of food sales to liquor sales.
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Alice Despard: Goodbye, Galaxy Hut
Galaxy Hut owner Alice Despard, left, is selling her popular yet small Clarendon neighborhood bar to Lary Hoffman, a longtime bartender. "It just seems like the right time," Despard says.
(By Gerald Martineau -- The Washington Post)
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Over the years, Galaxy Hut has remained the local hangout of Arlington scenesters, but it has seen its share of problems. The bar, which lost its liquor license twice after police stings resulted in sales to minors, no longer sells hard liquor. An Arlington County inspection found numerous problems that the bar had been ignoring or just working around, and Despard had to pay "a lot of money" to come up to code. "We never had heating," she laughs. "How crazy is that? In the winter, we kept it warm with body heat and maybe a small heater near the door. That was it."
Looking back, Despard explains, she's amazed it how long it all lasted.
"When I started, the only bars around here were Whitey's and Joseph's, and they're both long gone," Despard says, with a touch of shock in her voice. "We've watched the whole neighborhood all get built up, and we've managed to hold on. I can't believe it."
A SPOT OF TEA
Two weeks ago, I wrote about a trio of summer cocktails I'd sampled at local watering holes. Here's another one that's worth your time: Tainan Tea, served at Firefly (1310 New Hampshire Ave. NW; 202-861-1310). It's an exotic variation of an old frat-house favorite.
Restaurant manager and resident mixologist Derek Brown explains: "I was reading [New York Times cocktail columnist] William Hamilton's book, 'Shaken and Stirred,' and in there, [veteran Rainbow Room bartender] Dale DeGroff says the only problem with Long Island iced tea is that it tastes good. He's right."
Long Island iced tea, for those who've never tried it or don't care to remember, is a potent mixture of vodka, gin, white rum and tequila, topped with lemon juice and Coke.
Brown jokes that Firefly is "a little too classy" to put that on the menu, so he began experimenting with the recipe, adding Cricket, a cola infused with green tea. The first version was better in theory than on the palate.
Eventually, Brown and bartender Rachel Jones settled on a formula, which, in addition to the four liquors, includes green tea, Coke, litchi juice and the house's fresh, citrusy sour mix. The Tainan Tea balances a sweet flavor and a dry body, making for a surprisingly refreshing cocktail. Just be careful: You can't really taste the alcohol, but it's there.
