Cada Vez isn't an ordinary nightspot. Its restaurant-bar takes up only the first floor of the imposing neoclassical building it inhabits (a former post office complete with a bald eagle carved above the facade's towering columns). The rest of Cada Vez houses high-tech conference and training facilities. Owners Ernest and Kathy Simo also envision art exhibits, poetry readings and a community outreach program in the future. Still, Cada Vez sits on one of the hottest nightspot drags in town -- U Street -- and it fits into the neighborhood just fine.

Sit at the bar on a sleek, mahogany-colored bar stool for $2 martinis and manhattans during the nightly happy hour (5-8PM). Catch live jazz, blues, salsa or samba after 10PM nightly, or check out one of Cada Vez's dinner shows (including a five-course meal and drinks).

The nightlife offerings may seem eclectic, but another draw is constant: high-tech gadgetry, and plenty of it. As a fully wired "smart" building, Cada Vez boasts restaurant booths that aren't only elegant -- with their tall, slender, burgundy backs set against pale blue walls -- but are also each equipped with individual projector, monitor, sound system and high-speed Internet connection. Surf over a bottle of Cakebread chardonnay; maybe throw in some double-cut pork chops with a brandy-and-green-peppercorn demi- glace.

With its wide appeal and relatively sedate atmosphere, Cada Vez attracts a more multigenerational clientele than many of U Street's haunts. If you want to bump and grind all night, this ain't your place. But for a night of conversation or live music, or for a cooler place than the library to connect to the Web, Cada Vez might be it. ~ JE Coan, AOL city guide