Restaurants

16 Weeks of Wine at Local 16 (1602 U St, NW)

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user ken_1001

From an email:

For the last 11 years, David Bueno’s expertise has been an asset to DC restaurants such as Taberna Del Alabardero and Cafe Milano. Now partner in Local 16, Bueno, a well-regarded DC sommelier, is instilling his love of wine in this U Street institution.

Starting in March, every Monday for 16 weeks Local 16 will offer a bottle of wine for $16. “We want to make good wine affordable,” explains Bueno. He plans to hand pick 16 interesting blends to feature that are not currently on the menu.

Also Local 16 will begin hosting wine tastings with local wine shops such as Ansonia Wines. The restaurant will offer complimentary appetizers. The first tasting will be held, Tuesday, March 29 and will be free and open to customers 21+.

Local 16 is located at 1602 U St, NW

Judging Restaurants – Hank’s Oyster Bar

By Prince Of Petworth

Since we learned that Jaime Leeds had sold/closed CommonWealth in order to focus on the Hank’s expansion at 1624 Q Street NW, I figured it’s about time we judged Hank’s. According to the Web site:

“At Hank’s Oyster Bar patrons enjoy coastal favorites and New England beach fare classics like lobster rolls, daily fish specials and meat ‘n’ two. Lightly fried items such as the popcorn shrimp and calamari and Ipswich clams balance Hank’s ice bar options which consist of a selection of raw oysters, tartar and ceviche.”

You can their menu here.

Any fans? Think the expansion will be successful?

Paila Chilean Grill and Cafe Opens up at 1424 Park Rd, NW in Columbia Heights

By Prince Of Petworth

For those who aren’t fans of the chain restaurants in Columbia Heights, you can add another great independent spot to your list! Paila Chilean Grill opened up a week ago just west of DC USA at 14th and Park Rd, NW.

After a reader wrote in saying the new space looked great and the food was equally great, I stopped by Sun. morning for a quick look. Indeed the space looks fantastic and I’m happy to say the owners were also super nice.

When I asked for the menu to share with you guys they also sent this note in an email:

“We are a small, family run, kid-friendly, Chilean grill with a preoccupation with freshness, goodness, and great taste in everything we prepare. Despite this we offer scrumptious food at very reasonable and affordable prices. Cleanliness is next to godliness for us, too! None of our entrees have been frozen or pre-made.

We have yummy Chilean churasco sandwiches and 100% all beef kosher frankfurters “vienesas” loaded with fresh avocado, tomato, and other fixings! Another personal favorite of mine is our super fresh baja fish tacos Chilean style on a fresh corn tortilla with lime, cilantro, cabbage and our own homemade tartar sauce.

We open for breakfast Mon-Fri at 7 am / 8 am on Saturday and Sunday, and close at 10 pm Friday and Saturday nights. Monday – Thursday, & Sunday we close at 9 pm.”

You can see the full menu below in pdf:

Paila Chilean Grill and Cafe Menu

A few more photos after the jump. (more…)

Burger King Closes Downtown, Fuel Pizza Replacing it

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoP,

Not sure how recent this is, but the BK at 16th and K is closed. One of the only downtown options for old school fast food.”

The WBJ’s Missy Frederick was first to break the news back in early Feb. that a Fuel Pizza would be replacing the Burger King at 16th and K St, NW, she writes:

“Fuel will open locations at 600 F St. NW, in a former bank building across from the Verizon Center, and at 1606 K St. NW, where a Burger King location just closed.

Fuel, which started as a way to bring New York-style pizza to Charlotte, has 11 locations there.”

Will anyone miss the BK? Anyone folks ever try the Charlotte spots before?

Chipotle Asian Themed Restaurant, ‘ShopHouse’, Coming to Dupont Circle!

By Prince Of Petworth

Back in Nov. ’10 it was widely reported that Chipotle would be opening up a series of Asian themed restaurants in 2011, likely to be called ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen.

I have it from a very good source that Chipotle/ShopHouse has signed a lease in Dupont Circle, next to BGR, at 1516 Connecticut Ave, NW (near the Dupont north metro stop). It appears that this will be one of the first if not the first ShopHouse to open up in the US. It’s not clear when the new ShopHouse will open up but it is likely to be this year.

Given how popular Chipotle is around town, do you think the Asian themed ShopHouse will be similarly successful? Do you think Dupont Circle is a good place to launch one of the first ones?

