The Georgetown Metropolitan

This week in Not So Long Ago, GM stops by M St. and Potomac. Nowadays its home to Jonathan Umbel’s two successful restaurants, Hook and Tacklebox (or what a friend of GM calls, respectively, “Fish” and “Lobster”).

Eighteen years ago, the Tacklebox space was occupied by the dearly beloved Georgetown Bagelry. This bagel shop opened up shop on M St. in the 1980s. It stayed open here until 2007 (or maybe 2008, GM can’t quite remember). True devotees can still get their Georgetown Bagel fix at the remaining Bethesda location. (GM also thinks he heard once that Booeymonger carried them too, but he’s not certain about that).

Next door, it appears that in 1993 the space was occupied by an electronics store and a jewelers. These stores were eventually replaced by Cilantro, a Spanish tapas restaurant. Cilantro itself closed up shop in 2007 to make room for Hook.

A while back, Jonathan Umbel floated the idea to purchase the cigar store next to Tacklebox and turn it into a high end butcher. The plans for the property sale fell through and Umbel gave up on the idea. Of course, after the recent fire, Hook and Tacklebox are out of commission indefinitely. So Umbel obviously has other things to worry about than further expansion. Continue reading →