Proper 21-K Street
Sports bar · Downtown ·
Upscale sports bar with TVs, global bites, and cocktails
Upscale sports bar with TVs, global bites, and cocktails
"D.C.’s first edition of the sleek New York sports bar draws all flavors of fans for its flatbreads, mussels, burgers, frosty drafts, and well-executed cocktails. The kitchen is open daily from 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Cigar aficionados commonly end the night at next-door D.C. institution Shelly’s Back Room." - Tierney Plumb
"The upscale sports bar that aligns itself with the University of Alabama maintains locations in Foggy Botton and downtown. Load up on buffalo chicken or truffle tots, local bratwurst, its beloved burger, and pitchers of beer. The team will soon expand to Mt. Vernon Triangle with a less-sporty, more cheffed-up edition dubbed Proper Bar." - Tierney Plumb
"The sleek sports bar out of New York City opened a second D.C. location in Foggy Bottom last fall." - Tierney Plumb
"The clubby sports bar from New York recently opened its second D.C. location, giving Foggy Bottom a new 66-seat patio where customers can sample a range of huge sandwiches and other bar food with a Korean through-line. The bar offers six different flavors of crushes ($13), and there are different drink specials every night, BOGO crushes during a four-hour Friday happy hour and a 90-minute bottomless brunch on weekends. The inside of the restaurant is full of TVs, and an NFL Sunday Ticket package makes every game available." - Tierney Plumb
"Opening tonight in Foggy Bottom at 2033 K Street NW, I describe the 8,000-square-foot outpost dubbed Proper 21K as offering ample room for socially distanced seating with floor-to-ceiling windows, 18-foot ceilings, and gold chandeliers at each entrance; the space seats 167 inside plus a 66-seat patio and is roughly three times the capacity of its sibling downtown. The bar opens daily at 11:30 a.m. until last call for dine-in, takeout, and delivery via GrubHub, UberEats, and Postmates, and will show Alabama games and carry an NFL Sunday Ticket alongside a high-tech sound system. The menu, overseen by D.C. chef and managing partner Steve Forbes, leans toward family-style plates and sides for two to three, offers $19 bottles of wine with any entrée purchase, and features dishes based on co-owner Robert Zahn’s mother’s recipes including bulgogi fried rice, fried chicken sandwiches with pickled daikon and sweet gochujang, and an assortment of build-your-own bao buns (or tacos and lettuce wraps). Cocktails center on a list of crushes made with orange and grapefruit juices squeezed on-site (buy-one-get-one on weekdays from 2:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.), there’s an all-day Thursday happy hour through 6:30 p.m. with $5 beers and $6 wines, and a “Call Your Shot” section (one for $8, three for $20, 10 for $50) featuring options such as green tea, popsicle, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and pickle back; the beer and wine program includes 10 beers on tap — including a signature Proper Ale — and an extensive wine list heavy on varietals from California, Italy, and France. Designer Will Strozier carried over velvet wallpaper, greenery, sleek gray booths, and black-and-white photo prints to the K Street space, which is at the base of an office building and will likely see less traffic while nearby George Washington University holds mostly virtual classes, and the group had announced an early-April grand opening only to be delayed by the pandemic and later sued its insurance carrier over denied business interruption coverage." - Tierney Plumb
