Long Live the DC Mojito

By Fritz Hahn

The classic mojito should only contain five ingredients.

Probably the best-known cocktail from Cuba, the sweet, minty mojito is a perfect summer drink. Too bad so few places make one properly. The traditional mojito recipe includes the following: white rum (preferably Havana Club), a half-teaspoon sugar, the juice of half a lime and -- most importantly -- crushed mint leaves and stems. Top up with sparkling water. In America, however, Cuban rum is illegal and it can be hard to find the right kind of mint leaves, whose oils are so essential to the mojito’s taste. Therefore, less-knowledgable bars use spearmint leaves instead, which alters the taste. (The difference is about as subtle as switching spearmint and peppermint gum.) Some bars add 7 Up. Some only shake the leaves in or add them as a garnish instead of firmly grinding them. These might just be variations, but they lead to substandard drinks. Don’t get us wrong -- there are good mojitos to be had around town, so we compiled this list of our staff’s favorites. We all agreed on some, like Habana Village and Cafe Atlantico; but there was disagreement about others, including the drinks at Gabriel and Rumba Cafe. In the spirit of fairness, we’re putting all the names out here, and it’s up to you to decide.


DC Mojito Makers


Habana Village
One of the best drinks you’ll find in the city, this is a strong, well-executed mojito, served up with a huge stalk of sugar cane (for stirring, then chewing on). The authentic Cuban atmosphere gets high marks as well.
1834 Columbia Rd. NW, Washington, DC,
202-462-6310,
Hours: Wed-Sat 6:30 pm-3 am





Cafe Citron
Again, a classic mojito, with the mint, sugar and lime chunks "muddled" in the glass with a wooden pestle before the rum is added. Delicious.
1343 Connecticut Ave., Washington, DC,
202-530-8844,
Hours: Daily 10 am-midnight





Cafe Atlantico
Along with the standard mojito, Cafe Atlantico makes a “nuevo mojito,” which uses similar ingredients, including a large stalk of sugar cane, but looks (and somewhat tastes) like a frozen margarita. There's a hint of sour mix in there.
405 Eighth St. NW, Washington, DC,
202-393-0812,
Hours: Daily 11:30 am-2:30 pm Fri-Sat 5-11 pm Sun-Thu 5-10 pm





Ortanique
The mojitos here are tangy but sweet, perhaps because of the secret syrup ingredient. Our bartender hinted that it contains ortaniques -- a Caribbean fruit that's a mixture of an orange and a tangerine.
730 11th St. NW, Washington, DC,
202-393-0975,
Hours: Mon-Fri noon-2:30 pm Mon-Wed 5:30-10 pm Thu-Sat 5:30-11 pm





Gabriel Restaurant
The bar area is small, and the mojitos are good, if unspectacular. The lime juice, however, can come off too strong.
2121 P St. NW (in Radisson Barcelo Hotel), Washington, DC,
202-956-6690,
Hours: Mon-Fri 6 am-10:30 am Mon-Sat 11 am-2 pm Tue-Thu 5:30 am-8:30 pm Fri-Sat 6 am-10:30 pm





Rumba Cafe
When the bar is slow, we enjoy sipping Rumba’s minty mojitos and listening to Latin jazz. On weekends, however, we’ve watched bartenders “pre-mix” mojitos with mint leaves and Limeade – as in Minute Maid -- and set them aside for later. Ouch. They also don’t take as much time crushing the mint. But the mojitos are still better than many.
2443 18th St. NW, Washington, DC,
202-588-5501,
Hours: Daily 5:30 pm-2 am