New pizza place, Custom Fuel Pizza*Salads, opening at 2301 Georgia

If you like pizza and live near Howard U, you are about to be in luck. Custom Fuel Pizza*Salads, a budding local chain, is opening up a location at Georgia and Bryant on January 7th.

Located across from McDonald's, The place sounds like &pizza, which itself is sort of like Chipotle: you stand in line, choose a crust, sauce, toppings and such, and the pizza rolls through an oven, or you can choose an already designed pizza. They deliver too.

Aside from pizza, they also have a lot of salads, plus beer, wine and margaritas (at least in the downtown location, not sure about the booze at this location.) Here's their full menu, with lots of different kinds of salads and pizza.

Right now there's only one other location at 1747 Penn. Ave NW, but they're opening this one and another one in Harlem as well owned by former New York Knicks stars John Starks and Anthony Mason.

The pizza itself looks pretty tasty (at least on their website, pictured above) and the interior of the downtown one looks pretty cool too. I bet this place will be popular with Howard students, and also fills a gap in pizza places -- there really aren't any nearby aside from Red Rocks up at 11th and Park.

You can read more at their website or follow them on Twitter.

Hat tip to Park View DC. Here's the location:

Here's what's going on in the neighborhood this New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve is upon us and a lot of local spots are doing things for it -- while some are doing nothing on purpose. Here's a little rundown, and feel free to add other options in the comments.

One good thing about our area is that there are always lots of chilled out, no cover options.

• The Pinch is having "Blueseque," with live bluegrass and burlesque. No cover or dress code.
• The Looking Glass Lounge also has no cover or dress code, with $4 shot specials and a champagne toast at midnight. Here's the Facebook event.
• Acre 121 has happy hour specials as usual from 5-7, a special dinner menu, and the Michelle Raymond Band closer to midnight: $10 cover, free champagne toast, $6 champagne cocktails and $5 for all beers. Here's the FB event.
• The Red Derby is having an "Old Hollywood Silver Screen Ball," so wear some retro finery, with a photo booth and champagne cocktails. I assume there is no cover. 
• Eatonville has a prix fixe dinner with red snapper, bourbon duck, filet mignon or eggplant canales, plus lots of other courses
• Meridian Pint is also having a prix fixe dinner with hand seared scallops, rack of lamb or creamy risotto, plus lots of beer pairings, including aged beers 
• Room 11 is low key with $5 punch and festive cocktails, and they're closing the kitchen at 10 pm to prepare for a big hangover brunch
• Wonderland has two DJs, DJ Meistro and DJ Deep Sang, doors open at 8. Probably no cover too, and they are having a hangover brunch as well, starting at 11
• Park View Patio has a $39 open bar, but it seems to be sold out. Sorry.

Please add other ideas in the comments! I'm going to The House. Not really.

Lime Fresh Mexican Grill in DCUSA abruptly closes, apparently for good

Well, this is too bad. PoP reports that Lime Fresh, the fast casual Mexican place in DCUSA, has closed for good. There was a sign on the window the other day saying "WE ARE CLOSED" and he followed up with the company who confirmed it. A tipster told PoP that a lot of the furniture had been removed too.

No word on why, but I would guess that it just didn't make enough money. I always liked the place, but there never seemed to be more than 4 or 5 people eating when I visited. The space is huge too, so maybe they had high rent. Too bad, they had good tacos (especially the fish ones,) a big salsa bar, and tasty, very sweet margaritas. The staff was always super friendly too, which is often a rarity at fast casual places. It was a nice change from Chipotle, Panda Express and Cava when you just wanted something quick. Yelpers only gave them 3 stars, so maybe that contributed.

I wonder what we'll see to replace it? Considering it's so big, I'm not sure another fast casual place would work, unless it was very popular.

Room 11 offering holiday cakes, tarts, cookies, other baked goods: order by Thursday!

Room 11, the great cocktail bar and restaurant at 11th and Lamont, also sells a lot of tasty baked goods. Getting into the holiday spirit, they're offering a lot of cakes, pies, tarts and lots of other baked goods -- even doggie treats. They even offer bûche de Noël, a French version of the Yule log, which sounds pretty amazing: French sponge cake (genoise) with espresso buttercream, mushrooms made out of meringe, and holly. Damn.

There's also a wide variety of other goodies. Check them out below and give them a buzz or call for more info. I'm hungry just reading it.

Room 11 Holiday Ordering 2013

The Getaway closing, ending with a big New Year's Eve party

The Getaway, the bar and restaurant at 14th and Meridian, will be closing soon, according to PoP. They'll have a final New Year's Eve party with $40 open bar, then close their doors.

