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
Chef Marjorie Meek-Bradley’s fast-casual restaurant in Shaw is set to pour free cups of java from Vigilante Coffee Co. tomorrow morning.
Smoked and Stacked (1239 9th St. NW) is scheduled to have the complimentary coffee from 8 to 10 a.m. Thursday to celebrate two months in business, according to a tweet from the eatery. The restaurant opened in September with breakfast and lunch sandwiches, as well as other food.
A cup of coffee normally costs $2.50 at Smoked and Stacked.
Photo via Twitter/Vigilante Coffee
A 14th corridor coffeehouse could get a sibling on the H Street corridor next month.
The Wydown Coffee Bar tweeted earlier this week that its forthcoming location at 600 H St. NE might debut in “early-mid November.” The coffee shop will make its home in the new Apollo building, which also will get The Daily Rider bicycle store and a Whole Foods Market in the coming months.
The lights are on @TheApolloDC pic.twitter.com/Yd9UN3YBhT
— The Wydown (@thewydown) October 8, 2016
“Construction is going really well,” co-owner Chad McCracken said in an email. “No project goes without hiccups, but overall they have kept on schedule well and the place is really starting to look great.”
The roughly 1,300-square-foot shop will have about 200 more square feet than The Wydown at 1924 14th St. NW, McCracken said. It also will have seating in the lobby of The Apollo.
The menu will include coffee, espresso, booze and baked goods, like the 14th Street location, McCracken said. But Wydown pastry chef Sophie McCracken has been “test baking up a storm with new flavors, recipes, and all sorts of fresh and interesting bakery options,” he said.
The Wydown opened its first permanent location on 14th Street in 2014 after it began as a pop-up coffeehouse a year earlier.
Photo via Twitter/The Wydown
A coffeehouse on the 14th street corridor now is serving beer, wine and cocktails, along with its java.
The Wydown Coffee Bar at 1924 14th St. NW began offering the booze last month, after working since last year to get a liquor license.
General manager Nazia Khan added in an email today:
*The Wydown’s new menu features 8 wines, 3 beers, and 4 craft cocktails.
*Beer, wine, and mimosas are available starting at 9am and cocktails are available starting at 4pm daily. We have extended hours to remain open until 8:30 Sunday through Thursday, and 10:30pm on Friday and Saturday. Coffee and espresso will remain available at all times.
*The cocktails are made from fresh, made-in-house ingredients, including a gin and house tonic, an old fashioned with house coffee bitters and cascara syrup, and a seasonal punch with gin, fresh pineapple syrup, oleo saccharum, lemon and Moroccan mint tea.
*The wine offerings include white, red, rose, and sparkling options. We are particularly enjoying the Evodia, a full bodied, fruity garnacha from Spain and the peachy, medium bodied White Hall Viognier, from a local Virginia vineyard.
Photos courtesy of Nazia Khan
Saxbys Coffee is back in Dupont Circle with complimentary small cups of cold brew today.
The Philadelphia-based chain began its first day at 1303 19th St. NW this morning. The location is two doors from its old home at 1309 19th St. NW, which closed in June.
In addition to the gratis java, the coffeehouse is giving out free travel mugs to the first 10 customers it gets every hour until 6 p.m.
Jim Hilson, co-owner and general manager of the new Saxbys, said the day has turned out “absolutely amazing” so far. The coffeehouse has had several customers who were happy to see that the shop was back in business, he said.
“We love how the cafe came out, and we’re happy to be in the neighborhood,” Hilson said.
Photos of shop’s interior courtesy of Saxbys Coffee
A Dupont Circle coffee shop is only days away from coming back to the neighborhood after an almost two-month absence.
Saxbys Coffee is set to reopen next Monday at 1303 19th St. NW, which is two doors from its old location at 1309 19th St. NW, according to a Tumblr post from the Philadelphia-based coffee company.
The 1309 19th Street outpost closed June 30 after a new group of owners decided to move the franchise down the road to the new space, which is larger. The group also owns Saxbys shops in Georgetown and downtown.
The new shop will have cold brew coffee, which it plans to give out for free on its opening day. The first 10 customers every hour that day also will get free travel mugs.
Jim Hilson, a co-owner and general manager of the new Saxbys, told Borderstan last month that the coffeehouse is intended to serve as a “community gathering space.” As part of its effort to reach out to the neighborhood, the shop is looking for artists to hang their works on its walls.
“Our focus on providing extreme generosity comes from thoughtful time and attention to detail,” Saxbys spokesman Justin Pizzi said in an email. “In accordance with our entrepreneurial heartbeat, we actively serve our community and support the dreamers and doers.”
Photo via Instagram/Saxbys Coffee
Out with the old, in with the new, says Saxbys Coffee.
A new group of owners plan to open a larger outpost for the Philly-based coffee company at 1303 19th St. NW, just two doors from the Saxbys at 1309 19th St. NW, which closed for good last Thursday.
