Category Archives: Restaurants

April 20, 2010 · 10:00 am

Bo Blair Brings his Nantucket Fixation Actually to Nantucket

Georgetowner Bo Blair has had remarkable success over the last decade starting bars and restaurants in and around Georgetown, almost all of which sport a Nantucket theme. Starting with Smith Point in 2000 (named after Nantucket’s Smith’s Point), Blair found a winning strategy combining a restrictive guest list with the aspiration of an ACK bumper sticker. It was a perfect business plan for George W. Bush’s Washington.

Blair soon added more family-friendly spots with Foxhall’s Jetties (featuring sandwiches all named after Nantucket beaches) and Glover Park’s Surf Side (a Nantucket beach itself). [Both fantastic restaurant’s in GM’s opinion] Continue reading →

6 Comments

Filed under Restaurants

Tagged as ,

April 15, 2010 · 10:00 am

Ristorante Piccolo Finally Set to Reopen

It’s been a long 18 months since Ristorante Piccolo was gutted in a fire. Opening dates have been pushed back several times, but it appears that they have finally come up with an opening date they can meet: the last week of April. Georgetown’s Little Italy will finally be complete.

Share

3 Comments

Filed under Restaurants

Tagged as ,

March 15, 2010 · 9:00 am

Serendipitous Plans

Serendipity 3 ice cream sundae by joanna3555.

As reported all over the place, L2’s Rodrigo Garcia and Rhino’s Britt Swan have signed a deal to bring New York’s Serendipity 3 to the old Nathan’s location. For those not familiar with it, Serendipity 3 is an expensive ice cream parlor in the Upper East Side. Depending on whom you ask, it’s either a wonderful high-end restaurant or a total tourist trap.

But what specifically can we expect for Georgetown’s Serendipity 3? The NYC location offers a menu of various burgers and sandwiches, including also such odd choices as macarroni pizza and a $1,000 sundae.

But beside this basic outline, what will the Georgetown location actually look like? GM inquired with Garcia and Swan and received no comment, so he had to do a little digging on his own. Continue reading →

11 Comments

Filed under Restaurants

Tagged as , ,

March 10, 2010 · 10:01 am

Philly Pizza Finally Closes For Real (For Now)

After a long battle with the neighbors, the owners of Philly Pizza on Potomac St. are crying uncle. For now. In February the restaurant lost its appeal to a BZA attempting to overrule DCRA’s decision to revoke its restaurant license. Notwithstanding the loss, the owners simply stayed open until yesterday when, as first reported by Vox Populi, they finally consented to close. However, the restaurant owners are already planning (threatening?) on reapplying with DCRA for a new license.

But for now, after this long fight between the restaurant and the neighbors, the ANC, and CAG, who deserves to give the victory speech? The Mayor, of course.

Seriously.

Adrian Fenty is giving a press conference in front of Philly Pizza this morning at 11:00. The last time Fenty gave a morning press conference in Georgetown, Maret ended up with a sweet deal for the Jelleff fields. Who wants to bet Sidwell Friends just rented itself a pizza joint?

Check out the consent agreement after the jump: Continue reading →

3 Comments

Filed under Restaurants

Tagged as

February 26, 2010 · 10:05 am

Georgetown’s Liquor Licenses Held in Safe Keeping

Two weeks ago, the Current dug into the story about how ABRA is considering adding two more liquor licenses to the Georgetown Moratorium. One of the bigger issues that stem from the moratorium is the issue of liquor licenses held in safe keeping. Which got GM wondering, who’s holding on to those anyway?

Quick background: There is a moratorium on new liquor licenses for Georgetown. Thus, ABRA cannot issue any new licenses for bars or restaurants in Georgetown (hotels aren’t subject to the moratorium).  They can, however, buy licenses from people or entities that already have one.

This legislated scarcity has reportedly pushed the going rate of a liquor license in Georgetown up to $70,000. As the Current reported, the most recent five year moratorium period is coming up, and ABRA is proposing to add two more licenses to the total. The stated reason for these two new licenses is, in the words of ANC Commissioner Bill Starels, to “dampen the bidding wars.”

But who are they bidding to? An active restaurant or bar isn’t likely to sell its liquor license, so any new establishment must look to the defunct restaurants and bars that are still holding on to their inactive licenses (known as licenses held in safe keeping). Continue reading →

4 Comments

Filed under Bars, Restaurants

Tagged as ,

February 19, 2010 · 3:09 pm

Paul Bakery Idea Panning Out After All

Paul's Restaurant - French Bakery on Wisconsin Ave.

The other day, GM listed some rumors he had heard about Georgetown that never seemed to come to fruition. One of them was the planned Paul Bakery, a French bakery that was supposed to take over the kitchen of the City Tavern with a store front just south of Banana Republic.

