Astro Beer Hall, opening downtown Friday, is the antithesis of the Whole 30 diet. If you’re channeling Action Bronson or Guy Fieri, you could start with pimento cheese that comes with doughnut crackers for dipping, then move onto a grilled cheese and bacon doughnut sandwich.
The space-themed, two-level restaurant replacing Mackey’s Public House at 1306 G St. NW is a collaboration between the owners of Astro Doughnuts & Fried Chicken, Elliot Spaisman and former Capitals player Jeff Halpern, and Tin Shop, the restaurant group behind Franklin Hall, Church Hall, Penn Social, Highline RxR, Big Chief, and TallBoy.
“I always thought the idea of beer and doughnuts is fun,” says Tin Shop co-owner Peter Bayne. “A real hot fresh cake doughnut and a delicious IPA—that’s the mistake I want to make at 10 p.m. in D.C.”
Highlights from the breakfast menu include one dish that eats like a dare. If you order the “Rough Night,” you’ll receive a heap of tater tots topped with smoky Gouda cheese sauce, shredded cheddar cheese, smoked bacon crumbles, hot sauce, scallions, sausage gravy, pickled jalapeños, and a pair of fried eggs. You can also build your own fried chicken sandwich or spring for chicken fried steak.
The combined lunch and dinner menu is more expansive, with a slate of appetizers included wings, onion straws with buttermilk ranch dressing, panko-breaded fried pickles, and deviled eggs. Among the entree options are a vegetarian “chicken fried” portobello mushroom sandwich with rosemary honey mustard and build-your-own burgers.
Bring a group to tackle the family meal, consisting of eight pieces of fried chicken, a large portion of tater tots, four cheddar biscuits, and two orders of coleslaw for $44. See the complete menus below.
The space’s three bars boast a variety of drinks on draft including at least seven local brews, nitro coffee, wine, and kegged cocktails. Bayne says he hopes to serve beer from Silver Spring’s Astro Lab Brewing for obvious reasons.
If you need a diversion while someone is frying your meal, look for the arcade with Asteroids, four-player Pac-Man, Dance Dance Revolution, pinball, and other games. That room will also have an 86-inch TV, the biggest television Bayne has ever purchased for one of his bars.
“We expect there to be an office crowd, but there’s a big tourist crowd around there,” he says. “You can only see so many monuments with your kids before dad needs a beer. We though having a game room would be something great for the office community to unwind, but also to have something for the tourist community to come in during the day.”
When Astro Beer Hall opens, it will start by serving counter-service lunch and dinner. The initial hours will be Sundays through Thursdays from 11:30 a.m. to 1 a.m. and Fridays and Saturdays from 11:30 a.m. to 2 a.m. In a couple weeks the coffee shop component of the 11,000-square-foot space will launch with weekday hours starting at 8 a.m. and weekend hours kicking off at 9 a.m.
More and more restaurants and bars are looking to adopt all-day models. “We pay all this freakin’ rent and then we’re only open from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m.,” Bayne says, referring to some of his other concepts. “Why only be open one-third of the day? How do we maximize our rent investment? We need to do a coffee shop to bar conversion and pull it off well so customers don’t get confused.”
There will be an array of specials during opening weekend. On Friday from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m., the first 100 people to order fried chicken will get a free doughnut and $5 credit in the game room. The games will be free on Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 2 a.m. And, on Sunday, any group of four or more who order a round of whiskey or tequila shots will get a free hot cake doughnut with each shot starting at 4 p.m.
Astro Beer Hall, 1306 G St. NW
ASTRO BEER HALL BREAKFAST
Cinnamon French Toast Doughnuts
Served with Honey Butter and Real Maple Syrup
$8.50
Homemade Biscuit and Gravy
Cheddar Biscuit topped with Spicy Sausage Gravy, Scallions, Hot Sauce
$6.50
Breakfast Chicken Sandwich
Fried Chicken Breast,
Hot Sauce, Honey Butter
Served on choice of Savory Doughnut Bun, Cheddar Biscuit or Potato Roll
$6.75
Bacon Egg and Cheese Sandwich
Cheddar Biscuit, Smoked Bacon, Aged White Cheddar, Fried Egg,
Served on choice of Savory Doughnut Bun, Cheddar Biscuit or Potato Roll
$6.75
Rough Night
Breakfast Loaded Tots with Fried Eggs
Tater Tots topped with Smoky Gouda Sauce and Shredded Cheddar Cheese,
Smoked Bacon Crumble, Hot Sauce, Scallions, Sausage Gravy, Pickled Jalapeños
Two Sunny Side Up Fried Eggs
$9.25
Steak and Eggs
Chicken Fried Steak, Two Sunny Side Up Fried Eggs, Cheddar Biscuit
Hot Sauce
$.9.75
“Fried To Order” Cake Doughnuts
Hot and Fresh Cake Doughnuts with Choice of House Made Glaze
(Maple Bacon, Tahitian Vanilla, Nutella, Cinnamon Sugar)
Build your own Fried Chicken Sandwich
Chicken breast
$6.50
Choice of Buns:
Cheddar biscuit
Potato Roll
Savory Doughnut Bun
Add-ons
Bacon $1.25
White Cheddar $.75
Fried Egg $2.00
Pickled Jalapeños $.50
Pickles $.50
Honey Butter $.25
Sides
Tater Tots $3.05
Bacon $4.00
Sausage Gravy $3
Cheddar Biscuit $3.05
Honey Butter $.50
Strawberry Jam $.50
Maple Syrup $.90