Twenty-three presidents banked with Riggs, Lincoln and Grant among them. The bank's old vault under the Riggs building at 9th and F Street in Washington, DC is now Silver Lyan, a cocktail bar in Penn Quarter and the first bar outside Europe from the London bartender Ryan Chetiyawardana. Chetiyawardana goes by Mr Lyan, "which is arguably easier to say," according to his own website. He opened White Lyan in London in 2013 with no perishables, no fruit and no ice, and Silver Lyan seven years later, in 2020.
Down to the Vault at 9th and F
The building went up in 1891 for Riggs, a bank that liked to call itself "the most important bank in the most important city in the world." In 1868 it had put up $7.2 million in gold toward the purchase of Alaska. Today it is the Riggs Washington DC hotel, with Café Riggs in the old tellers' hall and 181 rooms designed to look like safety deposit boxes. Walk in on F Street and head downstairs to the lower level, where the original vault door is still in the basement and Silver Lyan fills the vault space itself.
Inside it's crimson velvet, exposed concrete, mirrors and the original tin ceilings. The walls are wood-paneled, the tub chairs are orange velvet, and there are little red lamps on red marble tables, a curtain painted with clouds and a white-tiled back bar lined with black and chrome stools. Through a rough stone doorway is the Cabinet Room, a semi-private space for up to 35 people lined with trophies for sports, tractors and, the bar's own "personal fave," a "last place champ." Somewhere nearby is the Dishonesty Bar, a private room in another of the original vaults. Silver Lyan calls it its "Best Kept Secret" and advertises it on the homepage, with seatings Friday and Saturday at 6, 8 and 10pm.
The Folklore Menu at Silver Lyan
The current menu, Folklore, arrived on August 19, 2026, from general manager Alex Leidy and head bartender Sam Nellis. It is built on monsters and myths, in sections called Cryptids, Social Lore and Cautionary Tales. From the Cryptids, try the Loch Ness Martini, made with Grey Goose vodka, gorse sherry, sour strawberry vermouth and jasmine ($21), and the Bigfoot Negroni, with The Botanist gin, forest fruit vermouth, Campari and pine sherry ($21). The Tarantula Iced Tea is Jack Daniel's bottled-in-bond, buckwheat tea, lemongrass hemp foam and, last on the list, spider (the menu doesn't elaborate).
For whiskey, the Boogeyman Old-fashioned is Teeling Small Batch whisky, jerk'd coconut, oak leaf and bitters for $21. You should also order the Stone Banana Gimlet: Ford's Gin, chalk & banana cordial, fino, rose falernum, $23. It is one of four drinks with a boozeless version for $14, along with the Green Bear Mojito, the Ellis Island Punch and the Achilles Ambrosia.
Try the Silver Service Martini from the Lyan Classics section, Ford's gin served 50:50 with Dolin vermouth or Belvedere vodka served dirty with house brine, each with what the menu calls "house accoutrements." With half the glass vermouth, the gin version drinks softer and wetter than the bone-dry kind. It costs $23 for one or $42 for two. The splurges are the Silver Apple Martini (Belvedere 10, clarified green apple, Capreolus '1000 Trees,' bisongrass) and the Beeswax Old-Fashioned (Hibiki Harmony, local beeswax, baller bitters), $29 each.
Jell-O Shots, Tater Tots and a Table in Penn Quarter
Silver Lyan's version of a Jell-O shot is a citrus shell filled with a jellied cocktail and cut into wedges. TASTE reported in June 2026 that the bar sells 60 to 110 wedges on an average weekend night. On the current menu they come as a Hugo Spritz or a Pornstar Martini, "Served jellied with a Champagne chaser," for $13. There are also $11 shooters like the Lacto-Lemon Drop and a Green Tea Shot made with Toki whisky, and Tater Tots with buttermilk ranch for $10. The beer is a $6 Miller High Life, and the Champagne is Laurent-Perrier at $104 a bottle.
Silver Lyan is closed on Mondays. The bar recommends booking, so reserve on SevenRooms or put your name on the host's walk-in waitlist, and bring ID, because after 7pm everyone needs to be 21 or over. Silver Lyan won a RAMMY for Cocktail Program of the Year in 2024 and came in at No. 48 on North America's 50 Best Bars in 2025. Across town, Cotton & Reed in the Union Market District distills its own rum. And for another hotel bar built around martinis, Bemelmans at the Carlyle in New York has six custom ones.
Valet at the hotel is $25 for up to three hours, four dollars less than the Beeswax Old-Fashioned.
Photos: Silver Lyan
