China American Inn Take Out Spot Closes on Upshur Street

Columns

by Prince Of Petworth December 10, 2013 at 12:00 pm 29 Comments

845 Upshur Street, NW

China American Inn has been around as long as I can remember – but just noticed the space is now for rent. Fans of the cuisine shouldn’t worry too much – Dannie’s Carry Out remains open across the street at 830 Upshur St, NW. China American Inn was located right next to Willow near the Petworth Citizen:

kate1228

C’mooooooonnnn Sports Bar!!!
- Anon
  
  If I were looking to open an eatery, pub or restaurant, I would snatch up that spot in a heartbeat!!! That’s a money location.
  
  China America Inn always looked to dirty and rundown for me to even think about trying it. Hopefully the next place will be an upgrade.
  - Anonymous
    
    Someone would need a lot of money! I toured the place and it was pretty nasty in there…
- Anonymous
  
  The first floor of the Murrell Building (GA & Upshur) would be perfect for a sports bar!
dat

The folks at Kilroy’s said Dannie’s is good, but I haven’t tried it yet. Any feedback?
- GoPetworthGo
  
  Yup, Dannie’s is pretty darn good. Though I must admit that my new favorite Chinese delivery spot is Golden House in Silver Spring – and if u call to place your order they deliver to us!
Cliff

I have found both of those places to be sub-par. I would love to have decent Chinese takeout in this part of town. this development does not break my heart. Hopefully it will be replaced by a quality food option.
- Anonymous
  
  “decent chinese take-out” seriously?
  - gotryit
    
    Yes, it is possible. Think about the nice places that you can get chinese food in chinatown (ok, there aren’t that many – but enough). Now picture yourself getting take-out from there. Voila – decent chinese take-out.
    Granted, that if you think of anything Shaw / Columbia Heights / Petworth, the only chinese take-outs do their chinese food just as poorly as their pizza, subs, wings, etc.
    - Anonymous
      
      when i think of “chinese takeout” i picture a craphole with bullet proof glass, not a “nice place” in chinatown. I would call that placing a “to-go” order at a chinese restaurant.
      - power of flight
        
        It’s ironic how clueless this affected snobbery makes a person look. Chinese takeout has been a staple of urban diets for over a century, whether in boom or bust. Of course they vary wildly in quality. You’re not sophisticated for being ignorant of them in lieu of trendy concept taverns.
Anonymous

Dannies is decent enough. Ask for all white meat as fas as chicken goes. Best bet is to get steamed chicken or shrimp w/ mxed veggies
snarky

Maybe we could get a restaurant serving tapas…..or not.
Fz

Perfect spot for a gelato/coffee shop like Dolcezza.
Anonymous

I keep hoping that Upshur will really take off, but after all these years, I think we’re not going to do much better than what we have at the present time.
- gotryit
  
  I have to disagree. Property values in the neighborhood have been steadily (sometimes sharply) rising. While it’s a slow effect, it means that there will be an increasing number of people with money to spend. I won’t try to predict anything in 3 years, but I’ll bet on significant changes over the next 10 years.
  Single family homes in petworth >$500K… West of Georgia Ave, the big ones go for $800K. That’s a lot of money.
  - Anonymous
    
    Wow, what a bold prediction. “In 10 years this [already changing] neighborhood will look significantly different.” Um, yes.
    - gotryit
      
      right – my point exactly. “Bold” = uncertain. This is in contrast to the person I was responding to that said “I think we’re not going to do much better than what we have at the present time.”
      - Anonymous
        
        Two words: Columbia Heights.
  - Anonymous
    
    It also helps to keep in mind that this is Petworth, and not Dupont Circle or some other inner-city neighborhood. You have to adjust your expectations accordingly.
    - Anonymous
      
      What does that mean?
- Fz
  
  Im actually really happy with Upshur. We got Petworth Citizen, Domku, a farmers market, Willow, Fia, Corehouse, Bentleys. That’s not bad at all. Plus I hear the guy that opened Petworth Citizen is opening 3 more places on Upshur: the Japanese-French place across the street from PC, the place next door that was a hair salon, and the big place on the corner of Upshur, Georgia and 9th.
  - Anon
    
    I’ve heard rumors about that great corner location on Georgia. Do you have any more info? I just heard someone was interested in developing it. That’s a great location and cool building.
    - Fz
      
      All I heard is that the owner of PC is renting it but no idea what he’s planning to do with it. It’s a great corner so I hope the rumors are true.
  - Anonymous
    
    Corehaus closed but I believe the space is rented already.
LT

For those who mentioned good Chinese delivery–you might want to try New Tong Shin in Brookland. Their food is consistently good, very nice staff, and they deliver to Petworth/Brightwood Park within about 45 minutes. Only place we order Chinese from anymore. I’ve never seen it in person so it might be a craphole, but they have good food!
- jim_ed
  
  In the context of bulletproof carryouts in Petworth, we’re partial to George’s at Georgia and Farragut. Food is consistently decent, and always delivered piping hot, which is important when eating junky chinese. Also dirt cheap.
  - Anonymous
    
    Second vote for George’s. For a cheap carryout, they include a lot of vegetables, and they’ve even got zucchini in with the veggies. It’s almost healthy.
    - LT
      
      Good to know! We only order veggies so will definitely give George’s a try.

Subscribe to our mailing list