Washingtonian Parties ... at The Palm

SENIOR WRITER SHANE HARRIS WITH SENIOR EDITOR DENISE WILLS

Our office closed early today and a group of us did what any group of writers would do -- we went out for a drink, to The Palm, just a short walk up 19th Street. Not the whole office, of course - most already had  departed for the holiday weekend - but some of us.

YES, THAT'S WOLF BLITZER ON THE WALL, NOSING IN ON THE PARTY

Not sure if you remember Life magazine, but I always loved an occasional feature they ran -- "Life Goes to A Party." These photo stories were so deliciously insidery, because the parties were small, private and not cause benefits or political fundraisers. Will someone please bring that back? Hello, Town & Country? Perfect for your pages. Until then, it was an inpsiration for this afternoon's repast and these photos of my colleagues having a party in a booth at The Palm. Only thing missing were more colleagues. 

ANDREW GLOVER, A CIVILIAN, AND MARY CLARE GLOVER, FEATURES EDITOR

I like the Palm and go when I have the dollars. Like Cafe Milano in Georgetown, and the Monocle on Capitol Hill, it's managed to maintain its years-long power hold in Washington without bending to foodie or fashion trends. One could debate whether that's a good thing, but it's the way it is. I like the booths in the back and the bar up front, the shoe string potatoes, the spicy shrimp, the occasional surf and turf (I mean, where can you get that item anymore?), $9 martinis at lunch (well, lunch on a Friday before a holiday) and sometimes even the volume of the testosterone. 

SENIOR WRITER LUKE MULLINS CONSIDERS WHATEVER IN THE HELL IT WAS THAT GOT ARTS EDITOR SOPHIE GILBERT TO MAKE THAT FACE. OH, WAIT. I REMEMBER. CAN'T REPEAT. PINKY SWEAR!

SOPHIE: "OH DEAR, DID I JUST SAY THAT??"

DENISE WILLS AND HER HUSBAND, ERIC, ANOTHER CIVILIAN

We had fun and launched the holiday weekend with warm camaraderie, and several rounds of drinks and some "bites." I had to leave before my friends but heard later that the service went from good to bad and then to rude.  It doesn't make the gathering not fun for us, but note to The Palm: gracious is as gracious does.