The Place To Be, Smoking, And Related Lifestyle Observations

So just the other day I’m at the gym, zooming away on an elliptical rider/cross trainer while listening to minimal techno on my iPod when I think damn: I am one hip, with-it, 21st century boy. The pervasive Starbucks is far too pedestrian a hangout for a specimen of urban trend like myself. Where oh where is a spot where I can absorb trans-cultural chic while talking about my too-hip-to-have-released-anything record label with my body-modifying ironically hipsterish friends? Does such place exist? And does it have hookahs?

Self-effacing sarcasm mode off, and my prayers answered nonetheless: if you’ve ever expressed a sentiment like the above, the place to be in DC is Ben N Mo. Occupying a healthy square footage of converted first-floor office space in the historically, uh, “alternative” Dupont Circle area of the District, this cybercafe-cum-opium-den is, unquestionably, the joint. They’ve managed to pack as many different types of ‘bars’ possible into one place without actually serving alcohol: sushi, juice, coffee, even hookah; they only thing missing is karaoke. The interior is no less schizophrenic, subdivided into cafe tables, couches, a stage, a central bar, a Japanese-style sushi bar, a number of open PCs, and as aforementioned a sort of ‘opium den,’ friendly to sitting on the Persian-rugged floor with a number of friends. All of this is executed chicly, but not too chicly, with a floorboard or speaker cable showing here and there. The service is almost comically abysmal, and it’s hardly taken long at all for the staff to drop all pretense of “waiting on customers.” Given that the place warrants a good two-hour stay, at least, makes the poor service largely excusable, as periodically sending someone up to the bar for refills and new coals for the hookah is hardly a chore.

And what of the mysterious hookahs, the dangerously hot new smoking craze that’s infecting our youth, every puff a step towards cancer and Islamic fundamentalism? Personally, I adore it. I love the act and sensation of smoking, but most standard cigarettes taste like someone shitting car exhaust into your lungs, which I hear isn’t too far off, medically speaking. I enjoy the occasional cigar, but even then all but the smoothest Cubanos leave me disappointed. In cold weather, a bummed clove cigarette has a certain spicy appeal, but smoking out of doors in freezing DC winters is hardly a social activity. Enter the hookah, whose social appeal is matched only by the pleasant fruit-flavored tobacco and water-cooled smoothness of the smoke. Ben N Mo’s selection of tobaccos is a touch lacking compared to a few Arab-American ethnic hangouts a ways out in Virginia, but varied enough to keep things interesting after several vists. I find the traditional apple and strawberry flavors a bit too bold, but adore apricot. I tried melon just last night and found it subtle and subdued, a nice compliment to a spicier meal or beverage.

There is, as my friend Craig pointed out, something very inspiring about a hookah. Perhaps it’s the thick coils of smoke you exhale that arc and twist in the air above you, hanging impossibly long, keeping thoughts and ideas just gone by readily in mind. For my money the hookah makes a wonderful focal point for good conversation, and a great way to bring a (culturally or culinary) diverse group of people together. Oh, sure, it’s terrible for you, but you only live once (a sentiment I’ll surely regret down the road, but am presently far to full of the hubris of youth to take too seriously). At any rate, try a hookah at some point and see if it isn’t something you’ll come back to, if only occasionally.

Ben N Mo has its inconveniences, but finds its market in people like myself searching for a place to hang that brings a variety of elements together in an urban space that’s at once trendy and unpretentious. I hope they survive, as a genuinely different place for WiFi and a chai is hard to come by, and they offer so much more."