Sad to see -- I liked the downstairs bar, though it never had a very big crowd, and admittedly I think I only went a handful of times.

The place had a 1970s racing/Steve McQueen theme with auto posters and things, and also had a restaurant upstairs with decent brunch food, but again pretty small crowds. They had a big front patio too, which was good in the warmer months, and hosted trivia, karaoke and other events occasionally. Yelpers gave the spot 3.5 stars, which is pretty good.

The Getaway will have lasted about 2.5 years, having opened in June 2011. A PoP reader said they heard "scuttlebutt" that they might move somewhere else.

I wonder if this is one of those locations that is cursed -- if you recall, the same building to house Social, a bar and restaurant that opened in 2009. I was not a big fan: it had kind of a weird vibe, was sort of too big and didn't really have an identity. The place kind of looked like a furniture showroom. It closed after less than a year -- at first temporarily and then permanently. In fact, some security guards apparently posted by feuding owners harassed another restauranteur checking out the space.

I hope something successful comes to the spot and wish the owners of the Getaway the best of luck in the future. No word on if this will affect the Dunes, the art, music and event space with a little bar located upstairs.

TGI Friday's says they won't have music, then say they will

Well, this is interesting. You may recall that TGI Friday's announced they were opening a restaurant at 14th and Monroe, which is under the Samuel Kelsey senior housing. The residents of the housing are worried that, among other things, loud live music late at night would be disruptive to sleep and their normal lives.

It's a valid complaint, and the Advisory Neighborhood Commission approved TGI Friday's liquor license if they added soundproofing, though the residents didn't think that would be enough.

On Wednesday, Councilmember Jim Graham met with representatives of the company, who said they didn't plan to have live music at all. That was good news to Graham and presumably to the senior residents of the building.

However, this morning, TGI Friday's attorney told Graham that those representatives of TGI Friday's from his meeting weren't authorized to speak for the company, and that the restaurant would be going for live entertainment after all.

Pretty weird situation. We'll see what comes from it. Graham's two emails are below.

The first email, to the ANC some local residents and ANC commissioners after his meeting

Dear Friends, today I met with representatives from TGIF on the proposed location at 14th and Monroe.
The stated purpose of the meeting was to discuss the signage issues on this historic building.
But when the meeting started the agenda was expanded by the TGIF reps to include broader issues.
I expressed my concern about how live, amplified entertainment would impact Kelsey residents.
At that point, the TGIF reps stated that they had no interest in seeking live entertainment permission.
With that said, I think we can request that the ANC delete the support for within the Settlement Agreement for a future entertainment endorsement.
They promised to continue to take steps to continua the other noise from the restaurant. They believe it can be contained as much as 96% and they are working on the balance.
I am quite sure this will be very good news for Kelsey.
I also mentioned the possibility of deliveries occurring during times the restaurant is not open, from the front of the building on 14th St. As I have in the past, I restated that I would support a loading zone, in order to further minimize the congestion on Monroe--which is already pretty bad.
Bests CM Jim Graham

 And the second, to TGI Friday's and the ANC

TGIF Executives:
You have requested that I speak to your attorney, Mr. Fonseca, concerning whether TGIF will withdraw their request for a Live Entertainment endorsement. I have now done so.
First, a little background...
On November 20, I met in my office with TGIF representatives at a meeting they requested to inform me about exterior signage issues. But eth representatives--not I-- raised the general issues on TGIF. After I mentioned my concern about noise impact on Kelsey seniors, they indicated that TGIF would not seek a live entertainment endorsement. The same day--as I told TGIF I would-- I reported to the community on that communication (see below).
That was a relief since I am certain that nearly no amount of sound proofing will absolutely insure that noise from live music will be contained within the establishment. And here we have a special case: This is the only bar venue I know of in DC with a senior center directly above it.
I am very sad to report that TGIF has now decided that their representatives in that meeting were not authorized to speak for the company on this issue. And that TGIF will pursue live music. (All the various email exchanges are available,)
I have had many experiences with bar related noise problems over the 8 years that I chaired ABRA oversight committee.
Most recently, a similar vexing problem occurred--and I believe is still occurring-- at the Eatonville restaurant on 14th St--despite strong efforts made to contain the noise. There are many other examples.
I fear that the apartments above TGIF will be rendered uninhabitable as a result of the live music noise (not to mention the outdoor patio). What a nightmare awaits those residents!
All of which compels me to raise this issue again, first with my constituents at Kelsey so that they know my experience over the years with noise issues. Of course, if they would like, TGIF may again make their case for noise containment. I wish I could have been at the last meeting, but I was in a plane heading out of town.
I believe
In the recent ABC Task Force I chaired for about a year, and in an earlier review of the noise problem in bars that I prompted, we have wrestled with these noise issues. I wish I could say that we found full solutions. But we did not. We did come up with actions that will help but will not insure the elimination of noise in a situation such as this.
The ABC board is well aware of all of that.
I think this issue is best considered by the full ABC board. But I very much respect the fact that the ANC has entered into a "Settlement Agreement" (SA) with TGIF. That SA supports live entertainment. However, I believe that the ANC was encouraged to agree due to the support that was received from the residents at Kelsey.
After the Kelsey meeting that I am now requesting, when my information is received and considered, there is a chance that the Kelsey sentiment may change. And, in turn, the ANC may wish to reconsider that provision in the Settlement Agreement. That is entirely up to ANC1A.
Whether that happens or not, I am will request the opportunity to testify before the ABC Board on the issue of live entertainment directly below a senior residence.
Bests, Councilmember Jim Graham

