A little Belgian gem: St. Arnold’s is on Jefferson Place NW south of Dupont Circle. (Luis Gomez Photos)
From Aparna Krishnamoorthy. Email her at aparna[AT]borderstan.com. Follow her on Twitter @aparnakris.
I am in love with St. Arnold’s, a little gem just south of Dupont circle, located on a quiet street away from the bustle and night crowds of the area. Once I managed to find this place and entered the basement bar, I was instantly transported to an old-world neighborhood pub.
The space itself is fairly small, with beautiful dark walls, wooden tables and a long wooden bar. Named after the patron Saint of Belgian brewers, St. Arnold’s offers a solid selection of drafts and bottles, mostly Belgian and German, as well as some domestic craft beers, making it easy to please every beer palette.
More importantly however, let’s focus on the mussels. They offer a ridiculous number of preparations, all of which sound amazing. Italian sausage, peppers and tomatoes? Spicy Mexican with onions, cilantro and jalapenos? Yes please! For the mussel purists they also have a classic preparation.
But when they offer a wildly popular house specialty (St. Arnold’s with duck fat), the choice is easy. You can’t beat duck fat. I decided on that option and my dining partner got the Thai curry mussels with basil. A few minutes later, our smoking (literally) cauldrons were at the table, and the aroma upon popping the lid was heavenly.
The duck fat beer sauce with caramelized shallots, thyme and garlic is incredibly flavorful and brings out the buttery-ness of the mussels. The portions are massive, too, with about 25 mussels to a pot, accompanied by sourdough bread and frites. Do not deny yourself the happiness from dipping the bread and the fries in the sauce. Judge me all you want, but at one point, I was drinking the sauce like a soup. Amazing duck fat soup. The Thai basil sauce is light and refreshing, and served as a nice break from the richness of the duck fat.
St. Arnold’s offers half price ($9) on their mussels during Happy Hour between 4 and 6.30 pm. Go hungry and take a plunge into the best mussels ever.
The $18 price for the huge pot of perfectly cooked mussels, bread and fries is definitely worth it. Although the happy hour ends at 6.30 pm, the 50% discount is unbelievable and warrants getting there a bit early. I foresee a lot of my winter evenings being spent in this cozy basement.
Although I was completely focused on the mussels, they also offer additional menu items, including salads and sandwiches. I was too full for dessert, but the Nutella waffle sounded delicious!
For a cozy neighborhood feel, great beer and amazing mussels, St. Arnolds is almost too good to be true.
If you have been, what are your favorites here?
St. Arnold’s on Jefferson Place: The Details
- Where Am I Going: 1827 Jefferson Place NW (between Connecticut Avenue and 18th Street NW)
- When Am I Going: Monday through Thursday, and Sunday, 11 am to 2 am; Friday and Saturday, 11 am to 3 am. Happy Hour from 4 to 6.30 pm
- Paycheck Pain: $18 for mussels, beers average $10.
- Say What? Tables are fairly close together and the place can get bustling. Casual atmosphere.
- What You’ll Be Eating: Beer and mussels.
"Dupont Circle" is by dracisk from the Borderstan flickr pool.
Photos of the Day are pulled from the Borderstan Reader Photos pool on Flickr.
Today’s photo, “Dupont Circle” was taken by dracisk on April 28.
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With MPD redistricting, Police Service Area 208 lost territory to PSA 301, but picked up a bit of 307. (DC Citizen Atlas)
From Cody Telep. Follow him on Twitter @codywt, email him at [email protected].
As of January 1, the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) introduced new District and Police Service Area (PSA) boundaries (see New Police Service Areas Take Effect January 1). In recent weeks, we’ve done brief overviews of the boundaries of the new PSAs and how to contact the police personnel in charge of each area. We previously covered PSA 305, PSA 301 and PSA 307.
This week, we take a look at PSA 208 — see the Google map or the map at the DC Citizen Atlas. PSA 208 decreased in size substantially with the boundary changes. Previously, PSA 208 was a “super-PSA,” but these larger PSAs have now been eliminated. As we noted before, much of the northern part of the old PSA 208 is now part of PSA 301.
