From a press release:

“Internationally renowned Japanese chef and restaurateur Makoto Okuwa, who earlier this year opened three full-service Love, Makoto concepts, has opened the much-anticipated Phase 2 of his food hall. Joining the already popular restaurants Dear Sushi and Beloved BBQ—plus the buzzy bar Hiya Izakaya—the fast-casual component of the food hall will at first sell salads, fried-chicken sandwiches, sushi rolls and ramen in addition to a robust coffee and tea program. Down the line, a Japanese bakery opening earlier and featuring mochi donuts and soft serve will help locals and tourists awake to something sweet. Other savories like dumplings and Japanese curries will also join the lineup. Read More

photo by Mike Fuentes Photography

From a press release:

“The sushi omakase, Japanese grill omakase and izakaya—three separate full-service concepts—will be joined by a fast-casual food hall later this year

Internationally renowned Japanese chef and restaurateur Makoto Okuwa, who kicked off his American culinary career as a sushi chef at DC’s beloved Sushi Taro, returns to Washington with the opening of Love, Makoto, a culinary love letter addressed to the city that welcomed him so long ago. Okuwa has partnered with Chef David Deshaies and Restaurateur Eric Eden—the homegrown restaurant team behind Unconventional Diner and L’Ardente—to bring about an ambitious Japanese culinary collection unlike any other. Located at 200 Massachusetts Ave. NW, the 20,000-square-foot space is adjacent to L’Ardente, with the sister restaurants sharing the entire first floor of the Capitol Crossing development in DC’s newly minted East End neighborhood.

“I’m so excited to return to Washington, D.C., to show this city where I have been since we parted, and how those journeys have informed my perspective as a chef,” says Okuwa. “With so many ways to experience Love, Makoto, we hope our diners return again and again—always finding something new to love.”

CONCEPTS

The Japanese culinary collection will open in two phases. Read More

This is in from of the new Capitol Crossing development in the 200/300 block of Massachusetts Ave, NW. Very cool – it’s by Red Grooms – Red’s Ruckus Cadillac: Read More

Thanks to Jess for sending: ” Does anyone know what these lion (and maybe t-rex) sculptures are doing under the 3rd Street tunnel?” Read More

Photo by Chief

From a press release:

“Today, the oldest synagogue built in Washington was relocated to its permanent home at the southeast corner of 3rd and F St., NW – above a portion of the Capitol Crossing parking garage – where it will become a centerpiece of the new Lillian & Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum. The museum will sit across F St. from the historic Holy Rosary Church, which is part of the Capitol Crossing development. Since November of 2016, the 140-year-old building has been perched off of 3rd Street, NW, in anticipation of today’s journey.

The museum will be home to new state-of-the-art facilities, including expanded exhibition, education and programmatic offerings, that will provide insight into the heritage of the Washington-area Jewish community. Read More

Ed. Note: This is part of the Capitol Crossing development, which back in 2017 we learned was getting a restaurant from the group behind NYC’s Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern, Blue Smoke etc.

But still.

Thanks to Alyssa for sending this curiosity:

“They’ve [200 Massachusetts Ave, NW] been constructing this building for a couple years and all of a sudden these giant fake zoo animals have appeared inside the unfinished space” Read More

Streets of Washington, written by John DeFerrari, covers some of DC’s most interesting buildings and history. John is the author of Historic Restaurants of Washington, D.C.: Capital Eats, published by the History Press, Inc. and also the author of Lost Washington DC.

It’s now a desolate patch of land–a parking garage over a buried stretch of Interstate 395 waiting to be redeveloped. But the site at the northwest corner of 2nd and I Streets NW has an impressive history. Cresting a gentle hill, the view toward the Capitol from this spot once was commanding. This is where a stately row of three grand townhouses known as “Douglas Row” once stood. They were homes to senators, mayors, businessmen, Civil War generals, and even a U.S. president. They also served as a hospital during the Civil War and as an orphan asylum. But as the neighborhood declined in the 20th century, the prestige vanished. Tourists once stopped and read historical markers on these buildings, but one by one they were demolished. Now, nothing is left to mark this site’s remarkable past.

Late 1860s view of Douglas Row (author’s collection).

The first settler in this area was a Captain Samuel Burch, a prominent early Washingtonian who built a country house nearby in 1812. The area was known as “Burch’s Hill” for much of the 19th century as a result. But little else was here until 1851, when Stephen A. Douglas (1813-1861), the Illinois senator and famous rival of Abraham Lincoln known as the “Little Giant,” purchased two blocks of undeveloped land–the block where Douglas Row would be built as well as the one on the other (south) side of I Street. Other than Burch’s house, few structures had been built in this area; the roads had not even been graded or clearly marked. Though just a few blocks north of Massachusetts Avenue, this was unmistakably “country.” At the time, Douglas was entering his second term as senator from Illinois, and he must have seen this hilltop as a perfect, bucolic location, just outside of the city, to build “a comfortable and convenient temporary residence for himself and his family during his service in the Senate,” as he later explained. Read More