Dane Nakamura Says D.C. Doesn't Have Any True Dives

Eater asked a few of the city's bartenders to name their favorite dive, in honor of Power Hour. Here's what Range's Dane Nakamura had to say:

"A church for down-and-outers and those who romanticize them, a rare place where high and low rub elbows-bums and poets, thieves and slumming celebrities. It's a place that wears its history proudly." -Playboy magazine

So after reading that, what I realized is that there is no "dive bar" in Washington DC. I think a lot of bars would love to be recognized as such, but the truth is for a real dive bar experience you need to hit the suburbs.

Enter Lu and Joe's in Mt. Airy Maryland located on Route 27. It's a roadhouse-style Asian biker bar, that has all you can eat crabs, incredible fried chicken, burgers, pizza, and incredible Chinese and Thai food. Yuppie Bikers, patched up gangster bikers, house wives, truckers, grandparents, everyone who lives within 20 miles probably goes there 3 times a week. The food is great, the beer is cheap, and they give you swimming pool sized shots of whiskey, without having to wave down a pretentious hipster bartender, they just appear with barely a nod. When you need to take a break from good conversation, finding out that the person next to you is an amazing plumber, keno, fried chicken, the champagne of beers, whiskey, and arguing with a Hells Angel about David Allen Coe, you can walk out onto the porch for a cigarette and realize the parking lot is like a motorcycle/classic car show. It's simply amazing. Also even after feeding my girlfriend and paying for some other guests' drinks and our own we've never exceeded 50 dollars. Gotta love it.