More Development News

by Prince Of Petworth March 9, 2009 at 10:45 am 33 Comments

The prime spot on 14th Street next to Vastu (just south of T Street) is slated to become a restaurant. Looks like it will be a restaurant called Massa 14.

Anyone know anymore details?

The Carvel shop on 14th Street in Columbia Heights in the Tivoli Complex is slated to become a deli! They should open sometime in April. I think a deli is a great addition. You?

Also I’ve been getting a number of emails about the progress of the wine bar, Room 11, slated to come to the corner of 11th and Lamont. I’ve been emailing one of the owners, Dan Searing, and he says things are rolling along nicely. I still do not know when the opening date will be but I suspect it’ll be sometime in the Spring. There were lots of folks working there when I walked by this weekend. From the outside you’ll notice a fence has been erected. I’ll update with more info as it becomes available.

Fonzy

I hope the deli is like a traditional jewish deli. DC needs more of those. It’s a pain to trek to Wagsals to find a decent roast beef on kaiser roll…
anon

Deli is GREAT news, potentially. But as Fonzy says, it needs to be an actually good, high quality deli, the place you can get a really good quality corned beef on rye with provolone, good toppings like avocados, good pickles, good knishes, fresh macaroons etc. If it is just a marginally better version of Subway, forget it. But if is a top-quality place, it will do well. POP, you have any more info as to who is opening this, their business model, etc.?
monkeyrotica

There used to be dozens of jewish delis, dry cleaners, liquor stores in and around Columbia Heights and Georgia Avenue in the 1950s. They all moved to Silver Spring and Wheaton before the ’68 riots.

If H Street can have a decent deli like Taylor, there’s no reason Columbia Heights can’t have one too.
GforGood

Sounds good, and yes, they need to somehow differentetiate from the Subway accross the street and Potbelly’s a block down. A good cuban style sandwich could also do well, given the demographics (although would have to be affordable too)?

Good to see the fense going up around the Bar 11, given all the roudy wine drinkers it will attract (yes, being sarcastic/a-holy towards some other commentators on this particular bar)!
WDC

Yay deli!

More info, please. Who did you hear it from? Independently owned? Most importantly, are the owners jewish???
IMGoph

there’s a little bit of discussion from a couple days ago about the 14th street restaurants over at 14th & you.
monkeyrotica

I think the restaurant is called “Masa” with one “s.” Two “s”s and it’s a hatecrime waiting to happen.
El Gringo

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE BEG THEM TO CARRY DECENT BAGELS AND CREAM CHEESE!!!!!!

If they need a place to copy, “So’s Your Mom” on Columbia Road is a good idea…but the more they can copy the NYC style deli the better…it’s a distinctively different offering than Potbelly and Subway and there are no other businesses like that in the hood…
El Gringo

…the deli on 14th st that is 🙂
RD

Looking forward to the deli, for sure
enus gobunger

what the hell does it matter if it’s a jewish deli or not?
IntangibleArts

…not much of a precedent for a Lutheran deli, mebbe?
Newton

The “deli” in Tivoli is slated to be an Uptowner Cafe similar to the ones currently populating DC. More info here: http://uptownercafe.com/
WDC

Aw rats. Just a sandwich shop then?

Folks need to figure out that the CH market is about residential customers, not commercial. The money isn’t in lunches (either catering or on-the-go) but in selling stuff that people will take home to prepare. I was hoping for a good spot to pick up a half-pound of corned beef, or some really good dill havarti.
eric in ledroit

Uptowner by my office is ok but just ok.

Personally I’m pissed that wine bar isn’t going to be a kite store or trader joe’s.
OTBerbur

The posting omits the critical information that the Masa 14 ABC application, while contemplating a restaurant with Mediterranean tapas, specifically excludes nude dancing, that essential component of a fun neighborhood dining experience.
IntangibleArts

of course now I want a Lutheran deli…
WDC

Not enough lutefisk in your life, IA?
saf

What IA, you want to eat hotdish?

