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Picture it: Tuesday night, working late, you get a call -- friends going out for wings. Do you take a pass citing work and an early day tomorrow, or do you shut off your monitor, get on your bike, and make it happen? I briefly considered the question and a half hour later walked into Looking Glass Lounge. I'd soon be glad I did.

Apparently Black Squirrels are uncommon in many areas outside of DC. I rarely see them, but that didn't stop me from joining a group of folks for a friend's graduation dinner at The Black Squirrel in Adams Morgan. I wouldn't miss an opportunity to support her, where by "support her" I mean "try the wings".

A friend and I were walking around Ballston after seeing the Comedy Spot's Blue Show, when Carpool's bustling atmosphere and outdoor seating called to me. It's big place that reminded us both of a higher end Dr. Dremos but we went inside only to order wings, opting instead for one of their two patios to take in the Spring weather. It took me a second, but I got it. "Car" because the decor is automobile themed, and "pool" because there's pool tables. Clever.

Public houses ('pubs' for short -- who knew?) have long been an integral part of the social fabric in Ireland and England. Less so in downtown DC, but I'm not one to let history or geography get in the way of another opportunity to try the wings. Our server Tim came by wearing a fun-o-meter pin that looked something like this, and I asked for for wings extra crispy and why the fun-o-meter was only registering about 70%. "This is about as fun as it gets."

I don't spend a lot of time downtown, but I'm still surprised that I hadn't heard about Recessions. It's in the ground floor of a hotel and is pretty much a dive bar, but they have big, cheap beers at happy hour with respectable food and a good location. In fact, I'd really like the place if it wasn't for one thing: they seem to have a serious temperature problem.