RSS FeedWhat Rhymes With Gucci? Not Balducci’s
“What rhymes with a luxury goods retailer like Gucci?” was our hint last Friday. The answer is not…Balducci’s. And it’s the infamous “Balducci’s space” at 425 7th Street, NW, that Carmine’s of New York, an Italian restaurant, will occupy by February 2010 according to this WaBizJo post. Last week, we let you know that Carmine’s was advertising for positions in the Penn Quarter and speculated where it might land on 7th Street. We linked to the historical image so you can get the back in the day look.
In the world of retail openings, nothing is for sure until the doors swing open and the spaghetti and chianti appear on the table but it finally looks like the dice have been cast for this space after a three year long neighborhood saga.
Thanks FourthandEye!
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Comments
Oy! Chain Italian red sauce goop. Family-style = tourist trap. Great use of space, Akridge! Again, it proves that the checkbooks speaks louder than the needs of a community.
Six cars (including mine) broken into in the garage beneath the Clara Barton/Lafayette today. Bastards!
That sounds like a nice place for everyone in the area; I would have killed for great Italian food over the last 4 years. Unfortunately, I will be in the McLean starting around October 2009.
Seriously, I love Carmine’s. It may attract tourists, but the food is AWESOME. May I recommend the fried calamari, garlic bread, Chicken ala Romano, the lamb special, Carmine’s Salad, and the Titanic for dessert? As a NY’er, I’ve been completely disappointed with the lack of good red sauce italian restaurants in DC. Thank goodness Carmine’s is coming — it easily beats anything else in DC in that genre. If you’ve never eaten there and want a preview of the food, there is a Carmine’s cookbook for sale. I consider this fantastic news…
@Anon 10 pm – a factual correction. the landlord for the space is Douglas Development and not Akridge.
come on folks…..let’s try keeping on the bright side of life.
– empty storefront=bad, new business in the ‘hood=good
– how about tasting the food before assuming it is a bad restaurant?
– we DO live in the tourist hub of the city and one way for a business around here to be viable is to cater to those tourists.
– the $30 entree (that anon 11:10 mentioned) is enough to serve several people. family style prices. think Maggiono’s and Buca de Beppo.
– pasta is yummy. 
i send a big welcome to Carmine’s. perhaps i’ll go eat at their NY restaurant next time i’m up there to check it out. i’ll report back then…
and I leave you with a quote from that fine TV show, Fantasy Island:
smiles everyone, smiles!
Ditto @Anonymous 9:50. At a time when hardly anything is opening, we are lucky to get a $9 million restaurant and a couple hundred new jobs. And I’ve heard the food is quite good.
I agree with Xathar – Carmine’s food is excellent, and in a city of also-rans when it comes to Itlalian food, a restaurant that appreciates good, fresh ingredients will be a welcome addition. Yes, it is a “red sauce” place, yes it is family style, but so what? The price point in NYC is not “$30 an extree” either. Look at the crowds Carmine’s gets in NYC – it’s business people, tourists, locals, etc. I for one, cannot wait.
for red sauce Italian I also like Luigi’s in the 1100 block of 19th St NW. But I may not know from red sauce Italian, being from Ohio originally! Sad to see this ain’t gonna be a grocery, but at least it is gonna be something now – and hopefully the bums will get swept out of the doorways each morning.
The only Balducci’s I know of in DC (New Mexico Ave in Cathederal Heights closed a couple of months ago) so maybe things are not going so well for them
I’ll go try it out, especially if it’s an affordable option along the same lines as Hard Rock or Gordon Biersch. Not everyone living downtown earns a six figure income…
I’ve been waiting for that storefront to be filled for years. Thank goodness someone, anyone took it. The encampments in the doorway were not only an eyesore, but also a public health risk. In this economy, we should all be happy, and really, who doesn’t like a good old fashioned pasta gut-buster meal once in a while. There’s plenty of other options if chains aren’t your thing, and I would hardly consider this more of a chain than Rosa Mexicano. Wow, all the new developments in the hood are making me reconsider moving to Denver. If you want to be productive and complain, please contact the National Portrait Museum about monitoring the East Steps. The trash that piles up there is disgusting. Maybe McD’s can sponsor some cleanup since it usually is trash from their establishment.
The food at Carmine’s off Broadway in Times Square is amazing. It is the authentic place that Buca di Bepo is based on.
No way it is a $9 million dollar build-out. Think about it. You can build a stand alone high end mansion for less than $9 million bucks. Maybe $2 million, and that would make it a ridiculously over the top nice place.
the $9M figure is in the video around minute 4:42. Banks, the CEO, uses the words “we’re going to be building an almost $9M restaurant…”
the only restaurant in DC proper that I can think of that rivals in size is the Old Ebbitt Grill. after doing a little research, here’s what I found about Old Ebbitt which is the #6 grossing restaurant in the United States for 2008. I’d heard this from industry types a few times but didn’t think it true until seeing the Top 100 restaurant list here in Restaurant & Institutions magazine.
Old Ebbitt Grill…
2008 Sales: $23.3 million (yes, million)
Seats: 505
Square Footage: 18,000
the way I see it Carmine’s is looking to be the top restaurant by size and likely by $ volume in DC. BTW, Carmine’s already appears on the Top 100 list at #51 and #68.
The build-out for Clyde’s @ Gallery Place was substantial too. The woodwork. The artwork. The glass roof. Not to mention the kitchen and everything else. Plus, Carmine’s plans on 650 seats!!!! That is a LOT of patrons. I think this is great for the neighborhood.
Interesting statistics from pqresident, although I’m a bit skeptical of some of the numbers. (Who spends $118 or less at Daniel in New York? Per person, maybe.) As for Old Ebbitt, it’s interesting that it has roughly the same capacity and number of meals served as Tao in Vegas but finishes lower only because it charges about a third as much. Yet another reason to hate Vegas.
@Scott – I think unquestionably the average dinner check in the R&I Top 100 is per person.
The list is pretty interesting in the variety of establishments that rank high. You’ve got plenty of ritzy places but it dips all the way down to Zehnder’s which is at a midwest hybrid golf course/water park.
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Fox Business has posted a video interview with the CEO of Alicart/Carmines regarding this expansion into Penn Quarter.