Two upstairs rooms, or the whole restaurant on weekends, are frequently reserved for private parties, strategy meetings, and fundraisers. During the week, however, no visitor pass is required. In this unpretentious setting, tourists in sneakers are as comfortable as lawyers in pinstripes. There are no surprises here. Reliable, risk averse, genteel, the Monocle's menu is dominated by seafoods and meats.
Many patrons swear it embarrasses steaks at Washington's more expensive houses.
The Valanos family has owned the Monocle since it opened and it has changed little in that time. It remains half pub, half restaurant. The pub part, thick with cigar smoke, seats drinkers at sticky tables. The bar area is modest and resembles a wet bar at an Ivy-league fraternity. Men in white shirts and loosened ties, their jackets slung over an arm or nearby chair, talk shop.