Allegory

"Creative director Deke Dunne highlights the balance of sugar, fat, and acid in creamy cocktails, especially during hot weather." - Lulu Chang

"Creative director Deke Dunne has conceived a veritable wonderland hidden behind an unmarked door within the Eaton Hotel. The dimly lit, brooding interior contrasts with the brilliance of the cocktails coming together behind the stick. The cocktails are broken down in exhaustive detail throughout the menu. You can even read the ABV of each. Allegory bills itself as the “first bar to blend art, literature, social good, craft cocktails, and hospitality.” Inside, you’ll marvel at larger-than-life murals, imaginatively depicting the story of Ruby Bridges, the first Black child to attend an all-white public elementary school during the Civil Rights Movement." - Brad Japhe

"Eaton DC hotel’s hidden cocktail lair has a selection of boozy and spirit-free cocktails for the season. The savory “Garden of Live Flowers” ($18) infuses rhum agricole, R&R Assembly gin and Bitter Bianco with snap peas, cardamom, aloe, black pepper, coconut, and lemon. The $13 “Awakening” comes sans-alcohol, with ube milk tea, coconut, yuzu, and a reclaimed pineapple rind." - Kalina Newman

"The bread-and-butter offering is a microcosm of the playful wonder that defines this lobby-level speakeasy tucked behind a wall of books. The artsy, literary-themed cocktail bar serves its smoked onion brioche rolls with a quenelle of “everything” spiced butter, from which garlic chips protrude to create the impression of butterfly wings." - Emily Wishingrad

"Find this whimsical, no-reservations cocktail lair behind a wall of books off Eaton hotel’s lobby. A glossy booklet dubbed “Down the Rabbit Hole” is full of thoughtful cocktails themed after immersive murals with a message. The exhibit retells Alice in Wonderland through the eyes of Ruby Bridges — the first Black child to desegregate an elementary school in Louisiana. The bar has lots of tricks up its sleeve, from clarified cocktails featuring floating bubbles to birthday shots served with sparklers. Allegory was ahead of the caviar curve with its ever-popular “Caviback” offering with vodka and a single Pringle." - Vinciane Ngomsi