You'd think a restaurant located in the MCI Center -- home to a continual slew of sports contests, concerts and special events -- would be as close to a sure thing as you can get. But the ground level space along the F Street side of the building seems to be a doomed spot. Nick and Stef's failed there, mostly due to its "Hey, we are so much cooler than you freaky hockey and basketball fans" vibe. Prior to that the F Street Sports Bar met a similar fate. The fact that neither offered a particularly appealing bar -- a big part of going out for the game night crowd—probably goes a long way in explaining things. So maybe a place that calls itself simply drinx. (as in "drinks. period") has a shot at success.

Located around the corner from the 7th Street strip and such hotspots as Fadó and Rosa Mexicano, drinx. is no dive, but it's definitely less upscale than Nick and Stef's. The result is that it attracts a wonderfully DC-style crowd. Co-workers abound here, with twenty-something ladies in the latest cute fad passing drinks to their 50-something boss/coworker in stereotypically conservative suit and American flag pin. I ran into people who work at AARP (whose giant national office provides shade for drinx. from across the street), for Senator Herb Kohl, and at Atlantic Video (where Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser tape Pardon the Interruption). The scene isn't so much meat market as power market, as people always seem to be well aware of who might be around them, or who they don't want seeing what they're doing.

Entering the building, the restaurant portion is off to the left. At 6:30 on a Friday night it was maybe twenty percent full—not a good sign as the restaurant takes up more space than the bar. The owners insist that even though it's called drinx. they serve great food and, more importantly, a great burger. On one of those points they were right; I had a one-night-stand with my burger.

It was love at first bite and for those twenty minutes of glorious eating I was in bloody heaven. Weighing approximately thirty pounds, give or take a few, the burger requires a third hand to eat properly. (Or you can use a fork and knife if you're on a date so you don't look like an animal, as I embarrassingly did.) It's fat, juicy, thick—all the things that make the carnivores among us drool. The special ingredient isn't thousand island, like at the fast food joints, but a tomato chutney that Chef Brian McPherson glazes on the bottom of the creation. At $12.50 a pop, the Cheddar Cheeseburger isn't going to win a spot on anyone's cheap eats list, but it may well find itself on a few "Best Of"s.

There's good reason drinx. puts such attention into a burger: Abe Pollin, owner of the Wizards and MCI Center, told the owners that he wanted a hip joint with a lively bar scene and, above all, the best burger around. Perhaps he should have mentioned the rest of the menu, because while the burger delivers, the other dishes were hit and miss. The fries were perfect, as were the light-yet-potent garlic mashed potatoes ($4). But, keep the vegetarians at home or keep them over at the bar because the Crispy Fried Calamari ($7) is deeply forgettable (and cold) and the Crunchy Seasonal Greens Salad ($5.50) is best described as the piece-I-wish-I-resisted. In my quest for the world's best burger I've come across some bad greens, but nothing can compare to the soggy salt-and-pepper accident that was the salad. Apparently I wasn't alone in thinking so, as our waiter declared that I definitely wasn't the first who sent the salad back to the kitchen.

The bar is another animal altogether though. Located dead ahead and wrapping around to your right when viewed from the entrance, it can be something of a trick to get to. When it's crowded, you need a good heave to get into the bar, or to make it behind the door, which oddly enough is where the hostesses are situated. But once you get camped out at the stools by the bar or along the sides by the windows overlooking F Street, the drink experience does enough to make up for the salt-and-pepper taste in your mouth from the salad nightmare. The drinx. Cosmopolitan, at a New York price of $10, manages to be worth the cost. The white peach puree doesn't overpower but skillfully coats the whole drink, making for a smooth, happy sensation. (I felt like I was cheating on my burger by enjoying it so much.) The beer selection is adequate as well, again at New York prices with 14oz starting at $5. Thankfully though, drinx. has a happy hour from 4-8 pm when the price drops to $3, making everything go down that much easier.

Architecturally, drinx. is a welcome addition to DC's bar scene. The ceiling subtly separates the bar from the dining room by angling down at various points. The open kitchen behind the bar provides a fun distraction when SportsCenter goes to commercial on the plasma screens hanging over the dimly lit bar—it also makes the burgers that much harder to resist when you see them sizzling on the grill. Overall, it's attractive without drawing attention to itself; a nice setting for a fun evening.

If you're considering visiting drinx. yourself, go for the enjoyment of seeing your boss get sloshed on Cosmos; go to see juice from a burger drip down your date's chin; and go if you want to impress your New York friends with a bar hip enough that it would be at home in the Big Apple. drinx. isn't up to All Star level just yet, but it looks like it has enough game to have a longer career at MCI than some of its predecessors.

drinx. is located at 601 F St., NW, Washington, DC. 202-661-5040. www.rapatina.com/drinx