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Oldest Restaurants in the Washington, DC Area


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Mama Ayesha's (formerly officially known as Calvert Café, although usually called Mama Ayesha's even then) is listed here as dating from 1953, without citation. According to the restaurant's own website, Mama Ayesha opened the Calvert Café in 1960.

And now ... to think of why I came up with 1953 five years ago. mellow.gif
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I think it was because cjsadler suggested it here. There was a link to some page on WTOP, presumably documenting the 1953 opening, but the link no longer leads to anything, at least not for me.

Here is that broken link (which I'll fix in Chris's post too). So which is correct?!

Also, JV's in Falls Church opened in 1947 - I just noticed that the other day.

(In other Falls Church news, the signage is (finally) up for Cafe Nessma having been replaced by Pita Wraps (and a lounge which is opening next door), and Lahori Kabob having been replaced by Julian's. (And don't forget Fanny's just replaced Victor's.) Also El Zunzal II is for sale.)

Something tells me this isn't going to be on WTOP.

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Here is that broken link (which I'll fix in Chris's post too). So which is correct?!

Also, JV's in Falls Church opened in 1947 - I just noticed that the other day.

(In other Falls Church news, the signage is (finally) up for Cafe Nessma having been replaced by Pita Wraps (and a lounge which is opening next door), and Lahori Kabob having been replaced by Julian's. (And don't forget Fanny's just replaced Victor's.) Also El Zunzal II is for sale.)

Something tells me this isn't going to be on WTOP.

Blues Alley is not really a restaurant, but food is available. I first went there in 1969--a mostly shitty year. When did it open?

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Blues Alley is not really a restaurant, but food is available. I first went there in 1969--a mostly shitty year. When did it open?

The Georgetown Patch INCORRECTLY (it turns out) says 1955. Frankly, I am shocked to learn that there is inaccurate information floating around on the Internet. :)

Edited by dcs
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Blues Alley is not really a restaurant, but food is available. I first went there in 1969--a mostly shitty year. When did it open?

According to the establishment's website it was 1965.

I have to disagree with your take on 1969, it was the birth year for many of my closest friends, and mine as well...

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According to the establishment's website it was 1965.

I have to disagree with your take on 1969, it was the birth year for many of my closest friends, and mine as well...

Ah, to have been born in '69! Having recently turned 21 then I had only just begun to no longer want to be older. Or need to lie about my age. That was also the year Nixon moved into the White House. Depending on one's attitude towards Nixon and/or the Vietnam war it might have been a very shitty year. Washington, then, was beginning a very real change. The year before I had stood on the roof of my 15 story apartment building in Silver Spring ("Pickwick Towers") and watched smoke rise from the city with armored personnel carriers cruising Georgia avenue northwest. Months later they would cruise Dupont Circle.

This is a Great city today, in part because of what we learned from then.

Shitty or not it was an incredible time to live here.

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Am I the only one who thinks kirite was talking about wine? In the entire decade, only 1965 is worse worldwide for finding a birth-year wine to drink.

Quite true, and as my wife was born in the other year I know just how hard it is to find anything decent (I still have not). The only one that I have found and tried was from 1969 was a Krug, and if you like old Champagne, as I do, you would find it delicious.

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I don't see Pines of Rome in Bethesda on the list. My parents moved here in 1963, and began eating there soon after. I'm sure it was open before then...but haven't been able to come up the date. (of course, I haven't been in in a few years, perhaps this is an excuse to do so...)

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I don't see Pines of Rome in Bethesda on the list. My parents moved here in 1963, and began eating there soon after. I'm sure it was open before then...but haven't been able to come up the date. (of course, I haven't been in in a few years, perhaps this is an excuse to do so...)

I really think Pines of Rome opened in the late '60's. I started driving a cab (Barwood) while going to college in 1966 and vaguely remember it opening several years later. Of course there are a lot of things that I vaguely remember...

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I really think Pines of Rome opened in the late '60's. I started driving a cab (Barwood) while going to college in 1966 and vaguely remember it opening several years later. Of course there are a lot of things that I vaguely remember...

You may well be right ---but i keep thinking I ate there before I could read a menu well...which would make it around 1965-6.

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Not sure how far you wish to take this, but in Damascus, both Tom and Ray's and Jimmie Cone celebrated 50 year anniversaries. The Red Rooster will celebrate their 40th I believe. Sausage (where served) is coming from Wagner's Mt Airy Meat Locker, founded 1953 (though it is not a restaurant). If these aren't too far out (they are Montgomery County) I'll find references. (and promise fewer parentheses)

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Not sure how far you wish to take this, but in Damascus, both Tom and Ray's and Jimmie Cone celebrated 50 year anniversaries. The Red Rooster will celebrate their 40th I believe. Sausage (where served) is coming from Wagner's Mt Airy Meat Locker, founded 1953 (though it is not a restaurant). If these aren't too far out (they are Montgomery County) I'll find references. (and promise fewer parentheses)

I want to take it to a good one-hour radius from City Centre (and anything in contiguous counties is fine, too). But I need exact years and PROOF if possible! B)

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I want to take it to a good one-hour radius from City Centre (and anything in contiguous counties is fine, too). But I need exact years and PROOF if possible! B)

You got it:

Jimmie Cone: 1962 - although only ice cream, maybe a hot dog or two. Has a banner in front this season promoting their 50th season - so while the citation may not be solid, the banner is.

