Originally Published 02/12/98

Bar: xando

Where: 1350 Connecticut Ave. (near Dupont Circle)

Crowd: College students and 20-somethings

Getting in: IDs required at the bar

Prices: $1.25 for regular coffee; $5.50 for “coffee cocktails”

Food: Salads, sandwiches, bruschetta, desserts

Dancing: Nope

Pick-ups: Not really

Pluses: S’mores!!

Minuses: Annoyingly trendy

xando is a bit of an enigma. The trendy Dupont Circle nightspot is part coffeehouse, part bar, part cafe and part summer camp. Summer camp? Yup, xando is the only place the Bar Belle has seen in D.C. that offers that old campfire favorite – s’mores. It’s $6.50 for marshmallows, chocolate bars, graham crackers and a flame – right on your table.

But don’t start humming “Kumbaya” yet; xando’s also got every coffee drink under the sun, and for $1.25 you can add a scoop of ice cream or frozen yogurt to any of them. xando’s bar offers yummy “coffee cocktails” that blend Bailey’s, amaretto, Kahlua, Grand Marnier and other liquers with first-rate coffee and espresso. With names like “Mocha Kiss” and “Oatmeal Cookie Latte,” how can you go wrong? xando is ultra-trendy (can you say “Friends’?), but fun nonetheless. During peak hours (read: weekend nights), xando is jammed, and the Bar Belle saw bar-goers hovering around xando’s small tables waiting for a seat. It’s worth the wait.