Restaurant Spaces

[MeMc]

After I read the Post's Whole Foods piece this past Sunday, I realized that I often wish for restaurants, rather than groceries, to open in particular locations. The two places I'd scoped out so far are:

1) the Youth Academy on 14th and V. I love the old wood floors, the shop window, and that the inside room with all the old photos has tons of character. I wish that Ann Cashion would open a place there, even if it means moving the kids' place.

2) a tiny wine bar in the ground level of one of the houses somewhere around the dog park at S and 17th (but not actually on 17th).

Any other locations you've found where you'd wish a taco stand/wine bar/speakeasy/lobster bar/japanese pub would open?

[mame11]

After I read the Post's Whole Foods piece this past Sunday, I realized that I often wish for restaurants, rather than groceries, to open in particular locations. The two places I'd scoped out so far are:

1) the Youth Academy on 14th and V. I love the old wood floors, the shop window, and that the inside room with all the old photos has tons of character. I wish that Ann Cashion would open a place there, even if it means moving the kids' place.

2) a tiny wine bar in the ground level of one of the houses somewhere around the dog park at S and 17th (but not actually on 17th).

Any other locations you've found where you'd wish a taco stand/wine bar/speakeasy/lobster bar/japanese pub would open?

I'd love an upscale corner store like Belly General Store on the corner of Wilson and Hudson (?) in the space that is marked with an Adelyne Shops sign.

I dream about it...

[zoramargolis]

A casual, QUALITY Mexican place on MacArthur, where the cheap, crummy Chinese place is (two doors up from Makoto, next to Figs. There's a little set-back patio that is barely used which could be wonderful on a warm evening. Come to think of it, they could get rid of Figs and double the space. I have yet to find anything appealing in that place, or its former incarnation, Creme de la Creme.

[Cooter]

You know what would be a pretty good place to open a bagel store? Pretty much everywhere.

[Josh Radigan]

not that its anywhere nearby the first posts but after living for years in Richmond, VA, there seems to be a need for another great restaurant. the dinning scene is actually pretty cool, but its missing something.

[Tweaked]

I like in Richmond that it seems like every other corner there's a little neighborhood restaurant or bar on the corner, nothing fancy, put a decent place to get a drink and a meal...something I think that is missing in DC.

[smokey]

You know how parks are haunted by ice cream trucks with that little dittie they play acting like siren's song, luring your child towards them? I wish local parks had a coffee truck that toodled around serving good coffee to desperate parents ready to gouge out their eyeballs from boredom. I'm not sure what song they would have playing...

[Banco]

I wish local parks had a coffee truck that toodled around serving good coffee to desperate parents ready to gouge out their eyeballs from boredom. I'm not sure what song they would have playing...

Je ne regrette rien.

[qwertyy]

Every time I see a good potential restaurant space, it gets a Starbucks. To wit: 21st and P; 16th and U; 18th and Columbia; Dupont Circle; Connecticut, 18th, and N.

[Granted, several restos have tried and failed at that property on 18th and Columbia, but I'd still like to see one there...]

[hillvalley]

Anywhere on Connecticut between Fesseden and the circle.

[MelGold]

You know how parks are haunted by ice cream trucks with that little dittie they play acting like siren's song, luring your child towards them? I wish local parks had a coffee truck that toodled around serving good coffee to desperate parents ready to gouge out their eyeballs from boredom. I'm not sure what song they would have playing...

There is a coffee company called Mudd in NYC that runs its operations out of a van parked near the Astor Place subway stop on the 6 Line. The line was always way too long for me to stop on my way to work but we'd take an extended smoke break during the day when funds and workload permitted. No, their coffee wasn't that expensive, I was just very broke!

[mdt]

Every time I see a good potential restaurant space, it gets a Starbucks. To wit: 21st and P; 16th and U; 18th and Columbia; Dupont Circle; Connecticut, 18th, and N.

[Granted, several restos have tried and failed at that property on 18th and Columbia, but I'd still like to see one there...]

Unfortunately the folks that own the buildings and collect the rent don't want to take a chance on a small business. They would rather charge more and give it to some souless corporation that has strong financial backing. It really is a shame.

[jm chen]

The property that stood empty on Connecticut for so long, north of Dupont Circle, about a block south of Florida. It's now a Commerce Bank, but it would have been a fantastic restaurant. Floor-to-ceiling windows on a corner. Pfft. Banks.

