mockingbird hill, southern efficiency, eat the rich

Oh, man.  First time out in DC without Lyon this weekend.  How nuts is that?!  We didn't intend to wait this long, we just like being with him more than being without him.  But (I see after Friday night) there maybe is something to the whole "date night" thing.

Jon and I decided to try the Derek Brown "crawl" at his trio of bars on 7th St in Shaw:  Mockingbird Hill, Southern Efficiency, and Eat the Rich, a ham and sherry bar, whiskey bar, and an oyster bar, respectively.

Mockingbird Hill, our first stop, could have been our only stop and we would have ended the night happily.  (The others were really great, too, but THIS.)  A sherry flight along with a super-interesting sherry lesson and a ham tasting plate with the most delicious prosciuttos and chorizo I have ever put in my mouth...  Throughout the night we kept toying with the idea of going back here at the end for just a little bit more.

Next was Southern Efficiency, a whiskey bar that has cocktails pre-mixed in little jars and pimento cheese with crackers.  There was actually some amazing-looking food on the menu like peanut soup, but after the great tastes we'd had at our first stop, I think we were both scared to order something that would underwhelm us here, so we kept it simple and just snacked.

(At this point in the evening [several sherries and one whiskey cocktail in] I began to wax eloquent to Jon on how great it was that Mr. Brown didn't have to reduce his interests to just one kind of thing, but instead could have three completely different themed bars and line them up neatly in a row down 7th, and wouldn't it be great if we could do that with everything we like in life instead of just having to choose one thing to be mainly.)

Last up was Eat the Rich, of which I really have no photos, because by that point we were just having too much fun to even think of it.  (A sign of a good night, yes?)  Here we ordered oyster shooters and a $2 Miller High Life and grilled bread and a dish called "Redneck Laundry", which was caviar served on kettle chips.  Also, the lights hanging from the ceiling were made of oyster cages, and that's about all the impression that Eat the Rich left.  At this point I was mainly laughing with my husband and just being so darn thankful that I have him to bar-hop around with on a Friday night.