Brown Sugar - Southern American Soul Food Carryout Shoebox at 9th and U Street in Shaw - Closed

[cgarthwa]

Every day I drive past a storefront on the coner of Vermont Ave and U St. that says "Brown Sugar, Southern Cuisine." Coming Soon....

Does anyone know anything more about this restaurant?

CG.

[The Doctor]

Every day I drive past a storefront on the coner of Vermont Ave and U St. that says "Brown Sugar, Southern Cuisine." Coming Soon....

Does anyone know anything more about this restaurant?

CG.

This place appears to be open now. Anyone been? Competition for Oohhs and Aahhs?

[bilrus]

This place appears to be open now. Anyone been? Competition for Oohhs and Aahhs?

I guess the answer is No and No. This news from the Going Out Gurus:

Soul Searching

It seemed like just yesterday that the area around Ninth and U streets was transitioning from Little Ethiopia into a bastion of Southern comfort. Several fairly new restaurants have competed for your soulful cravings served straight-up without the frills. Hush puppies? Green beans? Authentic spicy ginger ale? There was no question in my mind where to turn. Oohhs and Aahhs paved the way with fried chicken wings and some tasty sides. Lucky for the restaurant, locals found much to oohh and aahh over, because it is going strong while two of its Southern neighbors haven't fared so well.

Brown Sugar, the father/son operation that dished up carryout collards, yams and wings, has posted a sign announcing that it's closed for good. A bit further down, A Taste of Carolina, which took over the space of dearly departed Sodere Ethiopian Restaurant, has cryptically announced that it's closed for relocating. Repeated calls to the owner have gone unanswered, so I can only hope that I'll find the finger-lickin' ribs in the city's best barbecue sauce somewhere close by in the very near future.

[The Doctor]

I drove by this place on Saturday and they appeared to be back in business.

[DonRocks]

On 4/15/2007 at 2:54 PM, The Doctor said:

I drove by this place on Saturday and they appeared to be back in business.

I'm not sure Brown Sugar ever reopened - at least not for long, although I have no idea what was there between 2007-2011. At 928 U Street, there have been several restaurants over the past decade, and I'm not even sure I can piece together the ordering of them, although I can try (the dates are, of course, estimates). I also believe there may have been two different businesses registered at 928 U Street NW, but I can't remember:

2007: Brown Sugar
Jul 11, 2011: "Ketcha Fire Grill Opens at 928 U Street NW" on PoPville.com
2011: Ketcha Fire Grill
Aug 11, 2011: "Ketcha Fire Grill Becomes Jamaican Joe's Jerk Chicken at 928 U Street NW" on PoPville.com
2012: Jamaican Joe's
May 29, 2013: "Jamaican Joe's Temporarily Closed on U Street, Getting "Upscaled" on PoPville.com
Sep 4, 2012: "Jamaican Joe's Now Officially Pelican's Rum on U Street" on PoPville.com
2013: Pelican's Rum
Nov 26, 2014: "Pelican's Rum Papered Over on U Street" on PoPville.com
May 4, 2015: "Bistro on U Street Now Open ...." on PoPville.com
Jun 9, 2015: "Bistro on U Street Already Closed" on PoPville.com
2015: Bistro on U Street
And then this on Mar 9, 2015: "Bardia's New Orleans Cafe Moving to U Street" on PoPville.com

PoPville.com has made my life *much* easier piecing together the last five years, but unfortunately doesn't appear to contain much information before that - Brown Sugar was definitely there in 2006-2007, and perhaps for awhile before that, but I can't be sure what was there between 2007-2011. If anyone knows, please fill us in - this era was "The Dawn of the Internet," and piecing together restaurant histories before 2005 will be very, very difficult (don't forget, we were pretty much "the" pioneer, so when *we* run into a brick wall, the only places to turn are to government records).