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Restaurants Conducive to Book Clubs


DanCole42

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A bunch of my friends and I are forming a book club, and we need somewhere conducive to the discussing of high literature to analyze our selections (i.e. some place with a tap).

So what do people recommend as far as good bars, tea houses, lounges, cafes, bistros, restaurants, etc., that would make a good hangout for an after-work book club?

Some place with comfy chairs or couches, where we can talk in a conversational tone without being shushed by the maitre'd or drowned out by the screaming and death metal, and where we can get a pint of Guiness by the fireside or a spot of Earl Grey and crumpets...

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I tried the same thing about 6-7 years ago, and no places were really welcoming, either in DC or Monkey County.

After a number of "quiet" cafes and bars, we just gave up and had the meeting at a bookstore, and then retired to the pub afterwards for a drink. Club is still going strong today.

Bookstores are far friendlier to book clubs, and tend to give 20-30% discounts on the book each month, free in-store advertising, and sometimes even beverage discounts.

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Busboys is a good idea, as is Open City.

My book club used to pick a restaurant with food that connected in some way to the book, and make the evening into a dining AND book-discussing experience.

And now we meet at our homes, most of which have comfy chairs or couches, the ability to be as loud or as quiet as we like, and tasty food and beverages.

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A bunch of my friends and I are forming a book club, and we need somewhere conducive to the discussing of high literature to analyze our selections (i.e. some place with a tap).

So what do people recommend as far as good bars, tea houses, lounges, cafes, bistros, restaurants, etc., that would make a good hangout for an after-work book club?

Some place with comfy chairs or couches, where we can talk in a conversational tone without being shushed by the maitre'd or drowned out by the screaming and death metal, and where we can get a pint of Guiness by the fireside or a spot of Earl Grey and crumpets...

If there is one thing I love almost as much as my wife and food, its heavy metal. Please, please tell me where you have been going that plays death metal (though, sadly, I fear you are just joking). :)

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From experience, the St. Regis Library Lounge on K Street is good for faux philosophical book club musings. The faux is because the books appear to be cut in half and glued to the wall. The scotch and calamari rings are good, though.

For a more genteel affair and urbane discussion (alternate history SF, natch), the Silo Room at Dr. Dremo's can comfortably sit a dozen or so in relative quiet as long as you get there early enough to stake it out. Also, as long as the place still exists.

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I was part of a drinking/book club for a while and can advise on several options.

Best were the Penn Quarter Teaism, which tends to draw a bunch of big groups in its basement anyway, and L'Enfant over on 18th, which didn't mind us as long as we kept ordering. Mr, Smith's in G'town gave us plenty of room to discuss Life of Pi. Place we tried that didn't really work out so well: Helix. Small tables, dim light, loud everything. Tryst was a mixed bag and I think most of its chair/couch seating areas don't get you close enough together to hear each other anyway.

If they have alcohol in the new-ish cafe at Politics and Prose, that might be good.

I would also totally take a small (4-6) book club to Birreria Paradiso.

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I was part of a drinking/book club for a while and can advise on several options.

Best were the Penn Quarter Teaism, which tends to draw a bunch of big groups in its basement anyway, and L'Enfant over on 18th, which didn't mind us as long as we kept ordering. Mr, Smith's in G'town gave us plenty of room to discuss Life of Pi. Place we tried that didn't really work out so well: Helix. Small tables, dim light, loud everything. Tryst was a mixed bag and I think most of its chair/couch seating areas don't get you close enough together to hear each other anyway.

If they have alcohol in the new-ish cafe at Politics and Prose, that might be good.

I would also totally take a small (4-6) book club to Birreria Paradiso.

Mayorga in Silver Spring seems like it would be quite good. Full bar, as well as coffee. I don't think Politics and Prose has alcohol, but it's still quite nice.

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From experience, the St. Regis Library Lounge on K Street is good for faux philosophical book club musings. The faux is because the books appear to be cut in half and glued to the wall. The scotch and calamari rings are good, though.

