Nightlife in Beltsville

Amid the satisfying clinks of cocktail glasses and the glow of neon lights, patrons at Laurel Station Bar & Grill feast on juicy burgers and steaks, lump crab cakes, and succulent steamed shrimp, all while enjoying the exploits of their favorite sports stars. Over 20 high-definition screens deck the brick walls, broadcasting all Sunday football games and most pay-per-view events, and an enormous projector screen unfolds sporting events and shadow-puppet cage matches in jumbo resolution. Guests belly up to the granite-topped bar for frosty draft beers, or book a private party room to ring in special occasions with good company and hearty pub fare.

At Relic, the fried frog legs in a spicy garlic sauce ($9) habitually sell out, so order them right off the bat if you're feeling adventurous. Chicken skewers with onions and peppers ($9), pan-seared crab cakes in lemon-butter sauce ($9), and a veggie tower of eggplant, mushroom, spinach, mozzarella, tomatoes, and peppers ($9) also make excellent starters. Save room for Relic's meaty main attractions: steaks and burgers grilled over a wood fire, both made from beef that has been dry aged in a Himalayan salt-aging chamber (much like your pet yeti-mummy). Steaks come in a variety of sizes ($19–$28) in New York strip and rib eye and can come with your choice of sauces, including bordelaise sauce, béarnaise sauce, and wild-mushroom brandy-cream sauce. Similarly, you can order your nine-ounce burger your way ($8), the "firy” way (chipotle paste, grilled jalapeños, port onions, and manchego cheese, $10), and the American way (house sauce, dill pickles, red onions, tomato, american cheese, $10), among others.

Proprietor Don Dey Ermand has been running Sly Horse Tavern for nearly 30 years, but the restaurant looks much, much older. That's because it was modeled after the 18th-Century elegance of the Raleigh Tavern in colonial Williamsburg. A fireplace spills warmth out into the room, where it is easy to imagine early American colonists warming their hands or whittling the extra corners off their hats. The flickering light wends across oriental rugs and merlot-red tablecloths. Atop them, waiters slide plates of cuisine that fuse modern American and European culinary traditions. Chefs stir steaming pots of cherry and bourbon sauce and craft lobster crème, destined to crown cuts of salmon, ostrich, and Chesapeake Bay crab cakes. Sparkling, white, and red wines pair with dishes such as stuffed trout, which the Washington Times said was “generous in size, exceptionally flaky and sweet, and was complemented with just the right portion of rich crab imperial.”

Since opening in 2008, this metro cocktail parlor has gathered quite a reputation for serving up scientifically engineered cocktails with a twist of uncalculated charm. Sample what Wisdom knows best on June 8 by tasting four authentic absinthe selections in addition to two of Wisdom's signature absinthe cocktails, or mix up French liqueur in four specialty St. Germain cocktails on June 22. Take a beer flight with first-class cheese and authentic brewery glassware on June 15, or simply follow your nose through 9 to 10 Old World wines, with bread and cheese accompaniment, on June 1 or June 29. Ungifted musical-chairs players are recommended to book early, as seats are limited.

To get a sense of The Greene Turtle's commitment to the neighborhood, one need only sit at the bar and look up. Dozens of mugs hang above the counter, emblazoned with the pub's logo and a unique number—each one belongs to a recurring patron. The Mug Club awards its members with draft-beer discounts and other specials, but more importantly, it allows loyal patrons to feel as though they own small slices of the venue without tattooing their names on the bartender's arm. This sense of shared familiarity is what fuels the entire franchise, which refrains from calling its locations "restaurants" in favor of friendlier terms: gathering places, communities, havens.

Many of the locations contribute more than mugs to their districts. Staff members who participate in the annual Tips for Tots program donate the entirety of one day's tips to a nearby Toys for Tots initiative, and Tuesday Funds for Friends events benefit local organizations. These efforts have been chronicled by press sources such as Food and Drink magazine, with features that liken The Greene Turtles' philanthropic generosity to the generous portions of comfort food that leave the kitchens.

From cheeseburger sliders and flatbread pizzas to handmade lump-crab cakes, the offerings on the menu embrace barroom traditions along with ingenuity. The steak and chicken entrees arrive with classic sides of green beans and yukon gold mashed potatoes, whereas the eastern shore mac ‘n’ cheese updates a comfort staple with chopped bacon, lump crab, scallions, and Old Bay seasoning. Diners can enjoy their meals by the glow of private flat-screen TVs—there's one in every booth—or beneath one of many larger televisions broadcasting sports games throughout the venue.

See what it's like on the other side of the velvet rope with today's Groupon for first-class cocktails and clubbing at Fly Lounge, the exclusive, upscale nightclub that transports you through the friendly skies without the turbulent take-off. For $20, you get $50 worth of in-flight cocktails, all without getting smashed in the knee by the beverage cart. Drink prices at Fly start at around $6 for beer and wine, and $10 for cocktails. Keep an eye out for cute commuters at the bar, or reserve a VIP table online to be the fuel that keeps the party going. Bring a group of friends and combine multiple Groupons to use toward Fly Lounge's bottle service (sorry, no combos on individual drinks). With seven Groupons, you only spend $140—instead of the normal $350—on Grey Goose bottle service with mixers and a "flight attendant" for your table keeping your glasses full.