PSA 208’s first community meeting of 2012 will be held Tuesday, February 21 at 7 pm at the MPD office at 1369-A Connecticut Avenue NW (the entrance is on the Massachusetts Avenue NW side of the SunTrust Bank building, just off Dupont Circle).
208 Boundaries
The southern border of PSA 208 is now M Street NW stretching east to west from 14th Street NW to 23rd Street NW. Moving north, PSA 208 goes up 23rd Street NW and then onto Rock Creek Parkway and wraps around the parkway until reaching Connecticut Avenue NW. The northern boundary of the PSA goes down Connecticut Avenue NW, then up Florida Avenue NW, and back down 18th Street NW to Q Street NW. The northern boundary follows Q Street NW from 18th Street NW over to 14th Street NW, which serves as the eastern boundary (view Google map or map at DC Citizen Atlas).
Only the parts of PSA 208 surrounding Dupont Circle and Scott Circle fall within the Borderstan coverage area.
PSA 208 Contacts
- Acting Lt. John McDonald remains the PSA Lieutenant for 208. He can be reached by phone at 202-715-7344 (office) or by email at [email protected].
- Captain Melvin Gresham oversees PSA 208 (and also PSA 207). He can be reached by phone at 202-715-7366 (office) or by email at [email protected].
- Michael Reese is the Commander for the Second District, a position he has held since January 2011. Commander Reese can be reached by phone at 202-730-1901 (office) or by email at [email protected].
Related Posts
November 26, 2011–President Barack Obama made a shopping visit to Kramerbooks & Afterwords Cafe as part of Small Business Saturday. With him are daughters Malia (left) and Sasha (center). (White House photo via Facebook collection)
President Barack Obama and daughters, Malia and Sasha, paid a visit to Kramerbooks & Afterwords Cafe Saturday afternoon to pick up some books for Christmas. The Associated Press photos are online.
The visit to the bookstore just north of Dupont Circle at 1517 Connecticut Avenue NW was meant to draw attention to the Small Business Saturday shopping campaign. Kramerbooks has been at the location since 1976.
President and Mrs. Obama have visited the neighborhood before, with a date-night dinner at Komi on 17th Street NW in May 2010.
Related Posts
- Think Outside the (Big) Box: Shop Local on Small Business Saturday
- Small Business Saturday Shopping Includes 32 Adams Morgan Stores
Oy. Silliness at The Real World: DC house at 2000 S Street NW. Here’s the video from WUSA-Channel 9.
I started laughing, loudly, whenI watched the RWDC cast member in the video complain about people standing on the sidewalk and listening in. The 20th Street patio (with a BBQ grille normally not seen outside Loudoun County) sits right next to the sidewalk. And the producers thought what, exactly, would happen?
Councilmember Jack Evans (Ward 2) even has an appearance at the end of the video, explaining the legalities of public spaces, sidewalks and such.
Borderstanians: A Police alert from late this afternoon.
Alert from the Metropolitan Police Department Second District
Today, 02/24/09, at approximately 4:55pm a residential burglary was reported. The incident occurred in the 1700 block of Q Street NW at 4:30pm. At this time, it appears the suspect gained entry via a roof top entrance (still be investigated). We are working diligently to capture this suspect, and we ask for your assistance in securing your residence (please pay close attention to skylights and entrances). In addition, if you observe any suspicious activity in this area, please call 9-1-1 immediately. If you have any past information that you believe might be related to this incident, please call the Second District Detectives office at (202) 730-1903. – Capt. Melvin Gresham, Lt. Erich Miller and Lt. Roland Hoyle, PSA 208
Here are selected crimes that occurred in Police Service Area (PSA) 208, Feb. 11-12. PSA 208 encompasses the Dupont Circle neighborhood and part of the Kalorama Circle neighborhood. West Borderstan (west of 15th Street) is part of PSA 208 while East Borderstan is part of PSA 307.
The February community meeting of Police Service Area (PSA) 208 is Tuesday, Feb. 17, from 7 to 9 p.m. Please note that this month the meeting is being held at a different location–the Richmond residential building at 1401 17th Street NW.
The agenda:
- Review most recent crime statistics and patterns
- Discuss auto theft
- Discuss recent robberies and burglaries
- Highlight additional officers coming to PSA 208
- General questions
West Borderstan (west of 15th Street) is part of PSA 208.