After some activity last spring, GM hadn’t heard a peep about the place so it seemed as if the Great Recession squashed another restaurant before it even opened. So it was a pleasant surprise to hear that the restaurant is full speed ahead. GM hears that it should be open by September or October.

One element he was not aware of was that despite the fact that the restaurant will be called Paul and it is being opened by the same company that owns J. Paul’s, it is actually an international chain restaurant. While one commenter thought the Miami outpost of this chain was watered down, GM understands that the Georgetown branch won’t be a franchise but rather a joint venture between CRC and the French parent. Hopefully that will ensure higher quality. Either way, it will be an improvement on the boarded up building that is there now.

7 Comments

Filed under Restaurants

Tagged as

February 18, 2010 · 10:01 am

Ideas That Didn’t Pan Out (At Least Not Yet)

The Georgetown Metropolitan has been published since December of 2008. Over that time GM has announced a lot of new stores and restaurants or other new treats for Georgetown. The thing is, some of those ideas never saw the light of day. GM would like to list the names of those we never got to know:

Paul's Restaurant - French Bakery on Wisconsin Ave.

Paul Restaurant

Capital Restaurant Concepts, the organization behind J. Paul’s, Neyla, Paolo’s and others, applied to turn the kitchen of the City Tavern Club into a French bakery called Paul Restaurant. While a placemark for the restaurant is still on the BID website, eleven months later and there are no signs of activity in the space.

Chance This Will Come to Fruition in 2010: Slim



The Mad Butcher

In October of 2008, Jonathan Umbell of Hook and Tacklbox announced plans to open a full service butcher in the space next to Tacklebox. As described at the time, it would have been an awesome addition to Georgetown:

At The Mad Butcher, whole pigs and sides of cattle from local farmers would be brought in and prepared on site. There would be an aging room on the property to treat the meat. The business would sell uncooked meat, and a casual cafe and fine dining restaurant would serve it.

Unfortunately a deal couldn’t be struck for Umbell to buy the property. In June 2009 he told GM that he felt the moment may have passed and he wouldn’t consider opening up at a different location until the economy improved. Needless to say, but Georgetown is still butcher-less.

Chance This Will Come to Fruition in 2010: None Continue reading →

12 Comments

Filed under Restaurants, Retail

Tagged as , , ,

February 1, 2010 · 10:00 am

Georgetown’s Little Italy Finally Blooms?

Venice by Albireo2006.

With the opening of a new pizza shop called Fratelli Bufala last year, GM started to notice that Georgetown had its own Little Italy forming on 31st south of M St. Along with Fratelli La Bufala there was Paper Moon and the once and future Ristorante Piccolo all on the same block.

Well if you blinked you probably missed Fratelli La Bufala. It was open for only a couple months (if that.) With Ristorante Piccolo still closed and Fratelli La Bufala out, Georgetown’s Little Italy was threatening to come to an end before it even started.

However, soon after Fratelli La Bufala closed, GM heard rumors that the building’s owner wanted to simply open up his own Italian restaurant.

Those rumors appear to have come at least partially true. GM was walking by the store yesterday and saw some activity in the kitchen. Peering in he saw that the hostess stand had the name Il Canale written on it (which is Italian for the canal channel and/or an aphrodisiacal olive oil.) Continue reading →

6 Comments

Filed under Restaurants

Tagged as , , ,

January 22, 2010 · 2:20 pm

Puro Cafe Opens

Way back in October, GM first reported on the impending opening of Puro Cafe on upper Wisconsin Ave. For a small cafe, it really seemed to take a long time to actually open. But today the wait is finally over and Puro Cafe opened its doors to the public. GM stopped by for lunch and he can attest that the wait was worth it.

The first thing you’ll notice when you enter Puro Cafe is that you’ll feel like you walked into a high-end hair salon. Think of it as if Ilo started selling paninis: the aesthetic stark and modern, the music background-techno.

As GM reported last October, the design team behind Puro Cafe is Tasty Concepts, who are actually located just upstairs from the cafe. They are also the design team behind restaurants like Mei N Yu and West End, and their professional hand is evident throughout Puro Cafe.

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under Restaurants

Tagged as

January 15, 2010 · 10:00 am

Restaurant Week/Month Is At Hand

The annual Restaurant Week has arrived again. For many this is a chance to try out spots they’d ordinarily consider too expensive (for others it’s a reason to stay home).

So who’s offering deals in Georgetown? Here’s the list according to OpenTable.Com:

  • 1789
  • Bistro Francais
  • Bistrot Lepic
  • Cafe Bonaparte
  • Farmers & Fishers (nee Agraria)
  • Filomena
  • Hook
  • La Chaumiere
  • Mie N Yu
  • Morton’s
  • Neyla
  • Nick’s Riverside Grill
  • Sea Catch
  • Sequoia

On top of the normal restaurant week, 1789 and Farmers & Fishers are making it Restaurant Month by offering specials straight through 1/31.

Leave a comment

Filed under Restaurants

Tagged as