RSS FeedShopHouse Kitchen Announces Presence In Chinatown (710 7th St NW)
We knew that the Asian flavored, Chipotle manufacturing line inspired (and owned) ShopHouse Kitchen signed a deal to move in to 710 7th Street NW but scant movement was seen until yesterday when we noticed that their sign went up in the window bay. No specific opening date is mentioned on the sign but that they’re hiring and that is always a good sign in the typical restaurant opening timeline we’ve grown to know and love.
Will they compete effectively with the similarly conceived Merzi already open in the 400 block of 7th Street NW? We’re big fans of Merzi and tried the ShopHouse in Dupont so we have a few opinions already but we’ll wait to see the execution of ShopHouse’s Chinatown outlet. If you want an advance compare, the typical ShopHouse menu can be found at this link.
Art on Foot: Heineken Mural Project
Have you ever noticed this colorful mural near 4th and I Streets NW? In looking into it, the mural is part of the Heineken Mural Project (there are 4 in downtown in DC). This mural was painted by the Argentinian graffiti artist Ever.
Finding What’s Open And Closed During Snow Emergencies
We hope everyone is enjoying the snow today. We want to let everyone know that the most efficient way for us to let you know what’s happening in downtown DC and Penn Quarter during snow emergencies is to favorite all the tweets sent by those businesses and the city government who want to keep their customers/citizens apprised of their status. (You may need to log in to Twitter to see this page.) This way readers can refer to one handy page to see the operating status of all the businesses who’ve elected to tweet it out.
Since businesses are also responding in real time to the weather, they sometimes change their operational plans during the day. We favorite those tweets too. Stay safe and warm today!
Find our Twitter favorites page here: https://twitter.com/pqliving/favorites
Downtown DC/Penn Quarter Link Roundup: Heard In The ‘Hood
Happy Friday all! Here’s what we’re reading recently about neighborhood news in DC. Have something to add? Leave it in the comments!
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Events/News
Downtown - The community is requested to provide comments on the options for redesigning Franklin Park. [National Park Service - Franklin Park Project homepage] & [Comment page]
Chinatown/Penn Quarter – An interesting story on the Tandem Legal Group, a law firm that took over the space LivingSocial occupied early on at 829 7th St NW. [WaPo]
Downtown/Penn Quarter – The Streets of Washington profiled both the histories of both the Pension Building (now the National Building Museum) and the old Ambassador Hotel (now gone, formerly at 14th and K St NW). [SoW - Pension Building] & [SoW - Ambassador Hotel]
Development
Mount Vernon Triangle - The Mount Vernon Triangle Community Improvement District (MVTCID) unveiled their new website. [MVTCID website]
Restaurants/Food
Penn Quarter - The Red Apron Butcher opened this week at 709 D St NW. Yum, yum! [Penn Quarter Living]
Penn Quarter – Bodogs at 614 E St NW has a new website, tables for outside dining, and now offers beer on their menu. Just in time for the warm up we hope to get in March. [Bodogs website]
Downtown - Richard Sandoval (Zengo) will open a Thai restaurant called Mango Tree in CityCenter. [Washington Business Journal]
(We’ll have a dedicated CityCenter update coming soon as there’s lots going on there to mention.)
Crib of the Week (CotW)
We don’t have a Crib of the Week but we did see an interesting update on the condos sold at CityCenter. Recorded prices for sold units have ranged from $417K to $1.7M so far. [Washington Business Journal]
Foodie Radar: JBF Nominees
Liquid Olives at Jaleo
Last week, the James Beard Foundation announced the semifinalists for this year’s awards. Congratulations to our neighborhood nominees:
- Columbia Room at The Passenger – Outstanding Bar Program
- Rogue 24 – Outstanding Bar Program
- Jaleo – Outstanding Restaurant
- Ashok Bajaj, Knightsbridge Restaurant Group (Rasika, 701, and others) – Outstanding Restaurateur
- Haidar Karoum, Proof – Best Chef: Mid Atlantic
- Vikram Sunderam, Rasika – Best Chef: Mid Atlantic
The 2014 James Beard Awards will be presented in NYC on May 2 and 5. Good luck everyone!
*UPDATED* Red Apron Butcher/The Partisan Openeds This Week (709 D St NW)?
UPDATED (Feb 27): We stopped by Red Apron yesterday to confirm it opened (it had!) and make a purchase to support the local economy (can you say jerky?). Both the foods available and the space to eat it in are fantastic! All the usual DC media suspects covered the opening in one way or another. If we have anything to add, we’ll put it into a subsequent post. Hours follow below:
- Breakfast…served weekdays, 7:30-11 AM; Saturdays, 9 AM-2:30 PM; Sundays, 9 AM-5 PM
- Lunch…weekday lunch is served from 11 AM-2:30 PM
- Butcher counter…open until 8 PM daily, 5 PM on Sundays
UPDATED (Feb 25): It is confirmed that the Red Apron opens tomorrow, Wednesday, February 26. The Washington Post has the menu (breakfast/lunch) and the Washingtonian has the hours/photos.
We believe the long awaited Red Apron Butcher/The Partisan may open this week at 709 D St NW. Posters on the exterior of the storefront (see photo above and below) mostly suggest it might open today but one of the posters indicates Wednesday, February 26 which resonates with a few hints available in the media at large too. Our money is on Wednesday.
When we moved downtown this was one broken down building - here’s how it looked in March of 2007. Now it’s all restored and pretty much filled up. What a difference!
American Cool Exhibit Continues At National Portrait Gallery
A number of neighbors remarked to us that the American Cool exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery (8th and F St NW) is in fact one cool exhibition to see. From the NPG’s website:
What does it mean when a generation claims a certain figure as cool? What qualities does this person embody at that historical moment? “American Cool” explores these questions through photography, history, and popular culture. In this exhibition, cool is rendered visible, as shot by some of the finest art photographers of the past century.
The NPG wrote in to let us know that the exhibit continues to draw large crowds and that a number of events are planned in March including the following related specifically to the American Cool exhibit:
Richardson Symposium: American Cool
Friday, March 7, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Nan Tucker McEvoy Auditorium
The concept of cool is the most influential contribution American culture has made to global aesthetics and style. An exemplary group of cool scholars, hosted by “American Cool” co-curators Joel Dinerstein and Frank Goodyear, will explore how three intersecting branches of cool—youth culture, popular culture and African American culture—impact style, marketing and society. Speakers will discuss two related questions: What do we mean when we say someone is cool? How do icons of cool impact society for a given generation? The scholars will address what cool means in their work and in American culture, participate in panel discussions and then take questions from the audience. There will be a break for lunch on your own at 12:30 p.m. and the program will resume at 2:00 p.m. with a roundtable discussion, followed by a tour of the exhibition with the co-curators at 3:00 p.m.
Curator’s Tour: American Cool
Saturday, March 8, 2:00 p.m.
Joel Dinerstein, co-curator of “American Cool” and the James H. Clark Endowed Chair in American Civilization at Tulane University, leads a tour of the exhibition. Meet at the exhibition entrance, second floor. Following the tour, Dinerstein will sign copies of the exhibition catalogue in the G Street lobby from 3:00 to 3:30 p.m. The catalogue will be available for purchase in the museum shop.
