Washington’s new establishments revive its tourism

Visitors are back in Washington, for all the reasons they came before.

Gaggles of school groups and tour buses are on the National Mall, enjoying the green space and the museums. Demonstrators are marching. Convention centres have 19 large-scale events scheduled this year, with the largest – booked by the Association of the United States Army nonprofit – anticipating as many as 30 000 attendees.

The city has yet to fully rebound from the coronavirus; the number of international visitors is not expected to reach pre-pandemic levels until 2025, according to Destination DC, the district’s official marketing organisation.

But timed entry passes to favourite sites and reservations at coveted restaurants are vanishing quickly, and many local businesses and attractions, which spent two years reassessing operational practices and evolving, are now seeing results.

These are some of the new hotels, restaurants and events visitors can expect to encounter.

New dining in every style

Albi was welcoming diners to take in its stunning wood-burning hearth and Middle Eastern flavours for less than three weeks when the World Health Organisation declared the coronavirus a pandemic.

This year, the restaurant in Washington’s Navy Yard received a Michelin star, proving its staying power and the prowess of its chef and owner, Michael Rafidi.

A meal, which the menu describes as “a journey through Levantine cooking” ($95, or about R1 560, per person), includes rotating seasonal choices as classic as the fire-charred baba ganoush or as fun as chermoula-covered bass served with lump crab meat.

Rafidi’s Yellow cafe sits next door and slings more takeout friendly options, like pita sandwiches and savoury pastries dusted with za’atar or harissa.

In downtown Washington, which was badly hollowed out by a prolonged lack of workers, the regal design work in the dining room at Shoto seems to remind everyone that even in an area packed with drab offices, they are still in the nation’s capital.

The creators behind Shoto clearly paid as much attention to its décor as to its thoughtfully crafted Japanese haute cuisine, with every table placed near some spectacle, whether under a hanging ornament of rock from an active volcano in Japan or facing the ornate sushi counter and bar.

Shoto features two tiers of omakase for those aiming to sample the range of its menu (one for $115 and a premium step-up for $195).

For anyone else who prefers direct control over dinner, they also offer sushi, tacos (from $8 for salmon to $19 for premium Wagyu) and robatayaki, a style of charcoal barbecue applied to everything from grilled tiger prawns ($39) to an Australian tomahawk steak ($295).

In September 2020, as remote work became standard, the Roost arrived with a 3 800-square-metre food hall stuffed with an excellent selection of vendors but still offering plenty of breathing room.

The Roost, which describes itself as a “culinary clubhouse,” has cushioned booths and secluded alcoves that are ideal for long visits and private conversation.

As for food, one can find a pork belly poutine ($11.50 from Red Apron), beets with smoked trout ($14 from Leni), crispy avocado tacos ($7.50 for two from Hi/Fi) or 50 beers on tap at Shelter.

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Riverfront hotels and a high-end lodging boom

Washington spent the past two years on a building spree, bringing flagship hotels and a wealth of new high-end accommodations.

Part of the frenzy has been tied to a drive to dramatically reshape the area around the city’s southwest waterfront and the Washington Navy Yard, which is seeing a concurrent explosion of designer shops and restaurants.

The Cambria hotel in the Capitol Riverfront area (rooms from $178) and the boutique Pendry hotel at the Wharf (rooms from $405, opening in November) now tower over the confluence of the Potomac and Anacostia rivers in Washington’s southern end.

Both add capacity near a district where the city recently invested $2.5 billion to correct a botched effort at urban renewal and transform the waterfront into a commercial area with tourist friendly establishments and a performance venue.

Moving away from Washington’s generally prim and staid options, Selina (standard rooms from $109), an independent brand that openly caters to millennial and Gen Z travellers, also opened a location in Union Market in June.

The hotel offers guests coworking spaces, wellness classes and experiences like live concerts and group excursions in a way that appears to blend traditional hospitality with backpacker and hostel culture.

Resilience through music

The first year of the pandemic was a time of mourning for many in Washington’s music scene, as initial shutdowns became permanent for some of the city’s older and more celebrated venues.

Among the biggest losses was Twins Jazz, a storied club founded by Ethiopian migrants in 1987 in the city’s U Street corridor.

Just a few blocks away, the Velvet Lounge, a dance hall known for its all-embracing performance calendar, folded months later.

Many feared the worst when a similar announcement came in 2020 from 18th Street Lounge, a beloved nightclub that operated for 25 years in Dupont Circle.

Through some resolve and popular demand, 18th Street Lounge kept its name but took up new digs on Ninth Street beside other bars and restaurants occupying Blagden Alley, a back street once singled out by Eleanor Roosevelt and other New Deal reformers as an emblem of the city’s urban decay, but now lined with trendy shops.

In a similar move, Joe Lapan and Alisha Edmonson, co-owners of Songbyrd Music House, relocated to the formerly industrial Union Market area and personally redesigned a converted warehouse into a stylish new concert space.

At its original location, Songbyrd became a Washington staple after hosting artists such as Khalid, Jessie Reyez and Tyler Childers.

Last year also saw the launch of Capital Turnaround, a multi-use entertainment space built inside the castle-like structure of the former Navy Yard Car Barn, which was once used to flip streetcars on a track running from the Navy Yard to Georgetown.

Museums reoriented

Washington added to its famously rich collection of museums and monuments in 2020 with the launch of Planet Word, a novel museum focused on language and speech (free admission with a suggested $15 donation).

It sends visitors through a host of interactive and self-guided exhibits touching on topics from humour to early-childhood language acquisition, with futuristic technological presentations.

Some museums, like the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, closed down twice in 2020, and others significantly scaled back hours because of staff shortages and other safety concerns.

The Smithsonian network, whose 17 free museums and galleries in the Washington area reopened last year, saw attendance fall to five million from nearly 30 million in typical years.

But closures have also provided time for many to forge ahead on renovation work, strengthening the city’s museum system with improvements and updates.

The National Gallery of Art modified its guiding vision, and now has a fresh brand and a goal of increasing its relevancy.

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