WANNA KNOW WHERE TO INVEST? ASK JOE

Impresario Joe Englert has been in the bar and restaurant business in DC for more than a decade. The Insect Club in Gallery place predated the Verizon Center, Inde Blue and all that is the new downtown. State of the Union and Andalusian Dog predated the U Street revival. His thematic bars arrive just before the neighborhood begins to take off. Not too early, not too late.

So where is Joe focusing his attention now? Frozen Tropics points out two areas where he is working his mojo: Petworth and H Street NE.

In Petworth, Englert opened Temperance Hall with sparkling French crystal chandeliers, a pressed-tin ceiling, gilt-edged mirrors and a collection of rye whiskeys, which by the way is the correct booze for a Manhattan. (By definition, a Manhattan does not include any ingredients from the state of Kentucky or Tennessee.) For the complete details see this WaPo story.

And on H Street NE, Englert will open Showbar (seen on the left), a circus themed establishment that will offer patrons popcorn and cotton candy while they witness sword swallowing and other oddities, says Frozen Tropics. We are hoping that the swallowing is not hyperbole.

Also on the list are: The Rock and Roll Hotel (a bar not a hotel, go figure), The Bee Hive (a Mexican restuarant) and the bars The Olympic and The Red and the Black, all chronicled here.

Don't go West smart investors, go where Joe goes!