Checking out the Milk Cult Sanctuary: breakfast tacos and coffee; you should go

There's a new breakfast and lunch spot in the neighborhood, and it's awesome. It's a popup shop called the Milk Cult Sanctuary inside Park View Patio, the new bar at 3632 Georgia Ave NW.

They serve delicious breakfast tacos, locally roasted Vigilante Coffee, and pastries. I stopped by wth a buddy yesterday morning (thanks to work being closed) and was really glad I did. All three kinds of tacos, corned beef hash, bacon, egg and chive, and fried green tomatillo, were really good, but the corned beef was my favorite. It comes with big, flavorful pieces of beef and potatoes, plus tater tots, eggs and arugula, and it was delicious. The bacon and chives also has tots, salsa and arugula, and the tomatillo has hollandaise and tots.

The Vigilante coffee was also quite good, and you can get 2 tacos and a coffee for $9, or 3 and a coffee for a bit more. I didn't try to pastries, which included popovers, but they looked good.

I chatted with the two guys behind the Milk Cult, Patrick Griffith and Ed Cornell, and they said they plan to have the shop open for quite some time, maybe 6 months or more. Right now it's open from 7:30am-4pm on weekdays and 8am-1pm on weekends, when the bar opens. They said when football season ends, they might stay open longer.

The story behind the Milk Cult is interesting too, they are best known for selling artisanal ice cream sandwiches out of a motorcycle with a freezer in the sidecar. They set up at events and such, and had wanted to have a pop-up for some time -- and this is the result.

It's definitely a cool spot, and nice to have another breakfast and lunch option in the area. You should check it out.

Here are some good spots to get breakfast when work opens late (or not at all)

This week, the weather has been pretty crummy, and folks who work at schools or who follow the US government calendar got a late start  or even a whole day off.  For some people, that just means sleep in more, but it can also mean you have an extra few hours to get breakfast and take it easy.

I decided to list some of my favorite breakfast options in case we get another day like that (or if you just have the morning off for some reason.)

• Le Caprice at 3460 14th Street NW is my favorite bakery. They have great breakfast sandwiches with tomato, egg and cheese, plus meat if you'd like it (I always get the roll, pictured above, but I hear the others are good) plus coffee, fruit and tons of pastries.
• Room 11 at 11th and Lamont has breakfast, with some pastries from Paisley Fig, coffee and espresso, and small breakfast plates like a pork belly confit sandwich. They open at 8 am during the week.
• The Coupe at 11th and Monroe is obviously a good bet, they're open 24 hours and have tons of breakfast food
• The new Milk Cult pop-up shop at Park View Patio (3632 Georgia Ave NW) sounds like it would be a good stop too, with breakfast tacos, ice cream sandwiches, pastries and Vigilante coffee. They open at 7:30 am.
• The Uptowner on 14th just north of Park (next to Z-Burger) opens at 7 am on weekdays and Yelpers like their breakfast sandwiches. I haven't tried those, but I do like their regular sandwiches, so I bet the morning fare is also pretty good.
• Coffy Cafe across from the Uptowner also has breakfast, mainly delicious sweet or savory crepes, and has a really nice atmosphere too. They also open at 7 am on weekdays.

Those are some of my favorites, how are yours? Any spots I missed?

Hilltop Bar and Restaurant on Sherman Ave, from Saloon folks, looking to open in January

A few months ago, we heard that The Hilltop, a new German and American restaurant and beer bar was coming to 2737 Sherman Ave NW, on the corner with Girard. Now PoP reports that they plan to open in January. The place's owners both have connections with The Saloon, the laid back and (mostly) Belgian beer bar on U Street: Sam Jahanbeen is the Saloon owner's son and Kaleabe Getanah is the former manager and long-time waiter.

