Nowadays, with so many businesses closing, never fully recovering from the devastation of the COVID pandemic or running into difficulties trying to navigate our fraught political landscape, it’s very rare to witness a restaurant or bar blowing out thirty candles and celebrating a lifetime of memories.
Fortunately for us, Union Pub opened their doors to the public on May 21, 1995 and has been serving the Capitol Hill community from the same space on Massachusetts Avenue for thirty wonderful years. However, the place hasn’t always been the perfect amalgam of delicious pub food, snarky political celebration and sports-watching mecca. Initially, owner Matt Weiss took over the spot where the original Tortilla Coast (R.I.P.) sat and decided to keep things similar (yes, *that* Tortilla Coast where Paul Ryan fed his own political ambitions and paid the bills). In its original inception, Union Pub kept the Tex-Mex theme going as the Red River Grill, in order to keep continuity and play it safe– something that Weiss now admits he would never do. Reader Mandy Davis-Aitken wrote in to ask about it recently and now we can tell you definitively, Mandy: Red River Grill got the cool-girl makeover back in 2005 and morphed into our well-known and beloved Union Pub.
And slowly, every element has fallen into place: From filling up the calendar with sports –originally just Nebraska games, but then slowly adding more teams to spotlight– to trivia nights, a banter-and-drinks friendly menu (although can you please bring back the veggie sandwich?) and to finding that delicate balance between gently mocking the Washington, D.C. machine while having both feet firmly planted in #ThisTown.
A big part of their high-profile success has to do with how the whole team works together in synergy. Sam Sanchez, who does PR for the restaurant industry, tells me: “I always look at it like this: ‘Would SNL make fun of this?’ If SNL can do it, we can do it.” This lighthearted touch extends not just to the specials and the themed parties, but throughout the whole atmosphere, down to every last person who works at Union Pub. Dara Dike, Director of Operations, agrees. “It’s about having a good time. The people who work here are all about having a good time and providing a good environment.”
Owner Matt Weiss feels like that bonhomie is his greatest accomplishment. Born and raised in the District, he is happy to avoid politics even as the times call for humor. “We are not trying to be anything other than a business… and a place to gather.”
Here is to thirty more years of eating, drinking and reacting to #thistown together. Happiest of birthdays, Union Pub!