PoP Burger Patrol: Go Burger No Longer Coming to 1317 Connecticut Ave, NW? To Share Casa Nonna Space

By Prince Of Petworth

Last spring we learned that a Go Burger was supposed to be coming to 1317 Connecticut Ave, NW in Dupont Circle. In April a liquor license application was applied for and the entire front window was covered with a screen featuring repeating GO BURGER logos covering the whole window. And before that there was one big logo like this:

This past weekend I noticed that the screen has been removed (see the first photo above). And peeking in the window it looks like zero work has been completed.

So with Rogue States closing across the street – it looks like all hopes now rest on Shake Shack (which is progressing nicely) in the Fudruckers space a few blocks south. And of course BGR The Burger Joint is already open a few blocks north at 1514 Connecticut Ave, NW.

But wait, I’m now just seeing that they tweeted on Feb. 7th:

“There will be a small outpost of GO Burger sharing the Casa Nonna space. Hoping to open our doors late spring.”

Casa Nonna (same owners) is the newish Italian place located in the old California Pizza Kitchen at 1250 Connecticut Ave, NW.

Wild. Does a Go Burger outpost in the Casa Nonna space sound like a good idea?

UPDATE 505pm: turns out that the above tweet was referencing the Casa Nonna in NYC. I’ll be sure to update when more info becomes available, especially to see who moves into 1317 Connecticut Ave, NW.

Dear PoP – Sweet Mango Cafe Re-opening This Weekend

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoP,

while walking by Sweet Mango Cafe last night I noticed a sign on the door saying they would be re-opening this weekend and it looked like there were a few people making the final touches. I, for one, will be celebrating with some oxtail this weekend.”

Sweet Mango Cafe, located at the intersection of Georgia and New Hampshire Ave, NW (across from the metro on N.H.) has been closed since a a fire that took place on Dec. 4 ’10.

Dear PoP – Positive Review of FunXion

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoP,

So I went to dinner at FunXion (1309 F St, NW) with a friend last night. We had one of those daily deals for 20.00 worth of food and drinks. I read one of your old posts where people were pretty dissatisfied with it overall before I went and was not expecting much when I got there. However, I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised and happy with the place. Our waiter was extremely friendly and the service was excellent, the food was really reasonably priced as well as delicious and fresh tasting. I got a small Asian Chicken Salad with a Portabello Mushroom Slider and my friend got the Black Bean Salsa and the Buffalo Nachos. We both really enjoyed our own (and each other’s food) and we left feeling the perfect amount of full. People complained that the place was expensive but our total bill only came out to 19.00, which is nothing for the amount of food we got.

Also, we chatted with the waiter for awhile and he told us that they were going to have a grand reopening next month where they would have a new license that would allow them to remain open 24 hours as well as serve alcohol until 4am and food all day and all night.”

Queen Vic Opening Soon on H St, NE – Sample Menu Sneak Peek

By Prince Of Petworth

There’s been a lot of anticipation for the opening of the Queen Vic which will be opening soon at 1206 H St, NE.  Thanks to executive chef Adam Stein for sharing the sample menus (which, remember, may be tweaked a bit).  He also adds:

“In addition there will be about 4 daily specials, which is where the FUN stuff will be, things like beef heart, deviled kidneys, braised tongue, sweetbreads and a whole host of other items will reside.”

Stay tuned for an update when an opening date is announced.

Brunch ($7-12)

Skillet Bubble & Squeak… served with two poached eggs, sausage & black pepper cream gravy

Cornmeal Pancakes… with maple syrup, whipped butter & your choice of rashers or sausage

Steel Cut Oat Porridge… served with brown sugar, fruit compote, whipped butter & cream

Breakfast Sandwich… two fried eggs, rashers, cheddar, dressed greens, mustard & mayo on our house bread with chips

The Full Monty… two fried eggs, beans, rashers, sausage, tomato, mushroom & fried bread

Market Salad… local mixed greens & seasonal vegetables with our honey-herb vinaigrette

Bacon Salad… bitter greens with our house lardons, bacon vinaigrette & crackling garnish

Burger… a mix of local lamb & dry aged beef, three onion jam, mustard aioli & house chips

Fish & Chips… beer battered daily selection, house chips, mushy peas, grilled lemon & tartar sauce

Murgh Makhani (butter chicken)… tandoori style chicken, pureed cashews, tomato, ginger & garlic. Served with basmati

Sunday Roast (sample menu $17-21)

Roast Chicken… one half of a local, beer brined, chicken with duck fat roasted potatoes, Yorkshire pudding & chicken jus

Beef Rib Roast… Grayson County beef with duck fat roasted potatoes, Yorkshire pudding & gravy

Leg of Lamb… marinated in shallot & fresh mint with made to order mashed potatoes, Yorkshire pudding & crushed herb sauce

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