The holiday party you get isn't always the holiday party you deserve. So as with most opportunities, you'd best take matters into your own hands. We'll start you off with a half-dozen spots to stir up some cheer...
This stone-and-steel mansion in Dupont Circle was built by Christian Heurich, DC's most famous brewer. His family blocked it becoming a private club in 2001, but as for your catered year-end dinner party, you're good to go in its lavish conservatory, where you can almost sense the ghost of Heurich. Or is it just the beer...
Your familiarity with every nook and cranny of the W rooftop has already proved fruitful. But we have another secret for you...an out-of-the-way staircase in back of the first floor steakhouse that leads to a very different scene—dark wood, low lights and clean lines. Perfect for lingering over a Bordeaux with your inner circle.
True, you can't get a beer there, but the back room at Ben's can serve as the grease-fueled staging ground for your chili-soaked evening of holiday revelry. After an assortment of fries, it's onto burgers and dogs, followed by a third course of mini milk shakes.
Deep below this Adams Morgan spot for crepes and escargot lays the scene of your December Dionysian bash. Down in the clubby, DJ-helmed paisley-and-leather hideout is where you want to order up a bottle of champagne (actually, go magnum), or let the bartender toss some bitters and a liqueur or two into your bubbly.
This mellow Connecticut Avenue haunt has more than its fair share of dark corners, but the ones in the intimate, third-floor Tsar Bar are perfect for washing down little pickled veggies with vodka. Completing the picture: a private booze and caviar station for your group, complete with ice blocks and a bartender that knows her beluga from her osetra.
You've undoubtedly seen the 130-foot smokestack lording over the Ritz Georgetown. What you may not know is that at its base sits a round table where you and the rest of The Board can toast your success in private, snacking on lobster BLTs and rack of lamb with a little cabernet to make it all go down easy.
