The Owner of the Brig Beer Garden Is Putting a Pizza Bar in Mt. Vernon Triangle

More pizza for Mt. Vernon Triangle

A co-owner at Southeast beer garden The Brig will try another quadrant on for size later this year with the opening of Play off Pizza in Mount Vernon Triangle. Commercial real estate exec Mark Brody tells Eater he plans to flip the vacant, brick-lined row house he owns at 924 Fifth Street NW into a “fun and chill” neighborhood sports bar for locals. Along with pizza, wings, and bar food, the 199-seat space will take advantage of newly legal sports betting (The Brig was one of the city’s first applicants). Expect multiple kiosks, a multi-player Dragon’s Ascent game, pinball, and a golf simulator. “Just something to do in between at halftime,” Brody says. He’s currently in talks with chefs to fine tune a pizza program. He’ll have immediate pie competition from Union Market’s critically acclaimed Stellina Pizzeria, which will expand to the neighborhood this summer. Brody says Play off Pizza’s beer list will be lengthy, but likely not as big as the Brig’s two dozen tap lines.

A Rake’s Bar finally does happy hour

The hyper-local cocktail bar perched atop The Line hotel plans to woo diners with lower prices starting Sunday, February 16. A new “Golden Hour” (Wednesday to Friday, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.; Sundays from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m.) includes $4 tall boy beers, $6 wines, $7 draft cocktails, and $5 “Improved” Old Fashioneds (normally $18). Chef Opie Crooks will have $6 bites, including a Roseda beef burger, chicken liver spread, gougeres, $1 oysters, and a ham board.

From steaks to Sri Lankan

Johann Moonesinghe, the founder of recently-closed Prequel, just found another downtown address to reboot his restaurant game. Monterrey will slide into the space that formerly housed steakhouse chain Del Frisco’s Grille, which closed after an 8-year run. The first-floor setup is massive, with room for 346 and an 86-seat patio. Along with Sri Lankan food, expect bar bites with “Mexican flair,” per the ABRA filing.

An urban dome dinner is en route to D.C.

Roving luxury pop-up Dinner With a View, an outdoor dinner that enlists big-name chefs to cook three-course meals inside a decked-out dome, is coming to D.C. this fall (date TBD). Each city on the coast-to-coast tour highlights a local chef who makes multi-night dinners with local ingredients (Top Chef Canada winner Paul Moran is cooking for Vancouver, and James Beard Awards semifinalist for Best Chef West Claudette Zepeda is leading the San Diego menu). D.C.’s chef has not yet been named. Urban domes cost around $100 to reserve, and four to six can eat inside for $109.99 per person. Decor is themed around tundra or tropical terrains, packed with plant life and elegant lighting. Feasting on fancy fare inside a clear bubble is already a thing in D.C., thanks to al fresco wintertime pop-ups at Four Seasons and The Watergate.