Downtown

1401 K Street, NW

Well I was not expecting this… DC Coast closed on December 31st, 2015. Now a liquor license placard has been posted for a Le Pain Quotidien:

“New Class “C” Restaurant with 149 seats, a Sidewalk Café with 66 seats and a Total Occupancy Load of 223. Restaurant will serve café-style food and baked goods.”

14th and K St, NW

For those not DC Coast:

“Opened in Washington, DC in 1998, the iconic restaurant in an Art Deco landmark building was the daring first venture of Passion Food Hospitality partners chef Jeff Tunks, Gus DiMillo and David Wizenberg. They had a radical vision to open within the soaring first floor of the historic building at Franklin Square that essentially led the breakthrough for the 14th Street revival. It honored the tri-coastal regions where Tunks found his culinary passion and became an incubator for talented, award-winning chefs who got their start working under Tunks’ wing.

The Art Deco landmark was formerly a McDonald’s that bore the scars of its past: bullet holes in the walls and crime lurking outside, but the partners saw only opportunity. Tunks’ visionary approach paved the way for the area’s renewal and ushered in a new wave of contemporary American cuisine that led to critical acclaim from The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Esquire, Bon Appétit and Food & Wine as well as praise from Travel + Leisure as one of the “Top 50 Restaurants in America.” Tunks was a pioneer for DC, among that first generation bringing a contemporary spin to the American table along with Larry Forgione, Jeremiah Tower and Wolfgang Puck. Tunks’ method for recruiting culinary talent followed a similar pattern: look for the potential. The toques who cut their teeth in his kitchen before launching their own ventures have a different perspective about the closing of DC Coast—a gateway that catapulted them to where they are today… (more…)

1701 Pennsylvania Ave NW. (Photo by Joy Asico)

From a press release:

“eatsa, the unprecedented, fully-automated faster food experience, will open the doors to its second Washington, D.C. location at 1701 Pennsylvania Avenue NW on Wednesday, January 18. The new eatsa, just steps away from the White House, will be the first multi-level eatsa in the country and will include a mezzanine where customers can enjoy the brand’s customizable, healthy and flavorful quinoa-based bowls, delivered at an unbeatable price point.

“The Pennsylvania Avenue eatsa in Washington, D.C. is the brand’s first multi-level storefront. (Photo by Joy Asico)”

Lunch bowls start at $6.95 and include the Bento Bowl, which features edamame, stir-fry quinoa and apple-cabbage slaw and the Burrito Bowl, with guacamole, asada portobello mushrooms and tortilla chips. Breakfast is on the menu, too, as eatsa will open at 7am with breakfast bowls starting at $3.95, in addition to fresh fruit and yogurt parfaits. (more…)

1010 Vermont Ave, NW (just north of K Street)

A reader reports:

“Modern Market on Vermont will be open at the end of the month.”

Check out their Bethesda menus here.

Modern Market’s website says:

“Hello and welcome to Modern Market. We want to change what people eat.

Did you ever notice that when you eat great food, you feel good? We did.

We also noticed how hard it is to find places that serve great tasting, healthy food made from ingredients you can trust for a reasonable price. Eating out seems to be a lot like voting – choose the least worst option and get on with it. We wanted to change that.

So in 2009, we quit our jobs and opened a restaurant in Boulder, Colo. We built a neighborhood spot where we could eat every day and doing so would make us happier and healthier.

We serve artisan fare without all the pomp – simple counter service with amazing, scratch-made food that nourishes your mind and body. Priced low enough that you can afford (around $10), but high enough that true high quality sources can be used and our team members can be fairly compensated.

We cook our food using simple, whole ingredients purchased from farmers, ranchers and suppliers we know and trust; who love and respect the planet as much as we do.

Every ingredient matters to us – where it comes from, what’s in it, and what the practices are of the company selling it. We searched for two years to find pickles that don’t contain sodium benzoate (thanks McClure’s). Little details matter to us. A lot.

We have a holistic view on health. We think added sugar is the devil and (good) fats are our friends. We live by the Michael Pollan philosophy, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” (more…)