Apparently there is still a use for cassette tapes: restaurant decor. EatBar, opening on Barracks Row at 4 p.m. today, features a wall with around 7,200 of them arranged to spell the word "EAT."
Chef Nate Anda says the team pulled from the personal collections, "but people were bringing in five or six." Ultimately, the restaurant's designers took to eBay, Craigslist, and garage sales to get the numbers they needed. CDs, however, have not yet been reduced to mere decoration: A CD jukebox from the original EatBar supplies the eatery's music.
The original EatBar, and adjoining restaurant Tallula, closed in Oct. 2014 after 10 years. It was there that Anda first started making charcuterie for Red Apron Butcher.
"We always knew that when EatBar closed originally, we wanted to reincarnate it in some way. This was just a good opportunity for it," Anda says.
While the menu is in the same style as the original EatBar, the dishes are new. The offerings are organized into sections like "snacky things" (nduja-stuffed olives, guanciale-wrapped dates); "bready things" (mortadella patty melt); and "meet + cheesy things" (Red Apron charcuterie). "Beastly things" nod back to the former EatBar with a beef, pig, and sausage of the week, all of which will highlight the restaurant's whole-animal butchery with cuts like beef belly and pork collar.
EatBar also offers "green things..." if you count fries with herbs and grilled lemon aioli as green. (To be fair, the section includes a salad or two as well.)
Many of the snacks are less than $10. The most expensive item on the menu is $20.
Neighborhood Restaurant Group Beverage Director Brent Kroll has assembled a 100-bottle wine list, including orange wine, Lambrusco, sherry, and old world wines. Thirty are available by the glass. Beer man Greg Engert highlights everything from hoppy to barrel-aged beers on the 18 draft lines and 30-bottle list. Cocktails go heavy on amaro, bitters, and vermouth.
EatBar, 415 8th St. SE; (202) 847-4827; eat-bar.com
Photo courtesy EatBar