Fork in the Road on the Road: Sipping Sasha Petraske Cocktails in the Capital

culturemedc.com

Ever wonder what Sasha Petraske gets up to when he's not preaching the Milk & Honey doctrine of good ice and fresh citrus to New Yorkers? Well, as it turns out, he's off preaching it to Atlantans, Washingtonians, and Bostonians. Petraske's POV Bar in D.C. is his second effort to export the idea of proper cocktails via a W hotel bar, the first being Drink Shop in Atlanta. He is also working on a bar for the new W in Boston, expected to open this fall.

Fork in the Road was recently in our nation's capital and stopped into the rooftop POV Bar, which not only offers spectacular views of the Federal Triangle, but is so close to the White House that you can wave to the snipers on the roof -- not that they'll wave back. Petraske, of course, was back in New York, but bar director Justin Guthrie (who happens to be a founding member of the D.C. Craft Bartenders' Guild) was holding down the fort. The new fall drinks menu has a hot drinks section featuring Hot Peanut Buttered Rum (the rum is infused by "fat washing," the same technique used to make bacon bourbon), Hot Not-Chocolate (warm vanilla milk with chocolate marshmallows), and Mulled Pear Cider.

Asian-influenced bar snacks come from J&G Steakhouse, the Jean-Georges Vongerichten-run restaurant on the ground floor. Executive Chef Philippe Reininger manages to get some of his produce from the White House Farmers' Market across the street. Upstairs, the scene can be cocktail-nerdy, but only until about 11 p.m. or so when it reverts to the usual W crowd. But then, that's the perfect time to head across the street to Old Ebbitt Grill for oyster happy hour. From 11-1 a.m., you'll find the drunk and work-weary loading up on the half-price raw bar.