When construction was first underway for the Riggs Washington DC hotel, a passerby stopped Jacu Strauss, its creative director, in the street. The stately structure at the intersection of F and 9th Streets still bore the name Riggs National Bank, where 23 U.S. presidents had housed their money throughout the past century.

“Are they reopening the bank?” the pedestrian asked.

Far from it, Strauss told them. Two years later, he is eager to show off what the 121,000 square-foot building (and former Marriott hotel), constructed in 1891, has become: a swanky, modern hotel with ties to an era of D.C.’s past, an all-day restaurant run by Momofuku CCDC alum Patrick Curran, and an underground cocktail den from bartender extraordinaire Ryan Chetiyawardana (who conceptualized the World’s Best Bar in 2018).

It’s the first stateside project for hotel developer Lore Group. Strauss and Chetiyawardana have worked together on hotels in Amsterdam and their home base, London. Strauss oversees the look and feel of every detail, from original upholstered furniture to hundreds of hotel rooms. Chetiyawardana (also known as Mr. Lyan) has opened—and closed or reconverted, in some cases—his Lyan-branded bars in and out of the hotels, each to wide acclaim. His cocktails make noise for their sustainability and forward-thinking approach; his first bar, the now-shuttered White Lyan, used no perishable ingredients. So what made D.C. right for his next bar?

“There’s something about capital cities,” Chetiyawardana says. “They feel really like they’re for everyone. The museums and the monuments are incredible. But I suppose it was the other side, the unexpected bits. As we met some of the chefs and bartenders who were leading the [city’s] charge, I was excited to do something that could act as a complement to what else is going on.”

Café Riggs, Curran’s loose take on a French brasserie, is off the lobby on the ground floor as part lounge, part hotel bar and around-the-clock dining. Curran transplanted from New York several years ago to bring the Momofuku concept to Washingtonians; what lured him to this move was the playfulness inside the grandeur, an oscillation between traditional and experimental. The restaurant preserves the bank’s Corinthian columns and endless barrel-vaulted ceilings while adding baby blue and ochre seating Strauss designed, a 13-foot sculpture of oversized paper flowers by Mio Gallery, and framed embroidered napkins with the original Riggs emblem Strauss found at Miss Pixie’s.

The menu is meant to shape-shift for a variety of dining needs, moving from classic dishes to vegan plates to more showy takes (caviar grilled cheese, anyone?) and seating for work and dining.

“It’s daunting, to be honest,” Curran says. “When you first walk in, it’s one of those, ‘Oh wow. It’s time to really amp it up.’ Everyone comes to the heart of D.C. at some point, so we want to make sure that we’re the spot people want to come to whether they live in Virginia or Maryland or two blocks down. If you want to come in and eat just a salad for dinner, we’d love to have you. And if someone wants to eat a seafood platter and a ribeye for lunch, go for it—they’re having a great day.”

To start, a breakfast menu has acai bowls, omelets, and topped toasts, thick cut bacon, baked goods from pastry chef TJ Obias, and Small Planes Roastery coffee. Curran swears by the cardamom buns, which he claims pale in comparison to cinnamon rolls.

For lunch and dinner ($12-$99), the chef is excited about the simple dishes they’ve executed without a lot of fuss. There’s pasta and steak frites, grilled asparagus with hollandaise and poached eggs, and an herb-marinated chicken served with Dijon mustard and potatoes. Seafood factors in prominently. The grilled octopus is slow-roasted and finished on the grill for a smoky flavor, cut by a red pepper romesco spread made from ground almonds, olive oil, and sherry vinegar.

Curran agonized over the 13 plant-based dishes, all vegan compliant and broken up by vegetable, because he wanted to make sure they weren’t just “good with an asterisk for a vegan dish,” he says. The market vegetables plate, with a side of white bean and black garlic dip, sources from Le Bocage, a farm in Virginia. A roasted broccoli and cured red cabbage salad gets its crunch and flavor from toasted quinoa and a sesame lemon garlic vinaigrette.

