Some Serious Down and Dirty Scuttlebutt: Fmr. Colorado Kitchen’s Chef Gillian Clark to Open a Restaurant in NoMa?

This is some old school dirty scuttlebutt. This is the type of scuttlebutt that pisses off a lot of people. So let me be blunt – I have zero confirmation on this, it is pure hearsay and I will only give it 50/50 odds of it being true. Nevertheless, there are a couple of reasons why I wanted to share. Firstly, I’ve got a ton of emails from folks asking about Gillian Clark’s project above the Petworth metro (pictured above). They referenced an Examiner post (via Washingtonian) saying that Clark’s Georgia Avenue Meeting House was slated to open at 3730 Georgia Ave., NW in early 2011. Then City Paper’s Tim Carman also reported after talking with Clark that her Petworth spot should open around March 2011.

It was in Dec. ’08 that I first shared Clark’s Petworth plans. And don’t get me wrong. I really hope the Petworth project is gonna happen but I heard some scuttlebutt from a person very familiar/involved with DC’s restaurant scene. And I just can’t dismiss it because the person who I heard it from is really plugged in. They heard that Clark had signed a lease in one of the new NoMa spaces around 1st St, NE.

So it leaves me with one nagging question – if the scuttlebutt is true – will it affect the Petworth plans?

Of course there is an equally good chance that this scuttlebutt is just scuttlebutt and the NoMa project was never gonna happen. Or even if it does, perhaps NoMa and Petworth will both get new Clark restaurants? In which case I’ve got all worked up over nothing. That’s another thing I’ve learned after 4 years of blogging. That happens too. I promise to update as more info becomes available. I tend to find alcohol application permits (while not perfect) a very good indicator if a restaurant is actually coming or not. All that is to say, stay tuned.