by Maya Gold

Walking into The Artemis, I’m struck by two things. First is the warm feel of the sports bar: accent brick walls, dark wood tabletops, and a window that, when fully rolled up, turns the first-floor patio into an airy extension of the main room.

Artemis’s upstairs, complete with a patio that has two 75” TVs.

The second is the sheer number of TVs. Between the first floor, second floor, and upstairs patio, there’s twenty television sets in the relatively small space.

According to owner Jay Butler, that is very much intentional. The Artemis used to be The Airedale, which focused on soccer. This sports bar definitely still shows all the soccer games you’d want to see — it even has drink specials for the ongoing Euro Cup games — but Butler plans to go beyond that.

“I always wanted a sports bar, and I don’t think there’s any true sports bar in this area — there’s definitely bars where you can watch sports, but not places where you can get multiple TVs and watch any sport you want,” he explained. “I want to make sure that we show all sports. If we don’t have it on the TV when you walk in, just ask us and we’ll put it on.”

Butler is a corporate tax lawyer turned restaurateur. He came to DC for law school fifteen years ago and now owns Petworth’s Library Tavern, a family-style Persian American restaurant. He approached his next project with an important mission in mind: “I wanted to have actually good food at a sports bar. Sports bars often have food... but they don’t have great food.”

Jay Butler, owner of The Artemis. A restaurateur from Mississippi, he wanted a sports bar with good food. — Jay Butler, owner of The Artemis. A restaurateur from Mississippi, he wanted a sports bar with *good* food.

He’s originally from Mississippi, so when it came to designing The Artemis’s menu, he decided on a restaurant with a Cajun-style influence. The Artemis has gumbo and étouffée made from scratch. Beignets are about to be added to the dessert menu.

“There’s been an incredible response. We sell way more entrees than we sell mozzarella sticks. People have really picked up on the food now and they really enjoy the food.”

I happily joined their number when I tried their spicy linguine, a house-made pasta with spicy tomato cream sauce and shrimp. I can say with some confidence it is the best sports bar food I’ve ever had — the sauce packed a sizzling punch and the shrimp was delicious. Eating home-cooked pasta while watching the NBA conference semifinals was a new experience for me, but it’s something I can definitely get used to.