Tom and Ray's: 1960 - Athough Peggy Bellison died a few weeks ago, sons Gary and Rick continue to run the place. Open face roast beef sandwiches, spinach casserole sides, etc. Some of the offerings are misses but most are home-style good and at very reasonable prices.

Red Rooster: Will have to ask next time I'm there. I'm pretty sure 1972 but my source isn't citable here on the interwebs. Here's a review and cite of "early 70s"

Wagner's meats: 1953 (right on the edge of the hour-circle, and not a restaurant, but danged good sausages and other cuts of meat.

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Don, an hour from the center of D. C. in the '50's might have meant Frederick, Baltimore or Warrenton. Today, depending on traffic, you might only drive as far as 270 and the Beltway, Greenbelt or Falls Church.

Coincidentally, in the late '80's I would leave Reston @6 for a 7PM dinner reservation expecting to arrive around 6:45. Now I leave @5:30 for the same 7 reservation and usually barely make it. The drive home is rarely more than 30 minutes.

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et tu, sir Rocks?

outside of "towne"? Maybe near a "pointe"? Beyond the last "theatre"? That's too "olde" school for me.

That was absolutely done tongue-in-cheek, brother.

Let me redo it in traditional Washington argot:

"a good, one-hour radius from the Zero Milestone."

I should add that I'm a firm believer in original understanding, not original intent (and yes, I would dork Bork), so we need to consider both the original roads (and only the original roads) and the original horse-and-buggy traffic levels in order to determine the "true" hour radius. There were less carriages, tollhouses, towns, and a whole host of other things, so one might argue that Frederick, and possibly Baltimore, are within the capital outskirts (as is Fannie Fox (who, in fact, was an Argentine named Annabelle Battistella, but we can push this minor inconvenience into the back room, surely)).

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That was absolutely done tongue-in-cheek, brother.

Let me redo it in traditional Washington argot:

"a good, one-hour radius from the Zero Milestone."

I figured that was on purpose - it is too hard to do to be accidental. I have a running joke with my wife and grade school kids to find the "e's" when driving around - "look Daddy, crowne pointe plaza, not too far from olde towne - that's FOUR!!" We've determined that the "e" is a negator - meaning that "olde" means "not old", "towne" means "not a town", etc. It helps us avoid things and keeps us from wasting time when driving around places we haven't been before. It serves us well. B)

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I should add that I'm a firm believer in original understanding, not original intent (and yes, I would dork Bork), so we need to consider both the original roads (and only the original roads) and the original horse-and-buggy traffic levels in order to determine the "true" hour radius. There were less carriages, tollhouses, towns, and a whole host of other things, so one might argue that Frederick, and possibly Baltimore, are within the capital outskirts (as is Fannie Fox (who, in fact, was an Argentine named Annabelle Battistella, but we can push this minor inconvenience into the back room, surely)).

So while the surveyors are currently out measuring and marking this true hour radius, I'll provide a few others and let time tell who makes it to the inner circle:

Barbara Fritchie House: 1910. Gravy purveyor in Frederick, MD. Says 1910 no less than three times in the first sentences on the website.

Peter Pan Inn: 1925. Urbana, MD. The name survives, as does the location, as the Cracked Claw at the Peter Pan Inn. Counts?

Baugher's: 1948 Westminster, MD. This is probably outside the circle in any definition, but I like it. Except when they serve bad food.

Cozy: 1929 Thurmont, MD.

Middletown Tavern: 1750 or 1968. Annapolis, MD. Looks like food has been served there since 1750, and was called Middletown Tavern back in the olde days. But it wasn't continuously called the Middletown Tavern, so I think you have to go with 1968.

Red Byrd: 1958 Keedysville, MD (near Frederick)

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Lord knows it's too late, but in high school my AP English teacher took all of us out to The Log Cabin on Rt. 1 to celebrate passing the exam. They had surf'n'turf and filet mignon and utterly dazzled my podunk eyes at the time. Looked like the sort of place that would have some decent scotch behind the glass, too. Given that the fanciest place I'd been to prior to the Log Cabin was Red Lobster, it was pretty impressive. This was over a decade ago, but now I have to give an approving glance that it notes on its website that it's closed most holidays and Super Bowl Sunday.

http://www.thelogcabinrestaurant.com/ (warning, website is entirely in Flash AND has music)

The website says the Log Cabin Restaurant first opened its doors in 1942. Nice.

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Garrett's in Georgetown - 1979. It's been a while since I've been there.

