Monthly Archives: April 2011

Today for Not So Long Ago, GM stops by the west end of M St. between 33rd St. and Bank St. Today this block hosts the fashionable Cady’s Alley shopping district. It’s one the the nicest additions to Georgetown in over twenty years. That’s why it’s so hard to imagine that block as a run down collection of inexpensive restaurants, which it was in 1993.

As you can see from the photo above, where Waterworks now is, an Indian restaurant once stood. GM’s not sure if it was called Tandoor Indian Cuisine, or whether that was merely descriptive of the offerings. There’s a smaller sign above the awning that says “Madurai Indian Vegetarian Cuisine”. In 1989, a listing in Vegetarian Times recommends the “Madurai Vegetarian Room” and says it’s “upstairs”. So maybe there were two restaurants, one called Tandoor Indian Cuisine, and the other Madurai Indian Vegetarian Cuisine.

The banner advertises it being 18 years old, which would mean it opened around 1975. Anthony Lanier started buying up Cady’s Alley in the mid-90s, so this restaurant probably wasn’t open much longer.

To the left of the Indian restaurant was a TCBY. Interestingly, there’s a small Metro map in the window. It’s crazy to GM to think that the rail system was only 17 years old at the time this photo was taken. The photo itself is 18 years old.

To the right is Zed’s Ethiopian Cuisine, which is now located on M and 28th (and looks a lot fancier than it did back then).

There’s another Madurai sign above Zed’s, which suggests that the restaurant was on the second floor of that building too. Continue reading →