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Bloomingdale’s Big Bear Cafe Gets Liquor License
Thanks to all who sent word about this development. Washington City Paper’s Lydia DePillis broke the news Saturday announcing Big Bear (1st and R St, NW) had received its liquor license despite an ANC protest, though:
“Big Bear didn’t get everything it wanted: The Board, while dismissing most of the protestants’ concerns about trash, noise, and zoning, confined the Cafe’s hours to midnight on weekends and 11:00 p.m. on weekdays, with outdoor music to cease at 9:00 p.m.”
You can read the full ABRA announcement here.
DePillis also noted that the owner was surprised by the quick announcement and therefore “has no immediate plans to start serving alcohol”.
Great news! Do you think those hours are fair?
I wonder how long the lines are gonna get…
Category: Bars, Bloomingdale, coffee
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Recent Comments
11:46pm
I'm not sure who all these people are who are suggesting to park at DC USA. I just... 
AR
11:36pm
Work across the street. Business never appears to be THAT good (ie saddest bar/club I've...
Sure, transfer the title, registration, and insurance to someone who doesn't own or drive...
11:23pm
Mat, Thanks again for your support; and your point is well taken.
grr
11:04pm
"Used to live," not "used the live." I hate blackberrys.
I miss hearing the wild cats...
That place is uber annoying.
I live around the corner and am uber excited to hear the news. I wish the weekend hours would have been more like 1 AM, but midnight closing is better than no liquor license at all.
Personally, I’d prefer this to turn into a Cosi-like cafe. Expanded dinner menu and servers after 6pm. It’s time for Stu to start making real money. That outdoor area could be packed 6 – 8 months out of the year, depending on the effects of climate change.
Excellent!
once they start serving, it will be apeshit crazy for a year. after that it will just be another cafe. i think the hours are sensible. and they can always asked to extend them someday.
with rustik, big bear, and (within months) boundary stone we’ll finally see a bit of legal nightime activity in bloomingdale. and beau tha is only a few blocks away. i think its great.
patching the empty spots on florida avenue between noma and u street will help too.
Living a few blocks away and I so happy about this, however, if I was adjacent, I would be less happy.
Yes BB is annoying with their how dare you ask me for coffee in this coffee shop attitude.
I keep hearing this, do people really get this treatment at BB? I go maybe 1-2x a week tops (so not a regular) and am about as corporate-America-non-hipster looking as you can get. I sometimes get slow or bumbling service, but it’s never surly or snotty. Are people really confusing occasional incompetence with condescension? I don’t necessarily want smiles, I just want my damn coffee.
And VERY excited for this since it is on my route home. 1-2x a week for coffee could easily turn into 4-5x a week for a beer on the way home from work.
You probably shouldn’t drink so much, especially when riding a bike home.
You probably shouldn’t post so much, especially when you *haven’t* been drinking
Yeh this place is lame.
curious whether the beer will be subpar like the coffee, food, service, etc.
You can bet they’ll have $5 PBR cans.
Why does the outside look like such a dump? I am scared to go in there as the outside looks like the sloppy rear of a Chinese food take out place, clean it up a bit. Nice outdoor space if you made the most of the area.
that is the rear.
suck it, nimbys.
What is the big deal with this place? I hate to sound like a typical whiner, but why can’t we get any decent coffee shops in DC? Why aren’t there any that are open really late? In my tiny college town we had four or five that were open past 4am.
all it takes is someone with the cash, business know how, and drive.
A bitch-ass attitude seems to be the unfortunate by-product of anyone with these necessary attributes. Mostly only in DC, that is.
What’s the big deal about this place? It’s all we have people…its all we have. Should we not be excited when a small local business shows growth opportunity? Maybe Starbucks will open up in LeDroit/Bloomingdale/Eckington…should we be more happy about that when it happens eventually?
This place serves expensive loose leaf tea but they don’t brew it correctly. If they don’t brew the tea in boiling water it ruins it. A cup of lipton yellow label brewed correctly will taste better than what you get at big bear any day. A cafe with such pretensions should also know how to do tea correctly.