Across from the historic Colonel Brooks mansion, there's a tall fence with tropical vegetation peeking over. Northeast D.C. Island Jim's Crab Shack and Tiki Bar is the beachy relative of Colonel Brooks' Tavern, a place to nibble on seafood and sip tasty tropical drinks during the humid summer months when Washington feels more like Trench Town. It sits next door to the Brookland locale, but it feels a world away. The covered restaurant area of Island Jim's looks like a large wooden picnic pavilion and contains the bar. But you'll quickly be drawn to the lower half of the place, where a wide, U-shaped boardwalk surrounds a pit of white sand.
Palm trees spout from the sand, and bamboo plants grow around the edges of the deck.
There are tables here, so request one if you can. Softshell crab sandwiches. Caribbean clam chowder. Jamaican jerk chicken sandwiches. All are tasty, but not really exceptional.