The Georgetown Metropolitan

A new restaurant in opening at 3206 O St. It is called Masala Street and it specializes in Indian food.

It is expected to be open this week. The menu featured a broad array of popular Indian food such as Chicken Tikka Masala and Saag Paneer, plus much more (including the always popular, but not particularly Indian, choices of wings and fried chicken).

The restaurant replaces Pica Taco, which served Mexican food at that location since 2018. Previous to that was the short lived Gtown Bites, and the much longer lasting Georgetown Dinette before that.

Georgetown always needs a good supply of cheapish eats, so GM’s glad to see that continue with Masala Street.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• GU is planning on building a large new dorm near Union Station.
• The story behind the Cat Cafe.

A shop that sells rare and unusual snack items has just opened at 1432 Wisconsin Ave. The shop is called Fat Munchiez, and it is the second location for the shop.

GM honestly didn’t realize there is a market in such things as Japanese candy or Pepsi cream soda, but the store appears to already have fans:

Always nice to have some unique shops around the neighborhood, so welcome Fat Munchiez!

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Alarming shooting between an off-duty police officer and suspected robbers on 28th St. Tuesday night. One suspect taken into custody but the other fled.
• New jewelry store opened in Cady’s Alley.

The K St./Water St. protected bike has finally been extended to the entrance of the Capital Crescent Trail. This work, which has been long in the planning, took place over the last several weeks. It has transformed the western end of this stretch.

Heading from the east, the first notable addition you will likely notice is the new mini traffic circle at 34th St.:

The purpose of this circle is to facilitate cars turning around at this point, rather than heading all the way down to the Capital Crescent trailhead. To discourage going further, DDOT has removed almost all of the street parking west of this spot. Anyone who has been down this way on a weekend afternoon knows how dangerous it is as drivers scream down the street looking for free parking, only to then have to execute a dangerous three-point turn to head back once they realize no spots are open. It will be much safer with far fewer cars driving west of 34th St.

When GM walked by recently, the circle was not having its intended effect, at least not yet. For one, drivers went right through the circle. GM is informed that a raised surface in the center will soon be installed that will discourage this. Further, unfortunately not all the parking was removed, so people are still going to be driving past the circle despite the chances of finding a spot being basically zero.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• GM’s foster dog Socks is still available for adoption! Please let anyone who’s in the market for a new dog know about him!
• GU’s weekly Covid numbers still stubbornly stuck in the lower double digits.

Last week, the City Tavern Club put out for permanent display a photograph of Alfred Delaney Clarke. Clarke, along with several generations worth of family members, was an enslaved resident of the building in the decades leading up to the Civil War when it was host to the Georgetown Hotel. The photo is the only known photo of any resident of the historic tavern building.

The photo was in the possession of descendants of Clarke, seventeen of whom were present for the dedication last week:

Clarke and his family were enslaved by Eleanor Lang, who ran the hotel from 1832 until 1865. This relationship first began when Lang purchased two teenage girls in the 1820s. She would ultimately enslave no fewer than eleven members of Clarke’s family.

The connection between the tavern building and the Clarke family has been rigorously researched by Yvette LaGonterie (who is also one of the members of the family). She gave a fascinating talk at the City Tavern Club in the weeks before Covid hit. (It was probably the last time GM was in a crowded indoor space!) The club itself has actively welcomed and encouraged this research and this display is part of its own reckoning with its past. Or as Mary Beth Torpey, president of the club, stated in the event’s press release “it is through the Clarke lineage that we collectively can honor and appreciate the full story of the building’s past.”

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Developer pitches idea to redevelop some properties on Water St., only truly waterfront homes in DC.
• GU to soon require all visitors to be fully vaccinated.