Going all out is also possible. The Riggs seafood platter ($99) has oysters, caviar, lobster, and scallop ceviche, while the Gruyère grilled cheese comes smeared with an ounce of caviar ($98). A sizable wine list (up to $185 a bottle), espresso martinis, and apple sours are available at the bar or through table and lounge service.

The cocktails come from Silver Lyan, the hotel’s second mainstay downstairs. To get to the “subterranean” bar, you go through reception, where bank telling windows have been repurposed for room key exchanges, past the bank’s original vault, and through dark curtains into a den oozing glitzy speakeasy vibes. Strauss splashed red upholstery over low seating, tucked booths into corners, unearthed the building’s original tile floor in the back room, and put sports trophies behind glass for some tongue-in-cheek sparkle.

Silver Lyan is bar innovator Chetiyawardana’s first U.S. venture, though he did come through D.C. to test out pop-up concepts at places likes The Gibson as the Riggs began to take shape. He has flown back and forth for the last two years and wanted to marry his techniques and experiences with what he learned about the history and people and ingredients of a new city. He calls Silver Lyan a study in cultural exchange, located in a center of intersecting ideas and backgrounds.

This exchange is the first section in a booklet of drinks ($14 to $375) that also alludes to American craft (U.S. inventions that have influenced the world), flights of fancy (Lyan favorites with a U.S. twist), and “kinda” classics (U.S. originals with a Lyan twist). In similar fashion to Chetiyawardana’s other bars, every cocktail has a detailed story or personal connection and research around the experimental ingredients (though the bar does have a beer and wine list and will make a straight Jack and coke if anyone asks).

“It’s a great way of being able to tell some of the stories of this city,” Chetiyawardana says. “As an outsider, there’s an opportunity to be inspired by the ideas of blurred lines and interchange. But ultimately, we just wanted a space that feels fun where you can catch up and drink.”

Many are historical. The Japanese Saddle, a bright, savory aperitif, nods to Japan’s gifts to D.C.—cherry blossom trees and an engraved leather saddle now in the National Archives—using Sakura sour, gin, cognac, cherry, and leather bitters and is served with a caper garnish. The Project Apollo has its gin sour roots in space missions, with Moonrock gin, pineapple (which was one of the first foods in space), and raspberry dust. Others reimagine classics. Chetiyawardana’s take on the Manhattan, which uses East Coast blackcurrant berries, ends with garnish: a cherry and orange jelly bubble with a liquid center, comparable in texture to an Ice Breaker liquid mint.

Grandiose options come in the form of fancy pineapple and passionfruit jello shots served with Gosset Grande Reserve Brut champagne ($80 for four) or the Presidential Gift, a $375 cocktail that references Andrew Carnegie’s gifts to sitting presidents and uses single-cask Highland Aberfeldy scotch, local honey from the Congressional Cemetery, and applejack bitters. To go with drinks, Curran sends down oysters, seaweed-infused snacking peanuts, and summer rolls stuffed with Thai pork sausage or ice cream and caviar (the hotel clearly has some fish egg fans).

Chetiyawardana started in kitchens before he found his true calling at the bar. He finds beer and wine and food comforting, a sort of nostalgia in desserts like ice cream. But with cocktails, more than anything else, he said, you can control every element and turn a night around.

“You can make it more intimate,” Chetiyawardana says. “It feels very shareable, a nice way of helping people and bringing people together. That’s addictive.”

Café Riggs and Silver Lyan are located at 900 F St NW. Café Riggs is open for breakfast Monday-Friday 6:30 a.m.-11 a.m., Saturday-Sunday 7 a.m.-9:45 a.m. Open for lunch Monday-Friday 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Open for dinner Sunday-Wednesday 5:30 p.m.-11 p.m., Thursday-Saturday 5:30 p.m.-12 a.m. Open for brunch Saturday-Sunday 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Silver Lyan is open Sunday-Thursday 5 p.m.-2 a.m. and Friday-Saturday 5 p.m.-3 a.m.