Here's a look at new Washington hotels, conference centers, restaurants, private rooms, and other spaces to open for events this spring. The new and renovated Washington venues are available for conferences, meetings, corporate parties, weddings, fund-raisers, outdoor functions, business dinners, teambuilding activities, and more.
The Ritz-Carlton, Washington, D.C., debuted its new lounge, the Quadrant, in September. The lounge serves handcrafted cocktails and small plates, with live jazz on select evenings. The space is designed by Meyer Davis Studio and includes an expansive backlit bar, plush banquettes, a communal table, and a floor-to-ceiling fireplace. The space features four unique areas, two of which can be closed off for private dining. The lounge seats 50 guests.
A high-profile opening for luxury mixed-use development CityCenterDC is Chef David Chang’s Momofuku. The first Washington outpost of the restaurant opened in October. A private dining room seats 40 guests or holds 65 for receptions. Private dining guests have access to the full menu as well as custom offerings from chef Christina Tosi's Milk Bar, the restaurant's sister bakery. The space also is available for full building buyouts.
Contemporary American restaurant Pennsylvania 6 opened downtown in November with multiple private dining rooms for events. The Oxford room seats 35 guests and hosts 45 guests for reception-style events with a full-service bar. The Windsor room seats 25 or holds 35 for receptions and includes full audiovisual capabilities. Decor in the Oxford and Windsor rooms include glossy dark red floors, crystal chandeliers, and artwork on the walls arranged in a gallery style. The two rooms can be combined. The Tennyson room seats 35 or holds 45 for receptions with audiovisual capabilities and decor elements such as tweed upholstered chairs and oak paneling. The semiprivate lounge the Parlor holds 35 guests for reception-style events. The Parlor offers audiovisual capabilities in a homey setting and has a candlelit fireplace, rich leather chairs, and mahogany game tables. There’s also the Perch, a semiprivate area in the main dining room with seating for seven in a space surrounded by antique mirrors and a wine reserve.
After closing last year due to redevelopment, acclaimed cocktail bar Columbia Room reopened in a new location earlier this month. The revamped location in Blagden Alley is a 2,400-square-foot bar divided into three distinct areas: the 22-seat Spirits Library, the 14-seat Tasting Room, and an outdoor terrace, the Punch Garden, set to open in the spring. The Spirits Library is decorated with bookcases, while the Tasting Room’s focal point is an Italian mosaic mural.
Business management and information technology company Spartan Business & Technology Services Inc. opened its new 8,000-square-foot Training and Development Center in National Harbor in August. The five-room facility offers state-of-the-art audiovisual equipment, ergonomic chairs, laptop desk connectivity, and wireless high-speed Internet, along with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Potomac River and the Capital Wheel. The center can accommodate groups of varying sizes. In classroom-style setups, the Deep Creek room holds 10 guests; the Loch Raven room holds 20 guests; and the Susquehanna room holds 30 guests. The Chesapeake West room seats 30 guests classroom-style, while the Chesapeake East room seats 40 classroom-style. The Grand Room, which combines Chesapeake East and West, holds 200 for auditorium-style events.
The Chinese restaurant Secret Chopsticks opened in November in Arlington. The 4,400-square-foot restaurant seats 70 guests in the main dining room, 40 in the lounge, and 10 at the bar. A semiprivate dining room with audiovisual capabilities holds 33 guests. There’s also a seasonal patio for 60 seated guests. Designed by Lika Fu of Dimensional Strategy, the restaurant’s decor includes Chinese art, bamboo columns, black marble, and Asian-inspired statues.
New U Street cocktail bar Quarter & Glory opened at the end of January, offering a menu of 25 cocktails that rotates seasonally. The bar is managed and operated by New York-based hospitality management and consulting company Public House Collective, and it’s the company’s the first location outside of New York. The 44-seat bar was designed by Parts and Labor Design and includes a 33-foot-long oak bar along with the refinished hardwood floors from the circa-1919 building.
Texas Jack’s Barbecue, one of the area’s newest smoked meat outposts, opened its doors in Arlington in December. The 6,700-square-foot restaurant is designed by Akseizer Design Group and includes touches like Western murals, repurposed wood, and other salvaged material. The venue includes a private dining room with its own bar that seats 35 guests. That space as well as the main dining room both offer full audiovisual capabilities for presentations.
Acclaimed chef Jeremiah Langhorne and business partner Alex Zink opened the Dabney in Blagden Alley in October. The modern American restaurant includes exposed brick, an open kitchen, and rustic details such as rocking chairs. Every ingredient is sourced from the mid-Atlantic region, sometimes from the restaurant’s rooftop garden. The eatery seats 60.
Washington-based brewers 3 Stars Brewery opened a tasting room in November in Takoma Park. Designed by architecture and design firm 3877, the new 1,200-square-foot space was inspired by an “urban farmhouse” theme. That means materials include reclaimed wood, corrugated metal, roll-up garage doors, and industrial light fixtures. The space is available for private events and tastings for groups of as many as 60.