[qwertyy]

The property that stood empty on Connecticut for so long, north of Dupont Circle, about a block south of Florida. It's now a Commerce Bank, but it would have been a fantastic restaurant. Floor-to-ceiling windows on a corner. Pfft. Banks.

Yes! That one too! I heard through the grapevine that it was set to be first a club, then a restaurant (Argentinian?), but each time the backers pulled out. So it's a bank.

Banks and Starbucks live in all the pretty properties.

[chef4cook]

I want to open a small 30 seat resto. Do a change daily menu and just cook really good food. Adams Morgan is too crowded and Dupont is too. I like the woodley park area.

[DanCole42]

The Mark Center area, with it's beautiful parks and massive offices and residential areas, needs some alternatives to Clyde's, Mickey D's, and Subway. Where the hell do all those suits go for LUNCH?

[clchurch]

I believe it was asupposed to be a Brazilian Churascuria (non-chain), but the restaurateur got into a disagreement with the landlord and he pulled the lease. By the way, this post comes to you from Bahrain. I will be monitoring Rockwellian comments from exile for the next year.

The property that stood empty on Connecticut for so long, north of Dupont Circle, about a block south of Florida. It's now a Commerce Bank, but it would have been a fantastic restaurant. Floor-to-ceiling windows on a corner. Pfft. Banks.

[pidgey]

I want to open a small 30 seat resto. Do a change daily menu and just cook really good food. Adams Morgan is too crowded and Dupont is too. I like the woodley park area.

Come to Tenleytown! We need you here. There's any number of vacant buildings there now.

[Tweaked]

I want to open a small 30 seat resto. Do a change daily menu and just cook really good food. Adams Morgan is too crowded and Dupont is too. I like the woodley park area.

Or come to Capitol Hill...not much competition for fine dining here! (other than Montemartre, Sonoma, Belga of course)

[Banco]

Or come to Capitol Hill...not much competition for fine dining here! (other than Montemartre, Sonoma, Belga of course)

Yeah. See the discussion beginning here.

[Meaghan]

You know how parks are haunted by ice cream trucks with that little dittie they play acting like siren's song, luring your child towards them?

You know what you're supposed to tell the kids when you hear the ice cream truck? You tell them that the bells mean that the truck ran outta ice cream. "Mummy, how come the ice cream man always runs out of ice cream?"

[JLK]

Don't forget Van Ness. The Riedell's space is empty and very forlorn looking. Oh, and the long-vacant McDonald's space in Cleveland Park.

Wheatberry in CP, by the way, has closed.

[Spiral Stairs]

I always thought it would be cool to put a restaurant in the former Miles Glass building, just off the SE/SW Freeway, on 8th St. SE. (See here.) Maybe a retro, Majestic Cafe-type place. Or just a really good diner. It's situated plumb in the middle of the resurgence of Southeast, south of the freeway. Close enough to the new stadium site to bask in its glow, too.

However, it recently became a tire store.

The market has spoken, the invisible hand moved! Let them eat rubber.

[dinwiddie]

We could use another fine dining option in Olney. The area is growing by leaps and bounds and all the restaurants there now are usually packed. Unfortunately it is difficult to open a place in Montgomery County that serves good food and has a decent wine list, my criteria for dining out.

[deangold]

Oh, and the long-vacant McDonald's space in Cleveland Park.

Wheatberry in CP, by the way, has closed.

The McD's in CP is in the business overlay district. Since CP has too much street footage alloted to restaurants, it cannot be put back into restaurant use since too much time has gone by since it was a McD's. The leasing agent is charged with getting retail only. The consignment shop across the street next to Starbucks and Byblos was to be a sushi restaurant but ran afoul of the Business Overlay issue.

Wheatberry is undergoing a renovation but I know nothing of what is going on.

[KeithA]

The McD's in CP is in the business overlay district. Since CP has too much street footage alloted to restaurants, it cannot be put back into restaurant use since too much time has gone by since it was a McD's. The leasing agent is charged with getting retail only. The consignment shop across the street next to Starbucks and Byblos was to be a sushi restaurant but ran afoul of the Business Overlay issue.

Wheatberry is undergoing a renovation but I know nothing of what is going on.

That is interesting about the business overlay issue, it seemed weird that the McD's spot has been vacant for almost 2 years or more. It is a shame because it appears to be one of the largest spaces on the block.

