What's DC's Next U Street for Food?
Celebrity chefs and restaurateurs are crowding 14th Street, U Street, Logan Circle, and H Street NE. But we here at Bisnow like to keep you ahead of the curve and tell you about new places. However, since we have no independent knowledge of anything, we had to find someone else to ask.
1) Petworth
Naturally, we turned to a Papadopoulos--since there are so many of them(that's Tom Papadopoulous,Charles Papadopoulos, Ralph Tapiero, John Gogos, and Nick Papadopoulos outside their Dupont office yesterday). They tell us the influx of residential development in Petworth is likely to attract new restaurants, with the bonus of inexpensive retail rents. "It's a cheaper version of 14th Street," Tom says. Concepts that could have success are "neighborhood spots" like saloons and locations featuring weekend brunches, he adds. Okay, count us in.
2) Bloomingdale
Tom says Bloomingdale (which we thought was a department store but evidently is also an area north of Shaw) is another up-and-comer and has already added hip and busy spots like Rustik Tavern (above, at the corner of T and First streets). Like Petworth, the neighborhood is seeing more residents, both through condo sales and apartment rentals--the magnet for merchants of food.
3) CBD
While the CBD remains the core of DC's business arena, new fine dining spots have largely stayed away, the guys say. For star chefs and hot concepts "it's not on the top of anyone's list," Tom says; instead, they're choosing hipper neighborhoods to break in to the District. There's also a lack of available space in the CBD as fast casual lunch spots and power business dinner spots dominate. The lack of residential hurts, but Tom tells us to look out for new lunch concepts and happy hour-focused bars.
Elsewhere, the Papadopoulos gang is close to a deal in Northern Virginia with Fox Restaurant Concepts' True Food Kitchen, a healthy-based concept only open on the West Coast (here's a shot of the Santa Monica location). The group says they're also close to two other deals with concepts new to DC. One is a major West Coast group and the other is one of the most prominent chefs in the world, Tom says. (We're going to assume it's one of our mothers, just to avoid insulting anyone reading this.)
John says the firm is also actively seeking DC sites for Stone's Cove restaurant, a kitbar concept featuring a kitchen behind the bar. (The bartender prepares both food and drink; that's the Herndon location, above.) They're also celebrating the openings soon of two clients--whiskey bar Black Whiskey at 1410 14th St this week and M Cafe at 14th and R.
