The team behind neighborhood bar The Good Silver (3410 11th St. NW) are not afraid to change things up in their food businesses, having gone from a food truck, to barbecue, to now tinkering with liquor tinctures called shrubs.
Back in 2011, owners Josh Saltzman, Chris Powers, and Adam Fry went whole hog for Porc, a food truck purveyor of “swine dining.” After success on the road with sausage and the like, they went brick-and-mortar, opening Kangaroo Boxing Club on 11th Street NW a couple years later. They closed KBC earlier this year, with eyes on a fresh concept in the same address. Having already opened another laid-back hangout in Shaw, Ivy & Coney (1537 7th St. NW), they knew what they were looking for.
“It was time for something new,” says Saltzman. “We wanted to focus on cocktails, but also to have someplace that left pretensions at the door. We want comfort.”
Cocktails are indeed the emphasis at The Good Silver. Master bartender at KBC, Carrie Dzwil, is now a partner in the new venture.
“This is my first time owning a bar. I’m able to be involved in the management aspect, but also still have fun making drinks,” Dzwil says. “I’m a spirits girl. I love PBR, but also coming up with ideas inspired by the seasons. We go to the farmers’ market every week, and pick up something fresh and interesting. I use these in my cocktails.”
The bar’s focus on shrubs makes a whole lot of sense, given Dzwil’s affection for fresh produce. Shrubs were originally used as a way to preserve fruit, combining the harvest with vinegar and sugar, and letting the mixture macerate. The result is a slightly tangy, slightly sweet beverage that lends itself perfectly to being tossed with cocktails. Shrubs bring in brighter, fresher flavor than syrups or juices. They are mixed into inventive drinks that change per ingredient availability.
Driving the point home, all shrubs and other fruit-based products are created in-house. On a recent visit, a shelf hanging precariously above the bar was filled with dozens of recently bottled strawberry jam (“My arms are pretty tired,” Saltzman says.)
The jams will grace cheese plates for months to come, well after berries go out of season.
As for the layout, cocktail inspiration is clearly paramount. The handsome wood bar takes up at least half the room, and bartenders serve on three sides so patrons can ogle each other while sipping the slightly smoky Mezcaltron ($12), with peach-ginger shrub, Fidencio mezcal, yellow chartreuse, and Angostura bitters or the low-alcohol Shrubmosa, a glass of Prosecco brightened by the current shrub special ($11). There’s also the option of a pitcher of shrub-fortified punch, served in fine glass teacups on a brilliant silver platter ($36).
Saltzman notes that they were having difficulty coming up with a name for a bar. They wanted it to be a laid-back spot, “without this popular industrial vibe. We want it to be a place that reflected moments when grandma would use the good China—only for special guests,” he says.
Given confusion that might emanate from using China in the name, they landed on silver. As it stands, pewter serving sets sit gracefully in china cabinets, purchased ad hoc at estate sales.
Though the nosh options are limited in scope, they are still an important element, meant to complement the drinks. It’s heavy on elevated bar food, like the 24-hour buttermilk-brined fried chicken sandwich using locally sourced poultry ($6), with a significant emphasis on cured and brined dishes, like heritage-breed pork charcuterie ($10) and masala-spiced pickled beets ($6).
“In the end, it’s homey and relaxed,” says Saltzman. “We want everyone to feel like grandma’s special guest.”
The Good Silver is located at 3410 11th St. NW. Open Tuesday through Thursday 5 p.m. to 2 a.m., Friday and Saturday 5 p.m. to 3 a.m., and Sunday from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m.
