::digitaldefection::

RFD is the sister-bar to the brickskeller.  located in “Chinatown” (hah!), it boasts over 30 taps, nearly all of which are craft beers.  they also carry over 300 bottled and canned beers, which is about a third of what the brickskeller carries, but eh, still a ton of beer.

i will mostly compare this bar to the brickskellar, being that they are in fact sister-bars.

the service at RFD by-far trumps that at the brickskeller.  the bartender was very attentive, knowledgable, and proactive.  when he saw us having issues splitting our tab, he immediately brought over a split-up one without our asking.  beers were served in the proper glasses.  the bar area was kept very clean as well.

the food was excellent.  seems like they have a different chef than at the brickskeller.  the brickskeller serves mostly foods that drunken college students would experiment with (putting bacon and salami on a burger, cooking this and that with beer, etc).   RFD, however, seems to have gone a slightly more upscale route.  most of their foods contain some amount of beer and range from brats and burgers to steaks and seafood.  i went for the ’south beach burger’ because well, it just sounded really good.  it was a burger, cooked to order, sitting atop a portabella mushroom, sitting atop lettuce and tomato.  it was also served with a field greens salad and a couple of apple slices  it was really excellent.  the mushroom provided all the flavor i needed, and added nothing but cheese to my entree.  very flavorful.  i forgot what darryl got but it was some sort of beautiful looking stew, with a bunch of veggies in it.

ambience is a lot lower at this bar. it has that whole ‘dc chinatown’ feel to it, with high-ceilings, a large room, and very nice decor.  this is as opposed to the brickskeller, which is like sitting in a dirty, basement with shoddy carpet and dingy pictures and beer-related paraphenalia on the walls.  music was not good.

overall, it was a pretty great place.  it definitely won’t be a regular hang-out of mine but i will go back whenever i want a great beer.