U Scream Ice Cream to Become a Wine Bar (serving Mexican Food) on U Street

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by Prince Of Petworth April 8, 2013 at 10:42 pm 33 Comments

bin_wine_bar_u_street
1301 U Street, NW

U Scream Ice Cream (formerly Maggie Moos) will become Bin 1301 Wine bar. A liquor license posted out front says:

“Bin 1301 Wine Bar

New Full Service Restaurant that will be serving Mexican Food. Total Load: 61,
Seats Inside: 36, Summer Garden Seats: 35.”

I’m intrigued. Also, it’ll be interesting to see if they face the same liquor license battle as Fainting Goat, which is hoping to open up across the street. Stay tuned.

bin_wine_bar_u_scream_ice_cream
U Street looking east toward 13th Street.

textdoc

Alero is also on the street level of the Ellington. Is there that much demand for Mexican food within a single block of U Street?

And/or is the demand more for the drinks than the food?
- Anonymous
  
  Alero serves food?
- L
  
  But the food at that Alero is horrendous. Last time I ate there, I felt guilty for suggesting it, and felt like I just ate something off of the floor.
  - fvigaud
    
    The absolute nastiest food in the area. I continuously marvel at how that place is still open. Just terrible…
    - Anonymous
      
      I couldn’t agree more about the food at Alero. The guac had the consistency of cheese wiz. It was fluffy, fluffy guac!! I also can’t wait for the day that Alero shuts down.
      
      I’m always excited about good Mexican food but I’m slightly skeptical of a “Wine bar and Mexican Place.” Someone, that just doesn’t seem like it’ll be a good pairing. But I’m happy to be wrong on this one!
jumpingjack

I cannot believe that U Scream lasted as long as it did. It’s the saddest ice cream shop I’ve ever seen.
- Anonymous
  
  +1
- Farnsworth
  
  I wonder if retail in these places (new condos that end up getting Sala Thai’s) all have the same deal going on at Park Place. Distant owners who have way too much discretion about who to rent to, yet clueless to the point where only bland venues that can’t compete with other local options with more character make it in.
  - Paul
    
    I don’t mind the Sala Thai in Park Place so much. Is it fantastic? Not particularly. But the food is ok, the restaurant is clean, and the waitstaff is friendly. Sadly, this makes Sala Thai the best moderately priced restaurant in a 3 block radius of the Georgia Ave Metro. I really wish Park Place would start moving on filling up the four empy spaces, they are holding back the entire area…
    - textdoc
      
      Agreed.
      
      The Sala Thai in Park Place isn’t going to knock anyone’s socks off, but it’s reliably good Thai food and is very reasonably priced.
      
      For what it’s worth, I’ve been to the Sala Thai on U Street only once and had a negative opinion of it. I was a little apprehensive on that count when I moved to near the Georgia Ave.-Petworth Metro… but was pleasantly surprised to discover that the Sala Thai there was better than the U Street One.
monkeyrotica

Looking forward to my first 2oz $8 pour of Chateau Oaxaca and small plate of chapulines.
- Anonymous
  
  Is there Mexican wine? Seems like the climate could support it.
  - SS3345
    
    Yes, there’s a growing wine industry in Mexico, particularly in Baja California state. http://www.winemag.com/Wine-Enthusiast-Magazine/Web-2012/The-Mexican-Wine-Revolution/
    - 15thstnw
      
      Yep, I went wine tasting once in Baja, wasn’t bad.
- U Street area resident
  
  It’s already been said, but:
  – Mexico should sue Alero and Pica Taco for putting it’s name on their disgusting “food”, so it can only get better
  – $8 pour of 2 oz. Oaxaca — ha ha, awesome!
  – U Scream was sad, but not if you’re a kid in the neighborhood who likes to go out for ice cream. Has nobody figured out that you need an ice cream shop that sells complementary goods??? You know, so you can stay in business and continue to sell $5 cones to people who need to chase their $6 hotdog from Ben’s?
  – +1 to Chapulines! Crunchilicious!
  - Anonymous
    
    I love Pica. And it was similar to what I recently ate in Mexico
    - 15thstnw
      
      You must have some pretty crappy food in Mexico then, bummer.
James

Thank god. This place was horrible. Hours were never posted on the front door and the staff was so rude.
fvigaud

honestly, we have enough wine bars in the area! An ice cream shop was nice! perhaps if it had just been changed to a Pitango…
fvigaud

p.s. We already have Distrito Federal on 14th and Pica Taco and that other one on V. (I am not counting Alero because that is absolute shite)
dcvoterboy

Maybe there’s just a limited market for ice cream on U Street. That’s two ice cream shops that have closed in this location. Maggie Moo’s was well run, unfortunately U Scream…well, not so much.
- Anon
  
  Maggie Moo’s and U Scream both seemed more appropriate to a suburban mall. Someone should open a gelato shop.
  - Anonymous
    
    ice cream always seemed more like an outside thing to me, rather than a mall thing.
  - U Street area resident
    
    You left out “Artisinal”
    
    My kids ate that ice cream and liked it just fine.
- textdoc
  
  Didn’t this U Scream location use to be a Maggie Moo’s?
  
  I got the feeling that they had seceded from the Maggie Moo’s franchise but were offering the same product.
beerdude

This just sounds like a bad idea.
kev29

U Street is over
- Anonymous
  
  Haha
Anonymous

I realize this is completely a matter of personal preference, but good lord…The Ellington would have to pay ME to live in a building with that much nightlife at the lobby level (unless the units have excellent soundproofing). Not that I have to worry, given that the building is out of my price range, anyway.
Ustreeter

Gosh, I just don’t know what to say about this. The place is owned by the same couple who owns the wine shop just down the street. They live in the area, super nice people. I’d love to see them succeed. But. Yeah, not so sure about this concept. I think the wine store is really well done – good hours, nice people, the owners are there a lot, they redid it after a fire about a year ago and it’s cute. I’ve never understood how the same people could run the ice cream place and have it be such a disaster. The employees are usually horrible. The decor was horrible – even after they redid it like last year. And the worst was the lack of predictable hours. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been in my apartment and thought – I’d love ice cream, maybe I’ll run downstairs. But then I’m like – well who knows if it’s open so why bother.
austindc

Why not mexican wine-flavored ice cream?
Ammo

Interesting that they would serve Mexican food so close to Alero. I wonder if it will have a high end feel to it. High end Mexican food is amazing when done right.
W Street Resident

It is just a matter of time before U Street becomes likes 18th Street in Adams Morgan…mostly boring, hole in the wall restaurants (really bars…let’s be real)…full of drunks fighting and vomiting on the sidewalks. U Street is better than it was in 1992, but in what direction is it going now?

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