Can't Beat the Heat? Join It.

By Fritz Hahn
Special to The Washington Post
Friday, June 20, 2008

Once warm weather hits, everyone wants to take happy hour outside. Problem is, few bar "patios" are as relaxing as that word implies, and even though you're sitting outside, you're probably at a table on a sidewalk, just feet from honking cars and rushing pedestrians, tasting noxious bus fumes as well as your white wine. Not a good scene.

The solution is to head for places that combine drink specials with seating far removed from the street.

Grand Cru Wine Store And Vineria Cafe

4401 Wilson Blvd., Arlington (entrance in courtyard behind Vapiano). 703-243-7900.

Grand Cru Wine Store and Vineria Cafe is set in the prettiest courtyard in Ballston, steps from a tall, bubbling fountain.

Flower baskets hang on metal fences, and some tables are shaded by trees in planters. The appeal was immediate for Michael Scott and Brett Basile, who were having drinks with a group of friends recently. "It's an open courtyard right in the middle of Ballston," Scott marveled. "Usually [at outdoor bars in] in Arlington, there are cars driving by you."

"It has a great atmosphere," said Basile, a technology consultant. "And it was in the 80s earlier, and we had a nice little breeze."

Of course, Grand Cru is more than just a pretty face. It has nine house wines (one sauvignon blanc, shiraz, chardonnay, etc., selected from the store's racks) and a small number of rotating "featured glasses" worth checking out. (Last week, there were a few sparklers on the list, including a fizzy shiraz from Australia's Rumball.) There are also flights (sorry, "Wine Tours") that offer tastes of three wines for $12 to $15. If you discover a new favorite, they're all available by the glass. On Thursdays, women get $1 off glasses of wine.

Grand Cru's only downside is that service on the patio can be squirrelly; servers don't come as frequently as you might like, and when it's busy, you might be asked if you want your check before you've finished your wine.

Poste

555 Eighth St. NW (inside Hotel Monaco). 202-783-6060.

No matter how hard certain club promoters try to push the idea, Washington is never going to be Miami. When the folks there take lounging outside, they set up lush, couch-filled VIP areas on the beach, in the shade of palm trees steps from the ocean. When we take the nightlife outside, we prefer to do it in places such as the marble courtyard in a 19th-century post office.

The secluded courtyard at Poste, insulated from Penn Quarter's bustle by the building's fortress-like walls, has been a draw since the Hotel Monaco moved into the Old General Post Office building in 2002. Make your way through the tunnel from Eighth Street and you'll find an outdoor lounge with a selection of long, comfortable sofas, woven all-weather armchairs with soft cushions and circular tables topped with brushed steel.

Electronic dance music, by turns funky and jazzy, plays from hidden speakers, and as the sky darkens, floodlights illuminate the walls.

In the past, confusion about service meant that customers who wanted drinks either had to flag down a waitress from the restaurant's outside tables (not easy) or go inside to order (a pain). That has changed with the addition of a small satellite bar, where customers can choose from seven wines by the glass or five beers. It's not cheap (a bottle of Oberon, a fantastic summer wheat beer, costs $7.70), so take advantage of the "4x4@4" happy hour: $4 beers and $4 glasses of red or white wine.

The Big Hunt

1345 Connecticut Ave. NW. 202-785-2333.

Those of us heading for a Dupont Circle happy hour snicker as we stroll past the intern-heavy crowds at Lucky Bar or the Front Page. Why would you want to be packed in like sardines when the sun is shining? "Cheap beer!" the crowds would cry. Well, you can drink cheap beer at the Big Hunt ($2.50 house beers and rail drinks, and $1 off other drinks every day from 4 to 7 p.m.) while enjoying one of the neighborhood's most attractive and secluded patios.

People are surprised when they find out that the Big Hunt has a tiki-themed second-story deck, probably because it's so hard to find: From the main room, go up the back stairs, walk past the bar, hang a right, head through the door and up the stairs. There it is: a collection of long picnic tables, with a canopy of trees just overhead. The high walls are wooden, giving it the effect of a child's tree fort.

Servers bustle around, bringing trays of beer, pizzas and bowls of wings. All food and drink specials, including half-price pizza on Mondays and 15-cent wings on Tuesdays, are available on the patio as well as at the bar.

Looking Glass Lounge

3634 Georgia Ave. NW. 202-722-7669.

When the owners of the Wonderland Ballroom took over Petworth's '20s-themed Temperance Hall in December, bloggers were worried about what would happen to their neighborhood tavern. Change came fast: Some employees were let go, the beer selection became more pedestrian, favorite items disappeared from the menu (so long, mini sloppy Joe sandwiches) and there were rumors of DJs and live entertainment.

But a few months later, a lot of fear has faded.

The Looking Glass Lounge, as it's now known, remains an off-the-beaten-track saloon with plenty of regulars, one of the city's finest jukeboxes, spotty service and great drinks. Another reason to make the trip on the Green Line: the not-fancy-at-all basement patio.

Looking Glass's cozy basement bar is a great place to chill, but even more so when the staff opens one wall, which leads to a paved back yard with picnic tables. It's not a scenic destination, but with a pint glass full of Dan's Arnold Bawlmer (that's rye whiskey, lemonade and iced tea), it's absolutely perfect for a sunny day. At happy hour, which runs from 5 until 8 p.m., most draft beers are $3, and rail drinks and imported beers are $1 off. Entrees come with a free glass of wine or draft beer Tuesday through Thursday.