Last week a reader wrote in asking for an update on “Local 14” which had planned on coming to 1832 14th Street, NW. At that time a commenter wrote:

“i actually live behind this building. They have been doing a lot of work recently. I ran into Aman ( owner of this and local 16). he told me the carpet store from across the street is taking the first floor and a pizza concept restaurant will be on the top floors. this was about three weeks ago.”

Please note that according to this neighbor the rug store will take the first floor and the restaurant will go upstairs.

Yesterday Don Rockwell (thanks to all who sent links and thanks to DR for referencing PoP’s coverage) shared the scoop:

This will be a casual, dive kind of place with a wood-fired oven. The bottom floor will have a carpet store; the top two will have a dining room, possibly a balcony over 14th, and an open kitchen, bar, and small rooftop on the third floor.

Food wise, the menu is forming as 4-5 pizze, and a small menu of constantly changing items. They are hoping to have the oven built on site (3rd floor) by Napolitan builders, and are also discussing the possibility of a wood grill. There will be no gas appliances or lines running into the building. In Edan’s own words, “All fire, baby!”

A PoPville twitter follower notes – is this gonna be the start of a pizza war with Matchbox moving in across the street?


Love Cafe is located at 1501 U St., NW. From Cake Love’s Web site:

“After 8 wonderful years, Love Cafe will be closing at the end of this month. Our final day of business will be Sunday January 29th.”

Washington Business Journal got the reason from owner Warren Brown:

“Brown said increasing rents that the restaurant could not sustain drove the decision to close the cafe’s doors. Brown will still have an operations base on U Street, as there is a CakeLove location there at 1506 U St.”

Were there any fans of Love Cafe?


Stubs Kitchen and Wine is coming to the long vacant former corner store at 1401 T St, NW (next to Policy restaurant at 14th and T St, NW.) The restaurant “will serve upscale American cuisine, heavily influenced by authentic Italian attitude and passion for food.”

Stay tuned for more details as they become available.


Last night a PoPville twitter follower wrote:

“New burger joint at intersection of 14&U wants a 40-seat sidewalk cafe??? Umm… No.”

I asked @AdamLDC what he thought was a reasonable number and he replied:

“Zero would be a reasonable at one of the most crowded intersections in the city.”

A liquor license application posted out front of Black and Orange coming to 14th and U St, NW [1931 14th St, NW] says:

“New restaurant specializing in hamburgers & Latin food. Occupancy load is 79. Sidewalk café has 40 seats.”

Do you guys agree that 40 seats is not reasonable for a sidewalk cafe at this location? Perhaps they could negotiate a way to use the parking lot next door? If they are only talking about the sidewalk itself – do you think any number of cafe seating would be appropriate?


Dear PoPville,

Hey there – just heard from a friend walking to work that they saw a liquour license application for that vacant building between the new art gallery and Room and Board at Swann and 14th for “Local 14” a spin – off of Local 16. May be worth investigating – I know lots of people have been wondering what would happen to that seemingly forgotten space!

Unfortunately, Local 14 applied for a liquor license back in June 2009 and there has been zero visible progress on the space since. So I’m gonna take this opportunity to nominate 1832 14th Street, NW for a retail space horse’s ass award.

Of course if a new restaurant, Local 14 or someone else, does come to the space I think that would be great. It’s a super prime location.


Thanks to all who wrote in with the good news. I stopped by yesterday to get a quick peek of Taylor’s [Taylor Gourmet for the purists] new 14th St, NW location. While finishing touches were getting completed at 1908 14th St, NW (at T St.) you can see below what an amazing transformation occurred with the space. Also, while I was at the 14th location they were finalizing their delivery radius. It’s looking like they’ll cover all of Columbia Heights and Mt. Pleasant. I’ll update when the final borders are determined.


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