PILAR BAR
Eclectic restaurant · U Street ·
Gastropub with modern American fare in an art-laden setting
Gastropub with modern American fare in an art-laden setting
"The Logan Circle mainstay offers a globe-trotting menu inspired by novelist Ernest Hemingway’s travels, from a Thai take on mussels to dan dan tofu noodles to chili hoisin-glazed braised pork belly tacos. Order a well-made daiquiri and soak up its nautical and mermaid decor straight out of Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea. The owners also run Cafe Saint-Ex next door, a resilient neighborhood dive that throws DJ-driven weekend parties in its basement." - Eater Staff
"Pumpkin spice collides with caffeine in this seasonal cocktail, now served at Logan Circle’s Hemingway-loving staple. A traditional espresso martini is infused with pumpkin spice and topped with a coconut tres leches foam." - Kalina Newman
"Logan Circle’s seafaring standby resurfaced with a fresh cast of dishes and drinks that speak to Ernest Hemingway’s worldwide travels, notably his time spent sailing around the Mediterranean and Havana. Weekend brunch starring $25 bottomless mix-and-match bubbly cocktails (noon to 4 p.m.) is listed on the menu near a spot-on quote from the literary legend: “If I have any money, I can’t think of any better way of spending money than on Champagne.”" - Tierney Plumb, Stephanie Carter
"Named after Hemingway’s treasured boat and located at 1833 14th Street NW, this Logan Circle gastropub sailed into 2023 with a redesigned menu and drinks program that lean into the writer’s Mediterranean and Cuban travels. Opened more than a decade ago (its longtime chef-partner Jesse Miller helped put it on the map before leaving in 2019), the current owners, RNJS Hospitality Group, tapped talent from the Eaton hotel and enlisted Allegory’s Deke Dunne and chef Adam Shata to re-energize a nautical destination for comfort foods and strong rum cocktails. The reboot shifts focus from earlier Asia-forward plates to Europe and Cuba, offering a meaty Cubano plus a vegetarian jackfruit-and-Swiss version (with the option to add turkey ham), beef tartare dressed with truffle oil, Caribbean-style shrimp skewers, mango shrimp or octopus ceviche, grilled rib-eye with chimichurri, koji-cured patatas bravas, and fried rockfish atop wild rice. Cocktails celebrate spirits from Hemingway’s haunts: the Italian-leaning “The Good Lion” (an Americano-meets-Negroni with Hapusa Himalayan gin, Martini & Rossi Blend, Solerno blood orange, cardamom and soda), the boozy “American in Paris” (rye, ODVI Armagnac, grapefruit, herbes de Provence, and absinthe), daiquiris and Cuba Libres built on Pilar’s Rum Blend distilled by Hemingway Rum Co., and nitro espresso martinis spiked with aged rum (or vodka), Mr. Black Coffee and Faretti Biscotti liqueurs. A selection of French and Spanish bubbles is offered by the glass ($12–$22) and bottle ($48–$88), and brunch with bottomless sparkling cocktails runs noon to 4 p.m." - Tierney Plumb
"The green tea slushie at the Ernest Hemingway-inspired mainstay riffs on the shot of the summer, built with bourbon, lemonade, and peach schnapps." - Vinciane Ngomsi
