This post by DCist contributor Rawn James, Jr.

This week’s Five O’Clock Meeting takes us to a happy hour that runs Mondays through Fridays from 5-7pm, but on Tuesdays, lasts until 11pm. The spotlight this week shines on Viridian, located north on 14th Street, NW just north of the Studio Theatre in Logan Circle.

Viridian’s space is a unique combination of polished concrete and unobtrusive modernity. On this early evening, large paintings catch angled sunlight from even larger windows. Behind the bar flickers a rather depressing short film entitled “Resolve,” by Kathryn Cornelius; the five minute loop consists of a barefoot woman in a black dress pushing a vacuum cleaner back and forth across the beach. She is having considerable difficulty getting across the dry sand. Thankfully, we’re not here for the filmmaking.

Executive chef Michael Hartzer has been running the kitchen at Viridian for less than two months, but his experience—as chef de cuisine at Michel Richard Citronelle and as executive chef at Silver Spring’s Ray’s the Classics—explains why Viridian offers the one of the most delectably diverse happy hour menus in the nation’s capital. There are just a few items on the menu, but the selections change with the seasons. Each of the food offerings costs $5.00, as do the rail cocktails, bottled beers and glasses of wine. The rail drinks are low-grade call liquors like Jack Daniels, a welcome step up from the Bowman’s rot-gut that is too-often offered at D.C.’s happy hours. This more than makes up for Viridian’s lack of specific cocktail specials, which the restaurant has discontinued. Use this opportunity to explore some cocktail classics like the Sidecar, Tom Collins, or Sazerac.