Dupont Circle’s Residents Cafe & Bar looks straight out of Instagram.
The all-day café and bar features exposed brick opposite a sleek, white marble-topped bar. Dusty pink and dark green velvet seating lines a mint green wall adjacent to the bar. The patio has mint green chairs, colorful pillows on wooden benches, and a collection of ferns. Even the bathroom’s tiled wall is stained with green and white ferns to achieve what managing partner Nayef Issa calls a “Mediterranean vibe.”
Issa wants Residents to mirror something one might find in a beachside town in Spain. The venue is located in what was formerly DGS Delicatessen, which closed last February (the building is now split between a Muncheez and Residents).
The vibe is befitting of Issa and his co-managing partners (Radovan Jankovic, David Nammour, Farid Azouri, and Oliver Knight), who come from various countries located around the Mediterranean, including Serbia and Lebanon. “We have a diverse group from all around the world,” Issa says.
The name Residents has sentimental meaning to them.
“It’s a two-part play,” Issa explains. “We all emigrated to D.C. and we became residents in the city.” And they want to bring Residents beyond Dupont after this initial venue gets underway. “We want a Residents in Shaw or H Street,” he says. “We want regulars.”
The idea is to have a homey vibe, starting with the aesthetic. “There’s no pretentious vibe, but we’re also not a dive bar,” Issa says.
Issa recommends the espresso martini, which seems to represent Residents’ seamless shift from daytime, serving Vigilante Coffee and tea from Teaism, to nighttime cocktails.
Other drinks include an aperitivo spritz, gin and tonic, and a rotation of wine and beer. During happy hour, which is called ‘Residents Hour’ from 3 to 7 p.m. daily, cocktails cost between $7-10 while beer and wine are from $5-7.
The prices are a way to attract regulars to the bar, Issa says, so people don’t feel like they have to break the bank to visit. “We either could make a lot of money in a short amount of time,” Issa says, “or make money as we go.”
Meanwhile, all of the food, from the butter to the pasta, is made in-house under the eye of a chef who previously worked at Masseria. Everything is meant to be quick bites, with the daytime, brunch-like menu consisting of banana bread, yogurt parfait, and salmon tartine. The dinner menu includes chickpea fritters, cod fish croquettes, a cheese platter, charred octopus, and pasta.
But beyond the change in menu from breakfast to lunch to dinner, the other drive from day to night is the music. Issa says they spent a lot of money on a surround sound system. “We wanted to have a good, crisp sound,” he said. “You have to hit all the senses. People leave early if the sound isn’t right.”
And in a few weeks, Issa says they’ll expand into a space downstairs. The basement bar will serve a slightly different menu and have the feel of a speakeasy with low-lighting, a mix of sitting and standing space, and different music.
Issa hopes patrons will come and want to hang out for hours, from happy hour through late night, sitting, drinking, eating, and enjoying the music. “You don’t need to get blasted,” he offers.
He wants patrons to just be happy to be residents.
Residents Cafe & Bar is located at 1306 18th St Northwest. It’s open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday, until 11 p.m. on Wednesday, until 1 a.m. on Thursday, and until 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.
