Dupont Circle could get a new dance club and bar as early as next month.
The business, Saint Yves, is slated to open at 1220 Connecticut Ave. NW as soon as mid-January, according to company representative Wayne Johnson. Johnson declined to provide more information about the club but said more details would be available as it got closer to opening.
As we reported in 2015, Saint Yves will serve “light fare” alongside “rare bourbons” in a space with seating for 30 and a total occupancy of 250. The hangout will also host occasional events with DJs, bands and dancing.
The business is currently hiring “VIP hosts, cocktail service models, bartenders and all around exciting people,” a notice on its Facebook reads.
A newly opened Indian restaurant in Dupont Circle could soon add alcohol to the menu.
Lemon Cuisine of India which opened at 2120 P St. NW last month, has applied to start serving alcohol, according to a recent filing with D.C.’s Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration (ABRA).
The restaurant is seeking to serve beer, wine and cocktails, according to owner and chef Gurjeet Singh.
Lemon Cuisine’s dinner menu includes Indian cuisine mainstays such as chicken tikka masala, palak paneer and six types of biryani.
“I’m using my own spices that I create,” Singh said in November. “All made from scratch, all fresh and healthy.”
A longtime purveyor of chicken and Latin-inspired cuisine is flying the coop near U Street.
Chix is shuttering its location at 2019 11th St. NW, the company announced today. The store’s final day will be this Friday, Dec. 23, according to a Chix employee.
The two other Chix locations in Thomas Circle and Navy Yard will remain open, and the company plans to widen its delivery radius to several new neighborhoods, including near U Street.
Chix first opened its 11th Street location in 2007. A Borderstan food reviewer praised the eatery’s “moist and subtle” chicken and “well seasoned” sweet potatoes in 2012.
Sweetgreen is set to give away salad, quinoa and rice bowls downtown this week to celebrate its latest D.C. location.
The fast-casual chain’s new eatery at 888 17th St. NW is scheduled to open tomorrow with free food from 4 to 6 p.m. It also will have complimentary bowls from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday.
But the gratis meals only are available to diners who RSVP online, as local blog PoPville was first to note.
“We’d love to offer you and a friend an exclusive tasting + sneak preview of sweetgreen before we open our doors to the public,” Sweetgreen says online. “Drop in for lunch or dinner on us before our official opening. All salads + drinks will be complimentary!”
Sweetgreen has about a dozen D.C. restaurants, including outposts in Logan Circle, Dupont Circle, West End, Foggy Bottom and Navy Yard.
Photo via Instagram/Sweetgreen
Local restauranteurs and bar owners are set to read some of their nastiest online reviews at an eatery near 14th Street tomorrow night.
Compass Rose, located at 1346 T St. NW, is scheduled to host is second “Industry Reads Bad Reviews” event Wednesday, Dec. 21, from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m.
The reading’s lineup includes many of the D.C. restaurant world’s movers and shakers: Smoked and Stacked’s Marjorie Meek-Bradley, The Passenger’s Tom Brown and Timber Pizza Company co-founder Andrew Dana, and others.
From a Facebook post about the event:
In the spirit of the popular (and purposely self-deprecating) segment “Celebrities Read Mean Tweets” from Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Compass Rose is hosting its second evening to toast the food and beverage industry’s harshest Social Media critics by taking their criticisms (reviews, tweets, Facebook posts, emails) and airing them out for everyone to hear.
We invite you to join us at Compass on December 21 after our The Compass Rose Holiday Market at 10 p.m. for “Industry Reads Bad Reviews II” with some of our favorite bar and restaurant folks performing a dramatic reading of their best (worst?) “bad” review. Service industry professionals are constantly under the scrutiny of everyone: their consumers, food critics–even one another. While constructive criticism is always welcome, we’ve all encountered the occasional review that is not based in reality, but merely a projection of simplistic negativity. Rather than allowing these blurbs of craziness to get us down, let’s reclaim the power through community and humor. We’ll laugh at ourselves and recognize that you truly can never please everyone.
