U Street gets Vicious

Sometimes you've got to stop contemplating your prospective customers and just build what you love, like the guys who made that half-vacant skyscraper in Dubai, and apparently love their privacy. For a dive bar from dudes doing exactly that: The Codmother.

Run by the guys behind rooftop tapas spot Tabaq Bistro, Codmother's a basement pub more closely resembling where they'd naturally want to hang out, with tunes from the Sex Pistols and The Clash bouncing off walls covered in everything from Sid Vicious paintings to knight's armor with medieval ball 'n chain, or what Sid Vicious calls "Maid Nancy". The name stems from their attempt to use only using female cod (more muscle = better meat) in beer-battered fish 'n chips, and the seafest continues with a fried mussels sandwich, and a platter of fish filet, plus shrimp & mussels, which -- little known fact -- was the original title for Twins. True to form, the taps are PBR, Guinness, and currently rotated-in Yuengling, but they've also got bottles & cans like Strongbow, Sammy Smith, and 21st Amendment's Back In Black, inspired by Paul Revere's midnight ride, and enough of which is the only plausible reason why anyone would think it included warning shots and bell-ringing.

Ensuring you never want to go anywhere but a dark basement again, they've also got desserts like a traditional steamed suet pudding with spotted dick (...dried fruit), as well as a deep-fried Snickers -- also what could be heard at the meetings where developers promised they'd easily rent out that entire tower...and served spotted dick.