Be: Gutsy

The LTR and I took walkabout yesterday, leaving our abode north of U Street to wonder down to the 17th street corridor for lunch al fresco, over to Georgetown for some shopping (though the only thing purchased was at Barnes and Noble, how lame) and then back through Dupont Circle. Wanting to walk a bit more, we ended up on 9th street in Shaw and at the city's newest gay bar, Be Bar.

For the DC uninitiated, Shaw is not a gayborhood (yet -- it is being gentrified and gays are in the vanguard). It is what is known as "marginal."

And the other thing you should know about Be Bar is that a local church fought tooth and nail to prevent it from opening.

But open it did, and it's a cool and inviting space, a true lounge with comfortable couches, odd assortment of chairs and soothing blue lighting with videos on flat plasma TV screens. The bartender was both extremely hot, cute and friendly -- usually in a bartender you can't have all three. We met one of the co-owners, the hunky Mike Watson (whose pic is here with a Blade Q&A piece that seems a one-off from MW's coverboy series(yummy choice, this week)). Watson was also friendly and clearly an entrepreneur.

I found the Be Bar Web site a bit difficult to digest. I would suggest they post their martini menu, which is creative and festive and seems to be a selling point. MattyDale, why haven't you discovered this place yet.

The LTR gathered a posse of about 20 people to Halo last Friday. The next outing has already been promised to Titan or whatever name it goes by now. After that Be Bar.