Market Inn Restaurant

Review by Good Eats on September 15, 2009

So, this is my long overdue tribute to the Inn where I downed rum and gingers while eating wings for a living. What a shame that I never got around to rating this place while it was still around. Perhaps, it is because I never wanted to see it change, even though it never would have due to its unique location and atmosphere that attracted middle-aged and near retirement bureaucrats. The Market Inn WAS Capitol Hill's best kept secret for cocktails and atmosphere.

Tucked behind the Ford House Office Building (adjacent to NASA HQ), behind a bridge and below 275, the Market Inn managed to evade the effects of time and the demands of a real-estate-crazed city on gentrification overdrive. Every time you crossed under the bridge and walked into this place frozen in time you were brought back thirty years or so--literally a time-warp. But, when they lost their legendary piano player "Hill" something changed, as if the Market lost its force-field that had protected it from the new millennium.

Unchanged and unapologetic for nearly half a century (I imagine) this venue was the place to get away from the nonsense on Capitol Hill, a spot where you knew you wouldn't be bumping into the power-drunk or their plastic political aspirations. This was a place where you might bump into a policy wonk from NASA, DOE, or the House sipping on an extra tall draft having a conversation without the bright lights.

The bar was a beautiful oak piece over thirty feet in length, supported by dim lights, cheap drinks, and old nudes plastered throughout the space. The seafood was what they were famous for, but the wings were what kept me coming back at least twice a week for a couple of years (it was an addiction really). They also had the best jazz brunch in town, with a phenomenal ragtime band.

The Market Inn was the best dive in DC, an oasis from the hustle, bustle, and BS. I must apologize for not spreading the word until it was too late, but the next time I'm in DC I will be sure to pour out a little tribute onto the steps of what once was...and what probably will be a new Starbucks.

In the meantime, other great dives you may want to check out before they are pushed out: the Raven in Columbia Heights, and Tune-Inn on Cap Hill.

RIP Market Inn

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/dec/31/iconic-market-inn-will-bid-farewell-to-auld-lang-s/