RETRO URBAN CHIC

Not always does a great venue need signage to catch your attention on the street. Sometimes hints of great design and refined taste will pop out from the chaos of the gritty urban streetscape and become its own form of signage. A new Belgian inspired brasserie, Marvin, does just this act of incognito for the cognoscenti. Just north of U Street, on 14th, it situates itself in a restored simplified Victorian building. Attention getting refined taste is in the clean lines, classic light fixtures, and a storefront that beckons to the window shopper to peer into what appears to be a chic underground salon, marked only by a nondescript logo on the front door. Inside, a relaxed atmosphere charged with a serious chicness is inhabited by a diverse and refined crowd of urban dwellers. Classics given new life create the interior vibe. Simple but elegantly rich marbles, tiles, punched tin and dark woods with plenty of mirrors (to see and be seen) dominate. Move upstairs to the lounge, and marble topped cafe tables tightly fit with banquettes in modernized damask prints allow for a cozy and social experience. Outside on the roof deck bar/lounge vintage light fixtures and Victorian mantelpieces give the bar the same modern interpretation of vintage pieces that is the recurring theme throughout. The entire experience of excellent food, great scenery, a funky urban mood and chic design place Marvin on the *IT* list for anyone in-the-know.