“I think it’s going to be beautiful looking new space,” said Jim Hilson, co-owner and general manager of the new Saxbys. Hilson and two other business partners — who also own Saxbys shops in Georgetown and downtown — purchased the Dupont franchise from its former owner earlier this year.
The shop could open with a few new menu items by the end of this month, said Hilson. “We will have a couple new offerings including nitro cold brew coffee,” he added. “That’s an exciting addition.”
When it does open, he said patrons should expect the cafe to double as a “community gathering space.”
“[We try] to do our part to be a good neighbor,” Hilson said. “That’s something that could be a real opportunity to integrate the new cafe with the neighborhood.”
Rendering courtesy of Saxbys Coffee
A national coffee chain is slated to invade the 14th Street corridor by Memorial Day.
Peet’s Coffee and Tea is set to open its doors at 1829 14th St. NW on Monday, according to a sign on the door of the forthcoming business.
“We will be opening on Monday,” the sign reads. “Please stop back in for Peet’s love and coffee!”
Employees at two other Peet’s locations in D.C. confirmed the opening date.
When it opens, the new Peet’s will be located on the same block as Black Cat, Ted’s Bulletin, Bar Pilar and Source. The new coffee shop will also compete for customers against the nearby Wydown, Peregrine Espresso, Slipstream and Dolcezza coffee shops.
(Updated at 11:17 a.m.) A “European-style cafe and bar” is set to open blocks away from Dupont Circle.
The new business, Emissary, will open in the space below Dupont Circle Yoga (2032 P St. NW) “early July,” according to owner Elias Hengst, who also co-owns Sonoma Restaurant and Wine Bar and Dupont Circle Yoga.
The cafe and bar will be a “European cafe meets West Coast coffee house,” Hengst said.
“Someone can have a beer, someone can have a glass of wine, you can have an espresso,” he added. “You can all share a little bit of good food. It’s a very unrushed, laid back vibe.”
The shop’s menu will include food and drinks from Counter Culture Coffee and Trickling Springs Creamery, Hengst said.
The company is currently hiring baristas, according to a job listing on DMV Coffee:
Starbucks seeks to serve alcoholic beverages at yet another one of its locations in D.C.
The company applied for a liquor license to serve beer and wine at its location at 1600 K St. NW, according to paperwork filed with the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration this week. The coffee chain also currently has pending applications to serve alcohol at several other locations across the city.
Starbucks last month rolled out its “Starbucks Evenings” service with alcohol and small plated snacks at five District locations, including on Capitol Hill and in Adams Morgan and Shaw.
But not everyone is sold on the idea of drinking something harder than coffee at Starbucks. According to Washington City Paper‘s Jessica Sidman, the whole experience is well, kind of depressing.
Starbucks hopes to serve beer and wine at four more locations just one week after it began serving booze at five of its D.C.-area coffeeshops.
The company has applied for a liquor license to serve beer at its location at 801 18th St. NW and three other shops, according to paperwork filed with the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration this week.
If the applications are approved, the following locations would be able to serve alcohol:
- 801 18th St. NW
- 625 H St. NE
- 1401 New York Ave. NW
- 550 C St. SW
(Updated at 12:32 p.m.) Philly-based coffee company Saxbys Coffee is eyeing a larger space in Dupont Circle.
City officials yesterday issued a construction permit for a new Saxbys at 1303 Connecticut Ave. NW, which is the same building that currently houses the Saxbys at 1309 19th St. NW. That permit reads:
Renovation and demolition/interior fit-out for Saxbys, work to include select construction of new partitions, ceilings, finishes, mechanical, electrical and plumbing as indicated on drawings, with a max capacity load of 44 on partial of the first floor. Three loose tables with three loose chair and banquet seating, plus seven seats at counter-top.
A representative for Boston Properties, the company that owns the building at 1330 Connecticut Ave. NW, confirmed the coffee company will move “two doors down” from its current space.
A representative for Saxbys declined to comment on the opening.
A new Cuban-themed coffee and cocktail hangout is apparently in the works near 14th Street NW.
The cafe and bar is called Colada Shop and is set to open at 1405 T St. NW “early summer 2016,” according to its website. The forthcoming business is described as “a social spot serving coffee, food, cocktails and conversation.”
Employees of the new Pret A Manger at 18th and M streets NW doled out free croissants to voucher-holding patrons to celebrate the store’s first day in business today.
Signs advertising the coffee shop were first spotted in October. The business resides in the former Caribou Coffee space.
Pret A Manger currently has nine shops in D.C., including downtown and Capitol Hill. Most of them are within a few blocks of another Pret A Manger.
Employees at The Wydown (1924 14th St. NW) have something new on the menu: health insurance.
The coffee shop on Jan. 1 rolled out an insurance plan for employees who work 30 hours per week and have worked there at least two months. In the world of single-location coffee shops, offering insurance is somewhat of an oddity, said sibling co-owners Alex and Chad McCracken.
“I think it is somewhat rare for a coffee bar to offer insurance,” Alex said. “We’re lucky enough to have a good location and we’re pretty busy, so it works.”