About Wheatberry, they have a big sign up saying, Mediterranean Restaurant Coming Soon. Hopefully, it'll be something good.

[DLB]

In the Courthouse are in Arlington on Wilson right across from the new Navy League building, there is a Thai restaurant and some little Hibachi place that never seems to have any business. Someone should buy them out, and open a nice Bistro like Chez Panisse, with a pre-fix menu that changes everyday based on what's available and in season. It would be a true neighborhood gem serving great food at a fair price. It would not be reviewed by the Washington Post, or discussed on this board.

[bookluvingbabe]

Don't forget Van Ness. The Riedell's space is empty and very forlorn looking. Oh, and the long-vacant McDonald's space in Cleveland Park.

Wheatberry in CP, by the way, has closed.

There are permits in the window of the Riedel's space. I can't remember what the new place is supposed to be called but it made me think English Pub.

The Wheatberry's spot is going to be "Fresh Med." I'm already deeply frightened.

[deangold]

That is interesting about the business overlay issue, it seemed weird that the McD's spot has been vacant for almost 2 years or more. It is a shame because it appears to be one of the largest spaces on the block.

I looked at two former McD's spots in my location search. Don't know if its small sample size or what, but both places were disgusting in the kitchen area with layers and layers of old greece. I have been in old kitchens before, but this was disgustomundo! The McD space in CP would need about a million of work just to get the building into shape. The roof has to be rebuilt and getting all the greasy and only fit for a McD's equipemnt out would be a task.

I understand that the idea of a bank did not do well with the neighbors. Hard to see what kind of retail could pay the rent in CP and make use of all that space.

[stephrob3]

There's this great space at 901 7th St. NW, just up from the always-lovely Hooters (kidding) and just south of Mt. Vernon Sq., that I've always believed would make a great restaurant location. Although I heard recently that a local chef is supposed to be opening something there in the not too distant future. Anyone know anything about that?

[brian]

There's this great space at 901 7th St. NW, just up from the always-lovely Hooters (kidding) and just south of Mt. Vernon Sq., that I've always believed would make a great restaurant location.

Interestingly enough, Agraria was looking at that space about three years ago.

[DanielK]

There's this great space at 901 7th St. NW, just up from the always-lovely Hooters (kidding) and just south of Mt. Vernon Sq., that I've always believed would make a great restaurant location. Although I heard recently that a local chef is supposed to be opening something there in the not too distant future. Anyone know anything about that?

I don't know if you got the digit wrong, or if there's a space opposite, but the new PS7 is going in at 900 7th St.

[legant]

I want to open a small 30 seat resto. Do a change daily menu and just cook really good food. Adams Morgan is too crowded and Dupont is too. I like the woodley park area.

My "pick me, pick me" plea for a casual dining place in Van Ness/UDC area: With the demise of Passport and Reidel's, our options for casual dining are severely limited to Delhi Dhaba, Shanghai Garden, and Uptown Cathay.

[Al Dente]

I looked at two former McD's spots in my location search. Don't know if its small sample size or what, but both places were disgusting in the kitchen area with layers and layers of old greece.

I guess that wouldn't work for an Italian restaurant.

[amyblues]

Don't forget Van Ness. The Riedell's space is empty and very forlorn looking. Oh, and the long-vacant McDonald's space in Cleveland Park.

Wheatberry in CP, by the way, has closed.

I loved Wheatberry when it was open, and probably spent more money than I should on the delicious cupcakes Gerald, the owner, made. He didn't say why he closed, but a Mediterranean restaurant is due to open there, or so says the large white sign in the window.

[stephrob3]

I don't know if you got the digit wrong, or if there's a space opposite, but the new PS7 is going in at 900 7th St.

No, it's definitely 901, but PS7 is the place I was thinking might have been going in there. So I guess that will be across the street and maybe there really isn't anything scheduled to go into 901.

[Al Dente]

The space occupied by Park Cafe on the east side of Lincoln Park would be a great spot for a restaurant.

[Tweaked]

The space occupied by Park Cafe on the east side of Lincoln Park would be a great spot for a restaurant.

Yeah too bad it's occupied by Park Cafe

[Nadya]

Yeah too bad it's occupied by Park Cafe

Having spent an hour there two Saturdays ago drinking wine in which the primary flavor was acid, I fully concur.

