Big news from the Neighborhood Restaurant Group today. After some scuttlebutt about a beer garden coming to the Dupont area this summer, NRG announced today that they'll be opening "Canteen" in the courtyard at 2100 M Street NW. The 100-seat outdoor beer garden opens this Saturday, June 18. It will be open Wednesday through Friday, 4–10 p.m., and Saturday, 12–10 p.m. (weather permitting).
The venture, a joint project with the Golden Triangle Business Improvement District (BID) and Liberty Property Trust, will feature 10 rotating drafts, a menu from Red Apron Butchery, weekly live music, and lawn games.
A press release notes that the Greg Engert-curated beer list intends "to highlight some of the most exciting brewers and beers in American Craft, showcasing a wide array of styles from the best of the Mid-Atlantic, and further afield. Guests can expect to find beers from US brewers not typically seen in the District, including a number of outstanding offerings from out-of-market brewers such as Crooked Stave (CO), Melvin (WY), Parish (LA), Confluence (IA), and more." The opening draft list is below, and we've asked if any Franconian rubber-clad gravity kegs will make their way to this venue.
For people who stumbled onto this site from some other source and care about such things, "a selection of refreshing summer wines and a boozy slushies will also be available at Canteen." Your standard reminder that wine is for suckers goes here.
Canteen will feature live music from area bands on Saturdays and lawn game tournaments will be held on Fridays (sadly, beer pong tournaments with BFM Abbaye de Saint Bon Chien are probably a no-go).
Food-wise, the beer garden will be jointly supplied by Red Apron, where Chef Nathan Anda has created a menu of original hot dogs that will be exclusively at Canteen, and local food trucks, which will also be serving up a variety of offerings as the season progresses.
The project is intended to be a "new activation" of the block. The Golden Triangle has seen some traffic declines in recent years as other areas of the city have become more popular for nightlife (e.g., Bloomingdale, Shaw, Petworth, Navy Yard, to name a few). Canteen will be a reminder that the Golden Triangle is "a major corridor in to Washington, D.C.’s central business district," according to a press release.
Canteen can be found on Twitter and Instagram at @Canteen2100M.