Photo via Facebook / Compass Rose
A bar in Columbia Heights is setting up its Festivus pole in anticipation of an annual holiday tradition.
The Airedale (3605 14th St. NW) is scheduled to hold its second annual “Festivus for the Rest of Us” party this Friday, Dec. 23, at 7 p.m.
For those not in the know, Festivus is a made-up secular holiday that first appeared in an episode of “Seinfeld.” The holiday falls on Dec. 23 and includes such trappings as “the airing of grievances,” “feats of strength,” “Festivus miracles” and the “Festivus pole.”
Keeping with the tradition, the bar will have a Festivus-themed menu and cocktails and holiday events. Patrons should expect to air grievances and perform feats of strength, as well, the bar said.
Photo via Facebook / The Airedale
Specially priced meals are scheduled to come to D.C. restaurants again this winter.
About four dozen eateries in the Borderstan coverage area are set to take part in the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington’s Restaurant Week from Monday, Jan. 30, to Sunday, Feb. 5. The restaurants are slated to serve lunches and brunches for $22 and dinners for $35 from prix fixe menus.
The eateries include:
Daytime revelers are planning to “drink ’til there’s snow tomorrow” at 11 Dupont Circle bars Saturday afternoon.
The planned festivities are part of this year’s “Snow Day Bar Crawl,” scheduled to take place Saturday, Dec. 17, from 2 to 10 p.m.
Tickets start at $40 and include a color-changing cup, drink specials and “an awesome crowd of snowbunnies to crawl the streets with,” organizers said.
The following bars are signed up to participate in the pub crawl:
- Blackfinn
- Front Page
- Recessions
- District Anchor
- Dirty Martini
- Public Bar
Bottom Line - 1831 Bar and Lounge
- Decades
- Sign of the Whale
Photo via Snow Day Bar Crawl
Giving a toy to a child in need can get visitors to an Adams Morgan bar a free beer tonight.
The Blaguard at 2003 18th St. NW is scheduled to host a “DC Holiday Toyapalooza” from 6 to 10 p.m., according to a Facebook event post. The toy drive benefits Communities In Schools of the Nation’s Capital, a nonprofit organization that works to stop local kids from dropping out of school.
“Bring a toy and get a free local beer,” the Facebook post says. “It’s that easy!”
Atlas Brew Works, DC Brau, 3 Stars and Port City will have 16 brews available to drink.
The beer list is slated to include:
Atlas
-Town & Country
-La Saison De Brett
-Dance of Days
-Silent Neighbor3 Stars
-Rasp Dissonance
-Starsky and Dutch
-Nectar of the Bogs
-TBDDC Brau
-Alpha Domina Mellis
-Stone of Arbroath
-Brau Pils
-PublicPort City
-Tidings
-Maniacal
-Optimal Wit aged in bourbon barrels
-Porter
“Celebrate the holidays with your favorite DC Breweries and help ensure every child has a great holiday season,” the Facebook post says.
Photo via Facebook/The Blaguard
A District ice cream shop is giving away sweet treats to patrons who donate to a local writing organization.
Ice Cream Jubilee, which has locations in Logan Circle and Yards Park, said it will hand over a “winter seasonal” milkshake to every patron who gives at least $5 to 826DC, a nonprofit focused on teaching kids about writing.
Patrons can choose from five ice cream flavors to create a seasonal shake. Those flavors include “boozy eggnog,” “maple rye pecan” and “pumpkin honeycomb.”
“We love encouraging people to act on their creativity, try new things, and even explore inventing their own flavor combinations,” said Ice Cream Jubilee founder Victoria Lai in a statement. “Ice Cream Jubilee stands behind 826DC’s mission to support kids’ creative writing skills and help them imagine and create a more magical world.”