For a more genteel affair and urbane discussion (alternate history SF, natch), the Silo Room at Dr. Dremo's can comfortably sit a dozen or so in relative quiet as long as you get there early enough to stake it out. Also, as long as the place still exists.

Dr. Dremos does still exist, but, alas, the St. Regis does not.

If you find a bar in DC where you can enjoy good food, good drink, sit, and actually converse, please PM me the name of the joint and then lock down this thread.

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My former book group enjoyed many conversations over food and drink at a variety of places. Sometimes we even talked about the book. Corduroy, Circle Bistro, Sonoma, David Greggory, Zaytinya, Firefly, Poste were all enjoyed. We generally ordered full meals or heavy appetizers and many beverages. Not all that much different from a DR.com happy hour when you think about it.

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I second the Teaism recommendation, both the Penn Quarter and Dupont locations. Tonic restaurant/bar is also a good spot, downstairs if you like dark and smoky, upstairs if you like it more civilized.

When our book club read "Assassination Vacation" by Sarah Vowell, we met at Wok-n-Roll in Chinatown, because it is the former Mary Surrat's boarding house where John Wilkes Boothe and others plotted Lincoln's assassination. We sat up front by the bar looking out onto the street. They have decent happy hour sushi and drink specials, as well as mediocre chinese fare. However, the next and last time I visited, we sat in the back, and although the food was ok, it smelled like skunk the whole time. Haven't been back since.

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I tried the same thing about 6-7 years ago, and no places were really welcoming, either in DC or Monkey County.

After a number of "quiet" cafes and bars, we just gave up and had the meeting at a bookstore, and then retired to the pub afterwards for a drink. Club is still going strong today.

I had the same experience a couple of years ago but we disolved kind of quickly :)

I was part of a drinking/book club for a while and can advise on several options.

If they have alcohol in the new-ish cafe at Politics and Prose, that might be good.

P&P in the cafe would be difficult because of the small size. They have also begun to have music showcases once in a while so I would check ahead. You could always use the table on the bottom level just outside of the Children's department.

Mayorga in Silver Spring seems like it would be quite good. Full bar, as well as coffee. I don't think Politics and Prose has alcohol, but it's still quite nice.
I second the Mayorga idea but again, they often have live music at night so you should check ahead.

My strongest recommendations would be to call and give wherever you are going a heads up and also be willing to start/go at off peak hours. The few times my book club was able to pull off a good conversation was when someone took the time to plan ahead.

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If there is one thing I love almost as much as my wife and food, its heavy metal. Please, please tell me where you have been going that plays death metal (though, sadly, I fear you are just joking). :)

Darkest Hour was on Pharmacy Bar's jukebox last time I was there. Definitely not suitable for book clubs, just a cool bar (with a decent bottled beer list). Not sure what else is on the juke, it's been a while...and the Darkest Hour may only be on the jukebox because those guys are reputed to frequent the bar. Regardless, it's one place to get your metal fix...not sure if Blackcat has any on their juke.

To bring it back on topic, what about Kramerbooks? I've only eaten there a few times, but they have a good tap list, and the food was good when I tried it. And it's a bookstore, so you can buy next meeting's book on the way out. The noise level might be borderline, though.

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The back room at Aroma in Cleveland Park on a week night would be great for this. They allow you to bring in food too - pizza from Vace? Indique or Spices take-out?

Except it's dark back there. Do people in book clubs recite from the book/read notes or mostly yammer? Better question: Does Aroma have overhead lights that aren't red?

Maybe off-peak at Saint-Ex on those couches in the basement (if the music is way down)...

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Bookclubs are best when hosted at a persons house. Bars offer too much distraction. Save them for the "afterparty" - since most book discussions end up lasting only about 30 minutes and the rest of the session is for gossiping, drinking and doing dramatic readings (you should have seen me read from Valley of the Dolls - brilliant, if I do say so myself!).

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A few years back when reading the Hobbit our book club went to Bilbo Baggins in Alexandria. It actually turned out to be a good discussion place. We went around 2 or 3 to avoid any rush. I definitely lean toward pubs for book clubs unless there the book to be discussed inspires a specific cuisine.

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