14th and Belmont St, NW looking north
So wild to watch the changing landscape. You can watch the progression of the Old Nehemiah Strip Mall to demo to construction here. It will:
“consist of 255 residential homes, ground floor retail, two-level underground parking structure, and associated amenities.”
14th and Chapin St, NW looking south
I can’t believe it’s already been two years. To celebrate they are “offering happy hour all night and 50% off all signature cocktails” tonight. Dickson is located at 903 U St, NW.
Great news for a beautiful 70 degree day! While Standard reopened on March 1st at the corner of 14th and S St, NW I just realized a new (to me) addition. I knew they’d been planning on adding more tables but I was psyched to see they were finally there:
14th and W St, NW
Back in Nov. 2011 I shared some very sweet scutttlebutt saying that Graffiato Chef Mike Isabella would be bringing a new Greek restaurant to the new project going up at 14th and W St, NW. Turns out the scuttlebutt was accurate – and more.
From a press release:
Top Chef All-Stars Runner-Up, Mike Isabella announces plans to open two new restaurants at a 7,000 square foot space at 1326 W St. NW in early 2013. Kapnos, Greek for smoke, is the Greek restaurant Chef Isabella has been conceptualizing for years. Next door he will open G, a sister restaurant to Graffiato serving sandwiches by day and a four-course tasting menu in the evening.
“I’ve been cooking Greek food for a large part of my career, so opening my own place was only a matter of time. With Kapnos, I want to bring something totally unique to DC; daily whole animal spit-roasting is a side of Greek cuisine that no one else is doing in this city,” said Chef/Owner, Mike Isabella. “G is a sister to Graffiato, but the menu will be more traditional Italian – a place to get a meatball hero for lunch and a four-course dinner.”
Kapnos
Chef Isabella will draw inspiration from Northern Greece to create a menu of spreads, breads, phyllo pies, vegetables and other small plates, including his signature wood-grilled octopus. Dinner will culminate with the choice of carvings from whole animals that have been spit-roasted all day, including lamb, goat, duck, chicken, and suckling pig.Two wood-fire grills with five rotating spits each and a small wood oven for flat breads will service the 150-seat restaurant. A marble chef’s table situated in front of the spits will offer up to 10 guests an the opportunity to pre-order a whole spit-roasted animal for their party. Kapnos will be open for dinner seven nights a week and weekend brunch. The wine list will offer an extensive selection from Greece and other European countries.
Chef Isabella has named George Pagonis chef de cuisine and his brother, Nicholas Pagonis general manager. Nicholas is currently a manager at Graffiato and George formerly worked under Chef Isabella as a sous chef at Zaytinya. The brothers are first generation Greek American. Taha Ismail, who currently oversees the cocktail program at Graffiato, will also serve as head mixologist for Kapnos.
G
Chef Isabella will tap Graffiato sous chef, Elliot Drew to serve as executive sous chef at G. The 45-seat space next to Kapnos will offer traditional Italian sandwiches, soups and salads for lunch seven days a week. Chicken parmesan, veal cutlet, sausage with peppers, and meatballs are some of the sandwich fillers Chef Isabella plans to serve by day.By night, G will offer a four-course tasting menu for $40. Dinner will include a pre-set menu of antipasti, pasta, choice of meat or fish and dessert. The kitchen will accommodate dietary needs, but no a la carte menu will be available.
In addition to building the Kapnos and G teams from current and previous colleagues, Chef Isabella has brought on Steve Uhr as director of operations. Beginning April 1, Uhr will oversee all current and future restaurant projects for Chef Isabella.
“We have worked together at Think Food Group in Washington, D.C. and at Starr Restaurant Organization in Philadelphia. Steve is a talented manager; he has opened some of the best restaurants in the country and I wanted him back on my team to help grow my restaurants,” said Chef Isabella.
Previously, Uhr was the general manager for Atlantic Grill in Atlantic City. Prior to that appointment, he held general manager positions at several Washington, D.C. restaurants, including J&G Steakhouse, Blue Duck Tavern and Zaytinya. Uhr has also worked with renowned chefs Wolfgang Puck, José Andrés, Masaharu Morimoto, and Marcus Samuelsson.
Their Website says:
Welcome to Cause Bar and Restaurant, where giving has never been so easy. Cause is a bar like you’ve never seen before. We like to call it a PhilanthroPub.
Here is how it works:
Step 1: You come to Cause; eat, drink, and be merry
Step 2: Cause pays its staff, covers all operating costs
Step 3: Cause takes ALL of the remaining profits, and gives them to pre-vetted nonprofit organizations
Starting in April, come in, have a good time, all for a good Cause!
You can find more background info about the charitable aspect here. You can see their food menu here and you’ll soon be able to see the drink menu here. The executive chef is Adam Stein formerly of Queen Vic.
Like the idea of a Philanthropub?
Dear PoPville,
Just noticed some work going on at this building at the corner of Vermont and V St, NW. While this may just be another improvement to avoid the dreaded abandoned building tax (just like the windows on the second floor), I couldn’t help but notice that the For Sale sign is gone as well.
My hope is that a skilled reader in PoPville may be able to dig something up to see if this property has gone through any recent changes.
I also thought it was cool to see the glass beneath the boards. Looks like this used to be a Glidden paint store, which explains the oval void on the wall where there used to be a sign.
Feb. 2012
When we spoke about Lovely (frozen) Yogurt coming to 1017 U St, NW a commenter said they heard:
“FroZenYo is actually putting a walk-up window in the dry cleaners at 13th/U”
I asked a worker at the Georgetown Valet and she said yes they were coming upstairs. There was a bit of a language barrier so it wasn’t clear exactly when or exactly where they will be coming. But we’ve heard Frozen Yogurt could be coming to 13th and U St, NW since June 2010. Stay tuned.
Jan. 2010
A reader writes:
“Major fire activity at the Pulp/Rue 14/Standard bldg. ladder up to the roof, hoses, the whole thing.”
Dear PoP,
I was walking by the construction at 14th and T NW yesterday and the foreman was holding up his plans and they had Matchbox written all over them. Looked a lot like the logo for the pizza place. I suppose it could also be the name of the construction contractor? Have you heard anything about what’s going in there?
Yup, we’ve been tracking the progress of the Matchbox coming to 14th and T St, NW. And yesterday was a big day for the former Arena Stage building:
Photo by PoPville flickr user JamesRWarner
A reader writes:
“I was riding the 90 bus this morning and around 9:00am, as we approached the intersection of 11th and U streets, there was a cyclist on the ground, who appeared to have been hit by a car. Ambulance and police were on the scene.”
@DCPoliceDept tweets:
“Pedestrian Struck 11th and U St NW Street Closures”
