Oars! Good for more than propelling your rowboat! They also make up a goodly portion of the interior design at the Tombs, the subterreanean haunt located under the four-star 1789 restaurant in residential Georgetown. That décor, and the clientele of primarily Georgetown undergrads, has led more than one acquaintance of this former Georgetown undergrad to write the watering hole off as an absurdly preppy habitat for pink-polo-wearing douchetards. Don’t get me wrong: The douchetard demo is well-represented. But the patronage—neighbors, students, faculty, alumni—is more heterogeneous than you think, and the Tombs is also an example of what many in this town say it sorely lacks: a solid, homey neighborhood pub. For one thing, the food’s good—much of the kitchen space and ingredients are shared with the hoity-toity upstairs space. The grillmen know what to do with a burger (bacon bleu for me, please), and all the other bar standards are similarly well-executed. One other thing: The beer comes by the pitcher. I dare you to find a $7.95 pitcher of Busch Light anywhere within 15 blocks. Pretty much everything on the menu’s reasonable, especially during the late night “Study Snacks” happy hour. The other thing folks don’t realize about the Tombs is that, especially on the weekends, the Joe Hoya douchetards tend to head elsewhere, leaving the place to the normals. Also, it’s dark down there, which tends to obscure the oars.

The Tombs, 1226 36th Street, NW, (202) 337-6668

The Standard-Times, which covers the southern Massachusetts area where Ris Lacoste grew up, profiles the chef who has been working for years now to open her own restaurant, Ris, in the West End. It’s a fine, in-depth look at the former 1789 chef’s history, including this delightful part about the teen-age Lacoste working at Friendly’s:

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