[Pat]

The space occupied by Park Cafe on the east side of Lincoln Park would be a great spot for a restaurant.

It would be a great spot for a homestyle/deli/diner sort of place: coffee and bagels and omelettes in the morning; sandwiches at lunch time; fried chicken or meatloaf and mashed potatoes at night. Or maybe it could just be, you know, a cafe!

It's not like I've really spent a whole lot of time thinking about it (I lie )

[8Track]

I've always thought that the historic bank building on southeast corner of 14th and G would be terrific. That's right across from Butterfield 9. It has been dormant for at least 15 years. I have no idea why. But it could be a monumentally great looking restaurant for investors with deep pockets.

[Roger Troutman]

Anywhere on Connecticut between Fesseden and the circle.

Amen. Especially between Calvert and the Zoo. Aside from a handful of exceptions, nearly every restaurant along that stretch of Connecticut is painfully mediocre. A decent bar or two would be nice.

I've noticed that the street level of an apartment building at the southeast corner of Connecticut and Woodley Rd., along with the adjoining facade of a demolished storefront, is currently undergoing renovation. It will probably end up being another bank or a Starbucks, unfortunately.

Also, that fairly new building at the southeast corner of Connecticut and Calvert with the parking garage beneath it seems to be a waste of valuable space. I think it's occupied by offices currently, but that would be a great location for a restaurant.

[DCJono]

I've always thought that the historic bank building on southeast corner of 14th and G would be terrific. That's right across from Butterfield 9. It has been dormant for at least 15 years. I have no idea why. But it could be a monumentally great looking restaurant for investors with deep pockets.

Are you thinking of the Bank of Washington building? It's a great location, but it *is* a historic building and there are A LOT, I'm told, of restrictions on what can be done to the place. Would take a great deal of money/work/headaches to turn it into anything. Which is why it has sat empty for too long.

It does (as of a couple years ago when I was in it) still have a large vault inside, though. Could be cool.

[8Track]

Are you thinking of the Bank of Washington building? It's a great location, but it *is* a historic building and there are A LOT, I'm told, of restrictions on what can be done to the place. Would take a great deal of money/work/headaches to turn it into anything. Which is why it has sat empty for too long.

It does (as of a couple years ago when I was in it) still have a large vault inside, though. Could be cool.

That's the one. Imagine a chef's table inside the vault. Cool!

Seriously though, it's crazy that they allow the place to sit empty and deteriorating for 15 years because of restrictions. It can't be that sacred, given the crummy former shoe store built at street level. Somehow, someone got approval for that.

[Escoffier]

It does (as of a couple years ago when I was in it) still have a large vault inside, though. Could be cool.

At the risk of going too far off topic, the Marriott in New Orleans was built over a defunct bank and the teller cages and vault were left in place and the restaurant built around it. Quite interesting to eat in the teller's area.

[clchurch]

It's not a problem of historic preservation or anything like that. It's owned by a group that plan on transforming it into the Armenian Holocaust Museum at some future date (I presume this means, once they have arranged enough funding ). At one time, they did have art displays in the windows, but I don't know what happened to that.

That's the one. Imagine a chef's table inside the vault. Cool!

Seriously though, it's crazy that they allow the place to sit empty and deteriorating for 15 years because of restrictions. It can't be that sacred, given the crummy former shoe store built at street level. Somehow, someone got approval for that.

[Pat]

Can anybody do anything with that old Woodies space downtown? I used to love that building. It's gorgeous. So far as I know, all that's in it is that H&M, which takes up a fairly small corner of the building.

[CrescentFresh]

I guess that wouldn't work for an Italian restaurant.

I wonder what an archaelogical dig in the kitchen of Old Europe would find?

[legant]

Don't forget Van Ness. The Riedell's space is empty and very forlorn looking.

Careful what you wish. Potbelly will be occupying the old video store at Connecticut and Windom.

Anywhere on Connecticut between Fesseden and the circle.

Which circle? Dupont or Chevy Chase? North of Fesseden? Or South?

[johnb]

Can anybody do anything with that old Woodies space downtown? I used to love that building. It's gorgeous. So far as I know, all that's in it is that H&M, which takes up a fairly small corner of the building.

Doug Jamal has been working on that one for years. My take is that, whatever it finally turns out to be, nothing much is going to influence its course at this point. But who knows???