Fox and Hounds is a long-running Dupont Circle bar that has stayed resolutely unpretentious through decades of neighbourhood gentrification. The drinks are strong and generously priced by Washington standards — a real rarity in a city where a beer can easily cost $8. The outside seating on pleasant evenings attracts a mixed crowd of neighbours, Capitol Hill types, and tourists who have wandered off the monument trail.
The atmosphere is casual bordering on dive bar, which is exactly the point. No DJ, no velvet rope, no cocktail menu written in four languages. Just a good jukebox, cold beer, and the kind of bar that DC's increasingly expensive neighbourhoods don't produce any more.