A gym coming soon to Logan Circle has opened a pop-up workout space on 14th Street.
Cut Seven, which is due to open soon at 1101 Rhode Island Ave. NW, turned the former Timothy Paul space at 1529 14th St. NW into a temporary studio for fitness classes about two weeks ago, according to co-owner Alex Perrin.
Over the next two months, Perrin, along with her husband, Chris, will oversee training camp classes designed to give locals a “total body sports conditioning experience.”
“We have a lot of fun unique equipment that D.C. just hasn’t seen yet,” Alex Perrin told Borderstan. “We combine that with functional movement, interval training and total body workouts.”
Each workout focuses on one of seven major muscle groups. During classes, attendees crawl, tug on resistance bands and pull sleds, then come together for something called “seven minutes in heaven,” Perrin explained.
“It’s essentially a finisher,” she said. “A really hard challenge that the team brings everyone through. Everyone is cheering each other on and you feel really empowered and accomplished at the end of the class.”
And the gym isn’t just for those who want to “get cut,” either. People of all fitness levels can participate in Cut Seven’s workouts, Perrin said.
“You feel like you’re walking into a group of friends,” she added. “No matter how hard it gets in the workout, the team will bring you through.”
Classes cost $20 or $15 when purchased as part of a package.
A new pop-up will bring hot bowls of soup to a Bloomingdale bar starting next week.
Showtime Lounge (113 Rhode Island Ave. NW) is scheduled to start serving “Bowls and Bohs” each Wednesday at 6 p.m., according to the bar’s resident souper hero, Jason Mogavero.
During the pop-up, Mogavero — a longtime Showtime patron who says he drinks there “way too much” — will be serving steaming bowls of homemade soup for $5. For an extra two dollars, Showtime’s bartenders will throw in a cold Natty Boh.
Originally, Mogavero wanted to do a cheesesteak pop-up, but when he floated the idea to Showtime owner Paul Vivari, his response was lukewarm. Vivari worried the bar didn’t have much ventilation, Mogavero recalled. Cooking cheesesteaks could make the place reek of cooked meat.
So, Mogavero decided to switch to his other love in life: soup.
What’s on the menu? The pop-up will kick off with West African peanut soup on Sept. 28, then — of course — cheesesteak soup on Oct. 5.
“It’s going to be a different soup every week,” Mogavero said. “I’m going to get the full beautiful kaleidoscope of soup in there at some point or another.”
Mogavero is no stranger to serving up hot broth. Last year, he organized the D.C. Rock ‘N’ Roll Chili Cookbook, which had its launch party at Showtime. He also DJed at a gathering for soup lovers there earlier this year.
Though Mogavero said he’ll be the bar’s resident soup chef to start with, there might be some “guest soup artists” in the mix at a later date. And attendees can request soups, too, he added.
“Soup and beer are two of the great connective tissues of us as a species,” Mogavero said. “I don’t think that anyone is going to stop loving soup any time soon.”
Photo via Twitter / Jack on Fire
District residents interested in tasting dishes from forthcoming poultry-centric eatery The Bird will have only one more chance to do so before it opens in Shaw this October.
The Pig (1320 14th St. NW) is slated host two pop-up tasting events to showcase selections from its new restaurant’s menu on Sept. 17 and 18.
During the special “Taste the Bird” brunch, chef Michael Bonk will prepare a variety of fowl dishes that include a “Birdcuterie board” with capon rillettes, duck prosciutto, pheasant galantine; smoked chicken benedict; and Tennessee-style hot chicken.
Though the brunch will showcase The Bird’s menu, pork fanatics will still be able to order some of The Pig’s popular menu items during the pop-up, Bonk said.
Photo via Facebook / The Bird
Can marijuana make the world a better place? Araminta Scott and Ariel Oxner say it can.
The duo have created Space Cakes DC, a weed-laced pastry business they say is a nonprofit organization. Through home deliveries and pop-up stands, Scott and Oxner have brought cannabis-infused brownies, cupcakes and cookies to the masses in the District.
The main ingredient in their edibles is a butter-weed mixture called, “cannabutter,” Oxner said. A friend, who taught himself how to grow marijuana, gives them the pot for free to make the special sauce, Scott added.
“We want to show people that there’s other ways to get high than just smoking,” Oxner said.
The latest “Star Trek” movie is set to play at a Union Market theater this weekend, with some additional perks for Trekkies.
To celebrate the release of “Star Trek Beyond” and the science fiction franchise’s 50th anniversary, the Angelika Pop-Up movie house at 550 Penn St. NE is scheduled to hold a free “SciFi convention” Sunday from 1-8 p.m., event organizer Elyse Roland said in an email.
“We’ve got Sci Fi fever,” the theater said on its Facebook event page.
In addition to screenings of the flick, Angelika is slated to have Fantom Comics, Riverby Books and Intervention 7 on hand with toys, comic books and clothes geared toward science fiction fans. The theater also will sell hot dogs, nachos and other food.
“There’s no better way to catch Star Trek Beyond for your second or . . . third time,” Roland said.
Photo via Flickr/Ezra S F
Friends Micah Lubens and Evan Chiacchiaro want to make french fries fun.
Together, Lubens and Chiacchiaro — the “Fry Brothers” — sling piping hot cones of Belgian-style potatoes at their pop-up fry shop at Canteen (2100 M St. NW) on Fridays and bars and breweries across the District on Saturdays.
The idea to run a shop centered around french fries started more than a year ago.
“We were both interested in food and working with food,” Chiacchiaro said. “I had gone to New York and Boston and realized that a lot of french fry places existed, but none in D.C.”
