New Ping Pong Club Downtown Takes on Vietnamese Food and Mumbo Sauce

New York-based ping pong club Spin is almost ready to open its D.C. location downtown with a menu that spans from healthy fare like Vietnamese lettuce wraps to over-the-top comfort food like burgers with fried mac-and-cheese buns. There will also be bottled cocktails available to help people hold their drinks while swinging a paddle.

The 12,000-square-foot space is scheduled to open Tuesday, December 18, at 1332 F Street NW. It will slowly start rolling out food, with a menu split up into shared items, snacks, and sweets.

The celebrity-backed social club’s main attractions are 12 Olympic-style ping pong tables. Spin charges $9 an hour for a table and $9 for unlimited play on Sundays as an opening special. Actress Susan Sarandon was a founding partner in 2009. The international chain of franchised table tennis clubs has since popped up in Chicago, Toronto, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Austin. More are en route to NYC and Los Angeles.

“D.C. is an eclectic collection of cultures, so we wanted to emulate that with the menu,” says executive chef Patrick Tanyag, who most recently was chef de cuisine at Top Chef alum Katsuji Tanabe’s Le Kon in Clarendon.

Tanyag incorporated influences from Washington’s Asian, Ethiopian, and Latino populations across the menu. He points out that there’s a fried chicken banh mi, beef sliders served with a house ketchup that riffs on mumbo sauce, and a gin-infused Lime Rickey.

The limited opening menu will also feature comfort foods like hoppy, beer-brined crispy chicken and cookies. The whole lineup will be available after a grand opening that will take place in January. Here’s a first look:

Spin/official photo

Spin/official photo

Spin/official photo