Busboys and Poets 14 and V s, NW (202) 387-7638 Metro: U Street/Cardozo-African American Civil War Memorial (green line) B-
Oh, thank heavens! D.C. has another trendy coffeehouse/lounge/restaurant/bar/bookstore/club/"performance caf?"/place to go when it's really, really, REALLY necessary for one to tangibly convey having reached the outer orbits of absolute hipster ecstasy.
Just when Adams Morgan's Tryst seemed like the only place with enough street cred to head to for coffee and a healthy dose of pretension, Busboys and Poets swooped in to save the day. Composed of several rooms filled with dining tables, barstools and plush couches, it also offers a "progressive" bookstore and caf? room for poetry readings, author visits and film screenings.
Cramming so many purposes into one space is a tenuous line to walk. Trying to do everything at once, this new hang epitomizes the grave truth that sometimes doing just a few things darn well is always better than the haphazard, mediocre "jack-of-all-trades" approach.
Still in its infancy (the doors opened just weeks ago), Busboys and Poets did get a few things right. Although the service was spotty and the check took forever to arrive (a typical symptom of a just-opened restaurant), the staff was gracious, inviting and polite. The menu, available throughout the entire space, varied pleasantly from vegetarian options to falafel and burgers with tomato, havarti and avocado. The Mediterranean and prosciutto wood-fired pizzas were fresh, tasty and moderately priced (with drinks and a slice of carrot cake, a pizza dinner for two put a mere $25 strain on the diners' wallets), although were nothing exotic enough to write home about.
However, the joint still has some kinks to work out. The lounge area comes off as trapped between a Tryst-esque hangout and an upscale art gallery, the result being somewhat disconcerting and not altogether comfortable. Although the website (www.busboysandpoets.com) plays a scratchy Billie Holiday track and the promotional materials are made of rich, funky collages, generic techno blared in the lounge and the d?cor consisted of expensive, inaccessible abstract paintings and odd paper mache-looking lamps in animal forms. The crowd seemed confused about whether to dress up or down, leaving those in ties looking awkwardly overdressed and those in flip flops feeling oddly casual. And although the idea of a bookstore specializing in "politics, progressive literature and poetry and DVDs of indie films" sounds appealing, the actual product comes off as a mere fixture, existing solely to exude buckets of hip indie cred.
Despite the drawbacks, Busboys and Poets has potential to become a comfortable destination. to truly succeed it must pander less to the gentrified set and more to the organic quality of its U Street location. Hopefully time will even out its opening-month snags and prove it to be a contender for lazy afternoons demanding coffee and reflection. Until then, stick with pretension that's familiar.
