The Georgetown Metropolitan

A new 24-hour diner has been announced for 1424 Wisconsin Ave. The name of the restaurant will be Mono Diner.

The restaurant has a webpage, but most of it seems to be stock photos and text. The gallery page, however, appears to have photos uploaded to WordPress this month, so that may be representative of what the restaurant plans to offer. Except, oops, it looks like most of the photos are from IHOP.

The more GM digs into this, the more apprehensive he gets. Setting aside the half baked website and the stolen photos of food, the people behind the restaurant don’t have a great track record.

The business name “Mono Diner” was just registered with the PTO by Mohammad Esfahani. The name will be familiar to those that closely follow the history of this stretch of Wisconsin Ave. In 2002 he leased 1329 Wisconsin Ave. But after idiotically placing a tar machine on the roof, the building collapsed. Then he tore down all but the facade. A historic mid-19th century building was essentially destroyed by his actions. Continue reading →

Photo by Daniel Lobo.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• New bike lane on K St. starting to take shape.
• Friday was the anniversary of the abolition of the City of Georgetown.

1500 block of 31st St.

Photo by Jgregor

It’s that time again, and GM will today provide (and slightly update) his annual Intern’s Guide to Georgetown:

As year-round Washingtonians know, it’s that time of year again. Eager young interns have arrived in earnest droves to fill those couple inches on their resumes between their GPAs and their “other interests”. Many of these interns will be drawn to live and/or play in Georgetown. GM publishes the below crash course for interns each year:

To Live:

There’s a movement to pay interns more, in order to allow a wider swath of the population to participate in career enhancing experiences. But that said, if you’re an intern you’re still probably living on little to no pay. Can you afford to live in Georgetown? Maybe. But you’ll have to look hard. You’re young, so you probably can’t even remember a time before Craigslist, so no need mention that. But there are other places to look too. The City Paper still has decent listings, but for the short term rentals that you’re probably looking for you may try off campus housing listings like you’ll find here. GM has also heard good things about Facebook Marketplace. Good luck.

To Eat:

The Safeway should be on your weekly checklist. You can load up on groceries without going totally broke. For some variety, go to the Whole Foods up in Glover Park sometimes (the Whole Foods is indefinitely closed), or the Trader Joe’s in the West End. Or you could sign up for Car2Go and head out to Costco at Pentagon City to really make your dollar go far.

Or you could eat Chipotle every night. It’s up to you. (Although, really, GM wouldn’t recommend it.)

Restaurants in Georgetown get a bad wrap. But there are plenty of relatively cheap options for a weekly night out. Here are some of GM’s old reliable options:

• Mexican – Los Cuates
• Falafel – Falafel, Inc.
• Pizza – Pizzeria Paradiso
• Spanish – Bodega
• Korean – Zannchi

When your parents come to visit and are paying the bill, make a reservation at Chez Billy Sud or, if you’re a traditionalist, 1789.
Continue reading →

Photo by Bill Starrels.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Look at the manholes around Georgetown: some of them are from as distant as 1891.
• Don’t forget that the first concert in the parks is this Sunday at Volta Park!

Dumbarton Oaks

A brazen daytime car break-in was captured by a security camera last Saturday.

The footage, which can be seen here, shows the perp walking up to the car and break the window (he shows up at about the 1:38 mark of the clip). The way he just casually leaned against the glass before it shattered suggests he was using a special punch tool, ostensibly designed for emergency situations. Continue reading →

Photo by Bill Starrels.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Five new shops and restaurants in Georgetown worth checking out.
• Filomena is now 35 years old. Or 115 in restaurant years.

1500 block of 35th St.

Next Monday night the ANC will be meeting for its June session at the normal time and place: Visitation at 6:30 pm. Here are some highlights from the agenda:

• Apparently there are still some hardcore Calvin Coolidge fans out there because the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation is trying to set up shop on Prospect St. The foundation is here to answer the hard questions, like “Is it time for Coolidge?” GM personally thinks it’s always time for Coolidge.
• Compass Coffee will be on hand to request zoning relief to allow for them to build out the 112-seat cafe they have in mind for the Georgetown theater.
• The DC Office of Cable Television, Film, Music & Entertainment will be on hand to discuss their ANC notification process. Reading between the lines, the commission is upset about the lack of notice for the filming of Wonder Woman II that will happen in June and July. Or not! We’ll see….

Continue reading →