Urk.
bogfrog

Agree with WDC that the neighborhood is still residential and surprisingly quiet at night. Friday night 3 of us shut down Nori’s bar at 11:30 pm. We tried the bar at the Heights, but it had already closed. Then we had drinks at the Gastropub (nice!) but were slightly injured by shards of broken glass clinging to the outside of our beer glasses. Luckily, none of us swallowed any broken glass. By that point, 14th St was basically dead and we had to go over to Mt P Street — there were still crowds at Tonic
IntangibleArts

SAF:
great christ, you had me galloping to google/wiki to figure out just what in satan’s eyeball you were TALKING about…. ouch. I didn’t realize Lutherans had such exotic cuisine. … Perhaps I’ll change my vote, & get behind the Unitarian Deli idea…
Ro

Unitarian delis have no flavor.
GforGood

@ Newton: oh my, please tell me your info is speculation… bummer indeed…
Steve

is the Tonic in Mt P the same as the one in Foggy Bottom?
Jim

trust me, you were better off not knowing what lutefisk is.
saf

I didn’t suggest lutefisk!
Naomi G

I think something is wrong with me – I am way more interested in the wine bar on 11th then the new Deli.
neener

A good friend of mine owns a Korean Deli. His wife is Korean.

I get into arguments with him about food all the time.

Koreans, culturally, do not understand how to make decent sandwiches, but they could get loans from non-bank community groups to open these places.

I’ve talked to his wife before and I can say, having met her, she’s a f*cking idiot who has no taste in food at all YET IS IN THAT BUSINESS! Not only that, but when I tried to talk to her about what made a good deli good and what made her deli so awful, she got into my face as if *I* don’t know what people in *MY OWN COUNTRY* think is good food.

I mean, you know, a lovely woman and the wife of my friend, but her cultural arrogance in the face of her culturally-based errors are beyond the pale. I mean, you know, her husband had to convince her to start carrying rye bread again because people like rye bread but she wanted to save money and just carry WHITE BREAD ONLY! (And tortillas and sub rolls). I mean, her own husband knows that she has almost no cultural background that should allow her to inflict that kind of ignorance onto the public.

The Uptowner is owned by the Park family. I have no doubt that they are completely ignorant of how to make an American-style sandwich. Completely ignorant.

I have absolutely no doubt their food will suck.

I remember when I was 22- around 1990- and the Korean couple bought the deli in my office’s basement from the elderly italian couple and I tried to get them to keep the marinated vegetables in stock and they said, without blinking, that they could PUT KIMCHI ON MY SANDWICH!!!

My sister’s best friend from college is Korean American and between them and the argumentative dry cleaners she used to just cringe when someone would open a store with in 6 months of moving here and not understand how they were insulting Americans. She called it “Ugly Koreanism.”
Zberg

Most Koreans don’t give a damn as to how your sandwich may taste. The name of the game is keeping food costs low and profits up.
anon

Looked at the uptowner website and it indeed looks totally uninspiring. Given that there is already a potbelly and a subway there, I don’t see what that would add … given the lack of foot traffic, a deli that does nothing to differentiate itself / serve top-notch sandwiches has no chance at survival. Wish a real deli with top quality meats, breads, bagels, and toppings / spreads, and not a place that does 20 different things, none of them well, would give that space a go. As it is, if the rumors above are true, I give it six months, tops.
New Hampy

when the post said deli i got very excited. then i saw the Uptowner Cafe link and man, what a disappointment. i do not think that this type of establishment will be a go-to spot for locals nor does it contribute to making columbia heights a destination spot. very very disappointed by this news.
Anonymous

Is Dan Searing still associated with the Looking Glass Lounge? Temperance Hall was outstanding under his management, but the Looking Glass is little more than Wonderland North. Don’t get me wrong, Wonderland has its merits, but we really don’t need two of them, and Temperance was sooooo much cooler, way back when.
PetworthRes

A Unitarian deli would be a little Jewish and very laid back. Wait, maybe there’s a reason there aren’t many Unitarian businesses.

I have to say out of all this news, the wine bar is by far the most interesting one. And I think Dan Searing is leaving Looking Glass to run it. It’s too bad about the demise of Temperance Hall. I wonder where their cook works now. I want to find him/her and have some more of those mini sloppy joes!! wah!

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