RSS FeedFuel Pizza In Penn Quarter Opens Today (600 F St NW)
Photo courtesy of The Triangle
Fuel Pizza (600 F St NW) which we’ve been watching for over a year opens today in Penn Quarter as shown by the sign visible in their door yesterday evening. The events reference has to do with the fact that this sign was visible to all the Van Halen/Kool & the Gang fans streaming out of the Verizon Center last night. Being right across the street from the Phone Booth undoubtedly means they’ll capture evening business from Caps fans, Wizards fans, and concert goers of all kinds. We assume that Fuel is opening for lunch versus dinner today but readers will have to check it out in person or call the venue to be sure.
Foodie Radar
Custom cocktail and Chartreuse tasting at Rasika
Here are a few things on my foodie radar right now:
RAMMY Awards
Nominees for the RAMMYs were announced this week and several of our neighborhood favorites are in the running.
Fine Dining Restaurant of the Year
The Ashby Inn & Restaurant
Bourbon Steak
Marcel’s
The Oval Room
Rasika
Upscale Casual Restaurant of the Year
Bibiana
Birch & Barley
BlackSalt Fish Market & Restaurant
Oyamel
Proof
Casual Restaurant of the Year
Bar Pilar
C.F. Folks
Hank’s Oyster Bar and Lounge – DC
Mitsitam Native Foods Café
Room 11
New Restaurant of the Year
Elisir Restaurant by Enzo Fargione
Fiola
Graffiato
Hill Country Barbecue Market
Pearl Dive Oyster Palace
Chef of the Year
Anthony Chittum – Vermilion
Tony Conte – The Oval Room
Haidar Karoum – Proof
Kaz Okochi – Kaz Sushi Bistro
Vikram Sunderam – Rasika
Rising Culinary Star of the Year
Justin Bittner – Bar Pilar
Logan Cox – Ripple
Claudio Pirollo – Et Voila!
Adam Sobel – Bourbon Steak
Ed Witt – 701 Restaurant
Pastry Chef of the Year
Cicely Austin – The Oval Room
Fabrice Bendano – Adour
Peter Brett – Blue Duck Tavern
Alison Reed – Ripple
Susan Wallace – BlackSalt Fish Market & Restaurant
Wine Program of the Year
Adour
Cork Wine Bar
Dino
Marcel’s
Plume
Beverage/Mixology Program of the Year
Bourbon Steak
EatGoodFood Group
Estadio
Neighborhood Restaurant Group
Room 11
Manager of the Year
Anna-Marie Ashe – Smith Commons
Daniel Bortnick – Firefly
Reagan Corbett – Jackson 20
Alex Munoz – Hill Country Barbecue Market
Javier Velazquez – Taberna del Alabardero
Employee of the Year
Julie Albert – Brasserie Beck/Marcel’s
Ting Forester – District Commons
Teo Leiva – Fiola
José Alex Medrano – B. Smith’s
Paris Twyman – Founding Farmers – DC
Restaurateur of the Year
José Andrés & Rob Wilder – THINKFoodGROUP
Meshelle & Cathal Armstrong – EatGoodFood Group
Michael Babin – Neighborhood Restaurant Group
Ashok Bajaj – Knightsbridge Restaurant Group
Jeff & Barbara Black – Black Restaurant Group
From April 12-29, you can cast a vote to name the winners in the following categories:
Neighborhood Gathering Place of the Year
Bastille
Bistrot Du Coin
Café Saint-Ex
Et Voila!
The Majestic
Hottest Restaurant Bar Scene of the Year
Black Jack
The Hamilton
Hill Country Barbecue Market
Mad Fox Brewing Company
Marvin
Power Spot of the Year
701 Restaurant
Founding Farmers – DC
The Oval Room
The Source by Wolfgang Puck
Tosca Ristorante
Votes may be cast on Washington City Paper, the finalists’ web sites or at RAMW.
