Providencia
Bar · Near Northeast ·
Experimental bar food and creative cocktails inspired by diverse backgrounds
Experimental bar food and creative cocktails inspired by diverse backgrounds
"Chef and author Paola Velez puts her boundless creativity into the dessert menu at this diminutive H Street bar, and buying Providencia’s bento cookie box is the next best thing to inviting her to your cookie swap party. The 12 different cookies feature globe-trotting combinations, like coconut–green Sichuan pepper shortbread or Taiwanese Pineapple linzer. The first drop of $55 boxes sold out, but she’s adding a few more for D.C. folks who leave a comment on her Instagram." - Adele Chapin
"Providencia, from the team behindMaketto, combines Salvadorian, Dominican, and Taiwanese flavors in a tiny H Street space. Here, the cocktails are called “memories” and paired with poetic epithets, tea candles flicker underneath exposed wood beams, and a wall of triangle breeze blocks sits behind the bar. On paper, this might sound pretentious. In reality, Providencia is a lively neighborhood spot serving some of the city’s best cocktails and the most inventive bar food on H Street—and maybe all of DC." - Thomas Rose
"Moody and intimate with a smashing cocktail list, this small space could be mistaken for just a really good bar until the food from co-chefs Erik Bruner‑Yang and Paola Velez arrives—an enticing mash-up of Asian, Caribbean, and Latin American cuisines and traditions." - Tierney Plumb
"In the moody, small space of Providencia I initially thought it was just a really good bar until the cooking from co-chefs Erik Bruner-Yang and Paola Velez revealed an enticing mash-up of Asian, Caribbean and Latin American traditions; dishes balance nostalgia and creativity—papusa with salsa verde, pan de playa with shredded crab in a Caesar dressing and tomato gochujang mayo tucked inside toasted brioche—and even dessert surprises, like a Japanese twist on baked Alaska featuring kakigori-style shaved ice with guava and strawberry puree and coconut lime sauce enrobed in torched meringue." - The MICHELIN Guide
"Also now serving the trend, this bar offers kakigori as Baked Alaska shaved ice." - Tierney Plumb
