After work one recent evening, Ian and Kathy Hill met for dinner—at the bar.
Over cocktails at Firefly, a neighborhood restaurant in Washington, D.C., the Hills shared chicken sausage with caramelized onions, deviled eggs and pork rillettes with grilled baguette bread. They never moved to the dining room.
“We have gotten into the habit of eating at the bar,” says Mr. Hill, a 55-year-old health-policy researcher at a nearby think tank. “It’s just more fun.”
The best table in the house may now be the bar. Restaurant bars are becoming dining destinations in their own right as eateries expand and upgrade bar areas, create craft cocktails and serve inventive, contemporary food to go with them. Bar dining took off in the economic downturn, when diners sought ways to eat out for less. Now, it is fueled by the popularity of small portions that can be shared and make for a more casual, communal meal than a traditional restaurant dinner.