Read the full press release below:
This holiday season, Ice Cream Jubilee is proud to continue its tradition of supporting local non-profits that support Washington, DC children learn and express their creativity. This year, we are partnering with 826DC, a local nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6-18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write.
“At Ice Cream Jubilee, our mission is to make people happy with our creative flavors of ice cream,” said Ice Cream Jubilee founder Victoria Lai. “We love encouraging people to act on their creativity, try new things, and even explore inventing their own flavor combinations. Ice Cream Jubilee stands behind 826DC’s mission to support kids’ creative writing skills and help them imagine and create a more magical world.”
Ice Cream Jubilee is delighted to present a fun and delicious challenge to Washington, DC ice cream lovers that supports 826DC’s writing programs: create your own ice cream milkshake with our winter seasonal flavors, and receive it for FREE with a donation to 826DC of $5 or more. Each milkshake creator can choose from 5 flavors for their creation: Boozy Eggnog, Maple Rye Pecan, Pumpkin Honeycomb, Salty Apple Cinnamon, and Bold Vanilla. We suggest a Pumpkin Eggnog milkshake or Caramel Apple milkshake.
Ice Cream Jubilee will also present a special prize to the milkshake creator who posts the most delicious looking and sounding photo of their creation on social media. This challenge begins on Tuesday, December 13 and continues through December 31.
Ice Cream Jubilee is also launching its seasonal hot drinks:
- Nutella Hot Chocolate – Three types of chocolate – melted dark chocolate, hazelnut Nutella, and cocoa – make this creamy, rich hot chocolate the best in the city.
- Earl Grey White Hot Chocolate – Our homemade earl grey lavender syrup sweetens our twist on hot chocolate, made with melted chunks of white chocolate and steamed milk.
- Hot Coffee Float – Amp up a cup of Zeke’s local roast by adding a scoop of any ice cream flavor. Bold Vanilla is a classic, while Pumpkin Honeycomb or Maple Rye Pecan adds rich, surprising fall flavors.
Ice Cream Jubilee proudly represents Washington, D.C. on multiple “Best Ice Cream in America” lists, including Food & Wine magazine, Thrillist, Tastemade, and TimeOut magazine. Ice Cream Jubilee’s flavors and the story of founder Victoria Lai has also been featured by NBC Nightly News, Travel + Leisure magazine, FoodNetwork.com, and More magazine.
Ice Cream Jubilee was named “Best Ice Cream Shop in DC” by the readers of the Washington CityPaper in 2015 and 2016 and has won the Editor’s Choice award in Washingtonian Magazine in 2014, 2015, and 2016.
Ice Cream Jubilee’s Logan Circle location at 1407 T Street NW is open from 12pm – 10pm. Ice Cream Jubilee’s Yards Park location at 301 Water Street SE is open from 12pm – 9pm.
Photo courtesy of Ice Cream Jubilee
A Columbia Heights spot for donuts has closed its doors for good.
Zombie Coffee and Donuts shuttered last Friday. Neighborhood blog PoPville was the first to write about the rumored closure.
Over the weekend, a representative for the coffee company confirmed it had closed its location at 3100 14th St. NW.
“Columbia Heights just didn’t have the full time donut-eating traffic to maintain business,” a company rep told Borderstan. “We cut staff, we cut hours, and in the end, it just turned out Columbia Heights wasn’t ‘our’ spot.”
The shop first opened last year.
Photo via Facebook / Zombie Coffee and Donuts
A bar and restaurant in Columbia Heights is set to close its doors next month.
Kangaroo Boxing Club (3410 11th St. NW) is slated to close in January, according to owner Josh Saltzman. The bar, which is known for serving Moscow mules in copper mugs and screening Michigan University football games, opened about four years ago.
But the space won’t stay quiet for long. Saltzman is plotting a new neighborhood bar and restaurant to take the bar’s place.