Fresh and Local
The first day of Penn Quarter’s Famers’ Market last week could not have been more beautiful. Everyone was out and about enjoying the beautiful weather and fresh produce, including local chef favorites like Jose Andres.
I was excited to see a few new stalls, including:
Neighborhood Events
America Eats Tavern (405 8th St. NW) and Paso Robles Wine Dinner – April 10
Jaleo DC (4800 7th St. NW) re-opens after a major renovation – March 28
Mad Men
With the return of Mad Men, I’m once again looking for places to try custom cocktails and a sexy martini. Here are a few of my favorites:
Rasika – Jason has been one of my favorite bartenders for a while and I’m sad to see him leave at the end of the month (although excited for his new venture, more later on that). I rarely order off the menu because his custom cocktails are always so perfect for my ever-changing mood.
America Eats Tavern – The menu is great for trying some unusual classic cocktails and Chris is fantastic for conversation.
Bibiana (1100 New York Ave. NW) – Beverage Director, Francesco Amodeo, and bartenders Milton and Will, know how to keep a girl happy. From a great cocktail menu to homemade digestifs, there’s something for everyone.
Passenger (1021 7th St. NW) – a no brainer, Derek Brown et al know how to make a great cocktail!
On another note:
One of my all-time favorite exhibits opens this weekend, March 30, at the Natural History Museum. The Nature’s Best Photography Windland Smith Rice International Winners are not to be missed, and, thankfully, the exhibit will be up for almost eight months. The photographs are always incredibly inspiring, so go check it out.
Fuel Pizza Close To Opening (600 F St NW)
When we came downtown almost seven years ago, we complained that there wasn’t a decent place to get a slice of pizza. (You could get some good chicken at the 11th Street Popeyes walk up window though.) The roller skating rink pizza didn’t cut it and those guys closed anyway. Pizza Bistro Med filled the void and then Z Pizza came along so we could now get our slice of pizza, but choice is always nice. The beauty of capitalism is the competition it brings and another Italian pie slice purveyor looks ready to open very soon. That enterprise is Fuel Pizza at 600 F St NW (corner of 6th and F). More after the break…
Cribs XXII: Patio For Twenty Please
Spring is coming on fast as the cherry blossoms are now out in abundance. With that in mind, being outdoors on building top roof decks or outdoor patios becomes a seasonal reality once more. We enjoy a nice glass of wine and a post-libation semi-annual cigar on our limited but nice outdoor space around this time of year.
With that in mind, we’re pointing out a condo that’s not way large or way overfinished or way overpriced for that matter. It does have one very cool feature and that is its nice, large, urban patio 475 square feet large. We say urban because it is indeed in the core Penn Quarter and has a streetscape level view from the third floor. You can find this 1 bedroom, 1 bath condo at 631 D Street NW – unit number 331. A south facing deck and unit mean lots of high arcing summer sun midday and when the sun disappears mid-afternoon, the cool nights start sooner. We also like that the appliances have been upgraded from the stock units and hardwood floors grace the space. Parking is not included but can be rented in-house or nearby.
The MLS number is DC7800649, the list price is $439,999, the publicly listed area size is 810 square feet, and the condo fee is $568.58 per month. For today’s financial analysis, the math is not as simple as dividing the price by the square footage as we have to assign a value to the patio and deduct it from the price. We’ll go with assigning $25,000 for the patio meaning the spacing price come in at $414,999 or $512 per square foot. Unweighted for the patio, the condo fee comes in at 70.2 cents per square foot. Giving the patio a proportional 5.7% weight, the condo fee comes down to 66.2 cents per square foot which as at the mid-upper end of the normal range for downtown.
There is an open house both today and tomorrow from Noon to 5 pm. You can stop in and say, “Patio for twenty please!” The answer should be, “Right this way.”
631 D St, NW – Unit 331 – Redfin Listing
631 D St, NW – Unit 331 – Photos
(Our Cribs post series explores homes for sale or rent in the downtown DC area. None of these posts are paid placements.)