If you’re looking for a fresh spot for dinner or drinks, leave pricey M Street behind and take a spin further down the alphabet to U Street, a neighborhood that’s up and coming so fast you want to make sure you get to it before it loses its edge.
Crème Café and Lounge, between 13th and 14th on U Street, mixes coziness and warmth with the vibe of a New York City lounge. Expect a ten-minute wait at all times, but it is worth it. A ten-foot baroque mirror behind a line of square tables provides the clever illusion of a space twice its actual size. Dim yellowish-white lights keep the place humming with that warm spring night feel, and white orchids line the edge of every table. The soundtrack could be from a Hotel Côstes or Café del Mar mix, reminding you that yes, this place is hip. The kitchen is in full view, so if you find yourself on an awkward date with nothing to talk about, you have live entertainment.
Café Crème boasts top-notch food: I ordered the Crème Steak ($20)—don’t let the word “crème” next to “steak” deter you from enjoying a juicy, flavorful meal—and the vegetarian dish ($17), which changes daily, was also a success. The numerous chicken and shrimp dishes reveal the kitchen’s southern influences. The brunch menu is more traditionally American, but still shows its roots with a plate of fried chicken on waffles or an Andouille sausage dish known as the Louisianan.
While Crème Café has not yet mastered consistency in its sometimes-excellent service, the good vibe is enough. “I was inspired by a New York coffee shop,” David Ayalew, the owner and creator of Café Crème, reflected. He also said that U Street reminds him a bit of Adams Morgan in the early nineties: “Five years ago you’d have to pay me to come to this neighborhood. Now it looks like two years from now this area will have a lot of potential, enough to compete with downtown.”
1322 U St. N.W.
If the wait at Café Crème is too long, dip into Tabaq Bistro two doors down and make sure you sit on the rooftop. Tabaq is perfect for a drink with the sun setting on a spring evening. The glass room, which becomes open-air when the weather’s nice, offers a 360° panorama of the city because it’s taller than surrounding buildings. It’s an industrial space gone chic, with all the metal and grit that sitting on a roof entails.
Saturdays and Sundays offer a typical American brunch: the French toast ($7.95) with strawberries was hearty and moist, made with real bread, not that light white stuff, but the cappuccinos arrived cold with barely any foam. Tabaq Bistro is better known for its Eastern Mediterranean-influenced dinner and lunch menu. You can go tapas-style, or opt for something more substantial like a chicken tagine ($16.95) or Adana kebab (a $17 grilled lamb and beef skewer). The service, however, doesn’t live up to the price range.
The “small dishes” selection ($4 to $9 each) is more varied, so it’s best to come for happy hour and munchies, where you won’t have to depend on your waiter and can enjoy the local DJs that keep the place buzzing with hip-hop, soul and drum & bass on Friday and Saturday nights. Cocktails from the restaurant’s extensive martini list, while not cheap, are worth it for feeling like you live on the roof of a U Street apartment.
1336 U St N.W.