A long while since I've been there, too. And now they have to be added to the "Gone but not Forgotten" list - Garrett's closed for good on Sunday. B)

Not hard to see why, with the line up of high-end, brand name, chain stores populating M Street and Wisconsin these days.

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Does anyone know when the (absolutely horrible) Bethesda Hamburger Hamlet opened? I remember being there in the earliest years of the 1980s, but this list only includes 1979 and older (and that's back when my upscale (i.e., non-McDonald's) dining dollar went to G. D. Graffiti (*) with their little violin-case dessert schtick which I thought was so awesome).

FYI, my earliest memory of an upscale fine dining experience was Harvey's, aka "The Restaurant of the Presidents," circa 1981, and I'm pretty sure I got Steak Oscar (or was it Lobster Thermidor).

(*) To say Matt is off to a head start is a bit of an understatement.

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I remember going to HH in Friendship Heights in 1974, when one of the other women in our group house took me there and made me order "those potatoes"--because she knew I would not be able to finish them, leaving the leftovers for her.

Good times.

I don't even remember there being a Hamburger Hamlet in Friendship Heights (the first one was founded in 1950, btw, on Sunset Blvd.)

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I don't even remember there being a Hamburger Hamlet in Friendship Heights (the first one was founded in 1950, btw, on Sunset Blvd.)

There was a Hamburger Hamlet on Wisconsin Avenue about two blocks below Western Avenue. When I had less sophisticated firends go out for dinner in the early 1970's, I would take them there.

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Great find! Does anyone know (or can anyone find out) the year they opened?

Kramerbooks - 1976 (link)

Tastee Diner - 1935 (link - Wikipedia says it's the Bethesda location that's the oldest)

Still waiting on date for Shady Oak Inn.

Good find on Kramerbooks and Tastee Diner (do I not have this already?) I'll add them now.

Also, McLean Pizza 1962 (noticed this yesterday).

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Still waiting on date for Shady Oak Inn.

Good find on Kramerbooks and Tastee Diner (do I not have this already?) I'll add them now.

Also, McLean Pizza 1962 (noticed this yesterday).

NB I did have Tastee Diner (Silver Spring) which opened in 1946, thereby becoming our area's oldest chain. :)

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On the Shady Oak Inn -

A guest post reviewer who sounds knowledgeable of the history of the place: http://www.superpage...reviewContainer

"This neighborhood bar and restaurant was founded at this location and under this name by Walter Gray , Sr. in 1909 - now over 100years old. The raised area at the rear of the dining room is the original stage as built in the 1920's. Small bands provided music for dancing. It was here that Washington area natives Kate Smith and Jimmy Dean performed in the early days of their show-business careers. W.V. Gray , Sr. operated the business until his death in 1947. Gray , Jr. then operated the business until 1963 when the family would then lease the business to Mr. Billy Wyvill , a saloon keeper from Upper Marlboro , Md. Wyvill would operate the business for the next 25 years."

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Some older guys at work, now retired, used to go to The Shady Oak every Friday. I joined them once and was immediately turned off by the smell the second I walked in the door. I seriously doubt it was urine that I was smelling, but whatever it was smelled similar to urine. So, unfortunately, I associate The Shady Oak with urine.

Sounds like it might have some cool history, though.

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Was over in Falls Church earlier toda and picked up their local paper while I was waiting around and Anthony's is celebrating its 40th anniversary next week, May 21-24.

Thanks, weezy - it's even written on their sign that they've been open since 1972. I inserted it in the list, and also corrected Booeymonger (I had it listed as 1975; their own site says 1976 for the Jennifer Street outlet.

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Hamburger Hamlets were the two most upscale burger places in West L.A. and Westwood when I was in high school in the mid-sixties, and they maintained a rep for high quality for many years afterward. The West L.A. branch, a couple of blocks from my brother's house, finally closed about ten or twelve years ago. I'm pretty sure that the Westwood branch closed long before that, but never kept tabs on that one, not being in that neighborhood as often. I was amazed, when I moved to DC in 1996 to see a Hamburger Hamlet in Bethesda. We went once, but it was nowhere near as good as the L.A. HHs had been, and we never went back.

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I think Mie n Yue is in the old Hamburger Hamlet space.

A location close by a restaurant that I never went to called Chez Odette. When Warren Zevon played Lisner on the heels of "Excitable Boy" he changed the lyrics of Warewolves of London to:

I saw a Warewold with a [something] menu in his hand

Walking through the streets of Georgetown in the rain

He was looking for a place called Chez Odette

For to get a big dish of quiche Lorraine.

(Anyone mention Gepetto's pizza, also in that general vicinity?)

Before Georgetown Seafood Grill, the building housed Chez Odette, one of the more popular restaurants in Washington during the Kennedy years. Chez Odette iwas a bargain: good French food at reasonable prices. Murals of Paris set the mood, as did the maitre d’ with his “Bonsoir!” as you entered and left.
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