“While we are devastated to have to close our doors at KBC, we remain dedicated to our wonderful staff and the neighborhood we still call home,” he said in an email to Borderstan. “With that in mind, we are working quickly to redevelop the space and plan to launch a new community focused bar and restaurant this summer.”
Saltzman added that “bartender and friend, Carrie Dzwil, along with the team from Ivy and Coney, will be the creative force behind the new project.”
Kangaroo Boxing Club is planning to celebrate its last days with a handful of events and a “drink-the-bar-dry all-out New Years Eve bash,” Saltzman said.
“We would like to thank our incredible staff, many of whom have been with us from the beginning, as well our family of regulars who allowed us to keep the lights on and pursue our passion since we opened our doors in 2012,” he said. “We look forward to seeing you all together again in 2017”
Photo via Facebook / Kangaroo Boxing Club
Fans of the hot sauce at Duffy’s Irish Pub near the U Street corridor now can get some to take home.
The bar at 2106 Vermont Ave. NW has started selling the spicy concoction it uses for its hot chicken wings and buffalo margaritas, owner Casey Callister told Borderstan today. A 16-ounce bottle of Duffy’s Hot Sauce costs $12.
The spicy flavor enhancer is “knock your socks off delicious,” Callister said.
“I am positive those that purchase the sauce will be repeat customers and they will find that it is great with eggs, toast and even pizza,” he said in an email.
Callister worked during the summer with Cornell University and Morrisville State College to develop a large batch of the condiment from a recipe that former owner Andy Duffy created for the bar. The pub now has about 200 hot sauce bottles available for purchase.
Although spicy food dressing only is for sale at the bar, it could find its way to the Internet and store shelves, with the help of Duffy.
“We plan to have a beer and discuss how to distribute Duffy’s Hot Sauce beyond the pub in the future,” Callister said.
Photo courtesy of Casey Callister
A sports bar in Adams Morgan wants to see how well you build an edible domicile.
Ventnor Sports Cafe (2411 18th St. NW) is scheduled to host its third annual “Night of Christmas Beers and Gingerbread Houses” event next Friday, Dec. 16, at 7 p.m.
Patrons who sign up for the competition will have everything they need to build a gingerbread house, including candies, sprinkles, cookies and frosting, the bar said. The person or group who builds the best house wins a prize.
“Last year, some of the best designs were a replica of The Lincoln Memorial and a Game of Thrones themed display,” said bar owner Scott Auslander. “This is going to be our third year doing this and every year it gets more and more fun.”
Ventnor’s bartenders are also slated to serve 15 holiday-themed beers to fuel yuletide cheer during the competition.
The event usually sells out quickly, so those interested in competing should sign up right away, the bar said.
Photo via Twitter / Ventnor Sports Cafe
A Dupont Circle bar appears to have shut down after losing its liquor license more than a month ago.
Some Place Else, the bar and restaurant located in the former Townhouse Tavern space at 1637 R St. NW, was locked and dark when a Borderstan reporter visited around happy hour earlier this week. Additionally, phone calls to the bar and restaurant went unanswered when we tried today.
Community members told Borderstan the bar went quiet after District alcohol regulators denied its liquor license renewal application last month.
Despite the apparent closure, it looks as though local regulators have reason to suspect the bar may still be serving alcohol. D.C.’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Board ordered Some Place Else to “stop selling, serving, or permitting the consumption of alcoholic beverages” earlier this week:
The Respondent is unlawfully operating or attempting to operate with an expired license in violation of Title 25 of the D.C. Official Code. The Respondent’s license has EXPIRED and it will remain expired until the Respondent pays the required renewal fee and the daily fine of $50.00 imposed by the Board for the late payment.
This isn’t the first setback for the business. Health inspectors shut the bar down in June after finding a “heavy infestation of vermin” there.
A representative for Some Place Else wasn’t immediately available to comment on the possible closure. We’ll update this story if we hear back from them.
