The Go-To Inauguration Booze Map Is Still Going

Capital Spice, the self-descibed blog of a couple of D.C. food geeks, did what the rest of us didn't, and it's paying off in links and hits. Mike Bober, who runs the blog with his wife, Elizabeth, read in the papers that 213 bars and restaurants were approved by ABRA (D.C.'s Alcohol Beverage Regulation Administration) to stay open until 4 a.m. for the inauguration. But there was no list of where to go and definitely no map. So Bober got on the horn with ABRA, got the list, and spent an hour or two typing the establishments into Google maps.

We've linked to his genius repeatedly, Marc Fisher at the Post is also a fan.

Bober, 30, who lives in the H Street NE neighborhood (note: I did not call it the Atlas District, Mr. Englert), says his hits have been "going through the roof....We just hope that people who come for the map come back and check us out."

The blog is less than a year old and covers restaurants, news and gossip, and food porn. Bober just blogged about the D.C.-centric "No Reservations" episode airing on the Travel Channel Monday night at 10 and starring our own Tim Carman. (Anthony Bourdain, who?)

Capital Spice is planning to update the map, too. Bars with voluntary agreements had to work those out as of 1 p.m. yesterday if they wanted to be included in early-morning boozing. There were 76 of those pending; yesterday I spoke with Kristen Barden of the Adams Morgan BID who said 33 on and off the 18th Street strip were pending and that 32 of them were likely to be approved. "That's almost half of them right there," says Bober.

As for his inaug plans, Bober says he and the wife scored tickets to the swearing-in from some Hill friends and they plan to make an appearance at Chef Spike's Burger Ball at Good Stuff Eatery. But 3 a.m. shots are not in the plans. "I think we're going to be in hunkering-down mode," he says.

Tags: booze, Inauguration