But it wasn’t until this past winter that the two friends set their plans into motion by devising ways to make their taters unique.
Their idea: Turn the crispy fried potatoes into vessels for flavorful sauces. So, they created a batch of dippers that felt more fun than ketchup.
“We create sauces based on dishes, and we know what goes into the full version of that dish and how it’s prepared [and] made,” Chiacchiaro said. “If we want to keep on eating it, we’re sure our customers will want to as well.”
Today, the brothers’ menu includes DC Fry, a mixture of ketchup, mayonnaise and Ethiopian spices; Mumbo sauce; Old Bay aioli; and Pho 16, a “Vietnamese-pho inspired” concoction.
And there might be more sauces on the way, such as Peruvian green chili, Lubens added.
“We don’t have a shortage of idea for sauces,” Lubens said. “We have a lot of our own ideas, and we get a lot of ideas from customers as well.”
In addition to working on new sauces for the menu, Lubens and Chiacchiaro are trying to find a more permanent location inside an existing business, like a coffee shop.
“We want to make food people want to eat,” Chiacchiaro said. “Food that is delicious. We’ll travel for good food, and we think other people will, too.”
Find out where the Fry Brothers will pop up next by visiting their Twitter page.
Photos courtesy of Micah Lubens
(Updated at 12:13 p.m.) Republic Kolache, D.C.’s buzzy pop-up kolache shop, will sling pastries at American Ice Company (917 V St. NW) for the last time on May 28, the company announced via email this morning.
“It’s been a good run,” the “bittersweet” announcement reads. “From the wild turnout on our opening day last August, to the great fun we’ve had collaborating with guest chefs on kolache flavors, to the simple ritual of sharing kolaches and coffee with so many of you each week — getting our little kolache bakery off the ground at American Ice has been an immensely gratifying process.”
The company announced it will also end its pop-up shop at Union Market the same weekend. But the kolache company isn’t down for the count:
“We’re actively working on finding a permanent brick and mortar home for Republic Kolache,” the announcement reads. Furthermore, the company is slated to launch a late night weekend kolache pop-up at Dacha in Shaw on Friday, June 3.
It’s now possible to get a bowl of ramen or some spicy Korean wings for lunch at Dirty Martini in Dupont Circle.
The bar at 1223 Connecticut Ave. NW launched a lunchtime ramen pop-up called “Phat Pig Ramen” yesterday. According to an employee at the store, the pop-up will initially run Wednesday through Friday starting at 11 a.m. each day but may expand to Monday-through-Friday service in a few weeks. (more…)
Tortas and other Mexican small bites are headed to Songbyrd Record Cafe next month.
Former Big Bear chef and current Cocina Tortas owner Quinten Frye will prepare Mexican Tortas, finger foods and desserts at Songbyrd Record Cafe (2477 18th St. NW) during a pop-up on Feb. 1 from 5-10 p.m. (more…)
(Updated on Friday, Jan. 15: The Peppermint Pony will no longer bring its miniature equines. Instead, Big D’s Pony Rides will supply two ponies.)
Two real live ponies will visit 14th Street NW this weekend.
Constellation Theatre Company will host a “pony pop-up” in front of Source (1835 14th Street NW) this Sunday between noon and 3 p.m. The pop-up will star two precious ponies that passers-by will be able to feed and pet. (more…)
A vegan restaurant by the owner of Sticky Fingers bakery is set to debut its wood-fired margarita stromboli, chocolate-espresso torta, and mushroom and spinach spanikopita next month on 14th Street NW.
HillNow, a Borderstan sibling publication, reported this afternoon that forthcoming eatery Fare Well will pop up at G by Mike Isabella (2201 14th St. NW) for dinners on Sept. 21 and 22.
The restaurant is expected to open on the H Street corridor later this year.
The pop-up’s dinner menu has a dozen items, including small plates, mains and sweets. In addition to the stromboli, torta and spanikopita, the food includes cashew and almond burrata, roasted pepper and tofu frittata strata, and berry shortcake, among other dishes.
Fare Well also will have complimentary bread and infused olive oil for customers who attend the pop-up dinners.
Locals interested in the meals can make reservations by calling G at 202-234-5015. Seating begins at 6 p.m.
Photo via Instagram/Fare Well
D.C.’s honesty just got dissed by a Bethesda-based tea brand.
As part of an unscientific quest to find the most honest cities in the country, Honest Tea set up an honor system tea stand in Dupont Circle last month. The instructions were clear: take tea, drop money in a box.
Now, the results are in: Only 94 percent of people in D.C. paid for the tea, making D.C. the 17th most-honest city in the U.S. out of 26.
To add insult to injury, Honest Tea says D.C. was the only city in which people actually stole money from the payment box, a first for the program’s history.
Despite the low ranking, our city performed on par with the national honesty average, Honest Tea says, and stiff competition from Atlanta (100 percent), Indianapolis (99 percent) and San Diego (97 percent) set the bar fairly high.
And it could have been worse: According to the results, the least honest city in the program was Providence, R.I., with 83 percent.
A national tea brand is testing locals’ honesty in Dupont Circle.
Honest Tea, a drink-maker owned by Coca-Cola and headquartered in Bethesda, built a pop-up tea stand in the west part of Dupont Circle earlier today.
Passers-by can drop a dollar in the box and take a tea; no employees or cash registers involved.
But grab-and-go with caution, tea-takers: You’re being recorded.
According to the rules posted near the stand, the day’s transactions will be filmed by a camera crew and possibly used by Honest Tea in the future.
