There is an Ace Hardware store near me on 17th (and several others around town). The shop seems small, but it is cavernous and almost always has what I’m looking for – from bird seed to shelving. It seems crowded, but part of that is because they always have a lot of friendly and helpful employees around. What a great business model. They don’t treat me like I’m an idiot when I’m clueless (unless I’m asking for something stupid, see below) and they’ll walk me through a project like putting up shelves.

For Halloween, I was Maude Lebowski and I needed paint brushes for my costume:
Me: “Do you happen to have any old paint brushes with paint on them?”
Ace: “Uh… Why would have have that?”
Me: (looks over at my giggling boyfriend) “I just thought…”
Ace: “Let’s figure this out – what do you need it for?”

He helped me find just the right ones and then spray painted the tips green for me. Perfect costume, complete.

If you’re inside the bar, looking out into the circle, the small lights in the bar look as if they’re hanging from the trees in Dupont Circle – beautiful.

However, the service is mostly absent (albeit nice enough) in this often empty bar and the food is terrible. The margherita pizza we ordered had a crust that seemed like something out of a lunchables. (Washington Post average reader rating: 1 star)

Stick to the wine and enjoy the decor.