I've been to the Saloon a million times and am a fan -- it's got good beer and a nice, cozy, relatively quiet and relaxed space to talk with friends. Kaleabe was the only waiter for a long time, then became manager and is a great guy -- if you've been there he's the mid-30s ish guy with dreadlocks, as opposed to the younger guy with dreadlocks who also works there. The Saloon used to be related to the Saloun on M Street in Georgetown, but years ago the owners of the two Saloo/uns, who are related, had a falling out. The U Street one kept up the relaxed, neighborhoody vibe focused on good beer, while the Georgetown one is more of a bland, regular Georgetown bar.

When Kaleabe mentioned to me that he was planning on opening his own place, I was excited about it, and even moreso that it was on Sherman, since there's really no neighborhoody spot near there. PoP reported that they'll focus on German and other imported beers (I hope they have the Kostritzer dark lager, that's my go-to at the Saloon) and American food. Sounds a lot like the Saloon, which is fine with me (though the Saloon's food is average, just burgers and the like, I hope The Hilltop has some better stuff.)

I thought I had heard some opposition from neighbors about commercial buildings coming to Sherman, but in the past there have been businesses on the street, mostly seedy corner stores. There's still some kind of plumbing company across the street from the Hilltop. I don't think this place will cause any more traffic or noise -- the Saloon is a very relaxed, local place, and I imagine this will be the same way.

I'm trying to find out more about their liquor license and details on size, hours, and so on. Stay tuned.

New coffee, pastry, ice cream sandwich and breakfast taco pop-up stand at Park View Patio

Do you like coffee, pastries, ice cream sandwiches and/or tacos? If so, get to Park View Patio, which is hosting a new pop-up shop from Milk Cult and Vigilante Coffee seven days a week.

Running form 7:30am to 4 pm on weekdays and open at 8am on weekends (closing time TBD), the guys from Milk Cult are cooking up their homemade ice cream sandwiches, brunch tacos, pastries and serving Vigilante Coffee. It sounds pretty fantastic to me, though I haven't been around there during breakfast (or lunch) time yet.

Park View Patio, as you may recall, is the new bar at 3632 Georgia Ave NW, formerly the Blue Banana.

The ice cream sandwiches especially sound amazing:

Here at Milk Cult we make Ice Cream Sandwiches from scratch. Everything we sell is made by us. We don't use another businesses pre-made mix or half baked concept. We do this because the we want to pour our own heart and soul into our products and for them to be uniquely ours. Whenever we are offering more flavors you'll see them posted here.
Our current flavor offerings are:  

Vanilla w/ Chocolate Wafer Cookie
Vanilla Bean w/ Chocolate Chip Cookie
Buttermilk Lemon Zest w/ Ginger Molasses Cookie
Salted Butter Caramel w/ Chocolate Chip Cookie Milk
Honey w/ Corn Flake Cookie

They're also working to raise money for a brick-and-mortar shop.

Hat tip to the 9:30 Club Tumblr for clueing me in.

Maple expanding into Columbia Heights Coffee space, adding second floor, backyard seating

Maple, the American restaurant with some Italian touches at 3418 11th Street NW, will be expanding into the space that housed the now-closed Columbia Heights Coffee. The expansion will basically double their size, which is good as it was often really, really crowded.

PoP also reports that they'll also have a second floor space which people can reserve for events plus back patio seating.

Sounds like some good additions to a popular and well-liked place (it gets 4 stars from 100 reviews on Yelp) though I do still miss Columbia Heights Coffee.

Acre 121 with Monday Night Football deals, Black Friday specials

Black Friday, the big shopping day after Thanksgiving, is almost upon us. It's generally a completely crazy time in our area, what with DCUSA stores offering lots of specials. I tend to stay away, but there are those folks who want to try to get those deals.

And Acre 121, the southern restaurant on Irving near the Metro, is helping too, offering half off holiday drafts all night, which include Abita Christmas, Sam Winter, Magic Hat's Heart of Darkness and Woodchuck Winter Cider. I know I'd need a beer or three if I braved that holiday shopping madhouse. Reggae funk band the Bullbuckers play at 10 on Black Friday too.

They're also offering a new Monday Night Football deal for the rest of the NFL season called Pork & Pig Skin: $5 pulled pork sandwiches and $5 BBQ mac and cheese (no actual pig skin, only the metaphorical NFL kind.)

It's cold and flu season: what's the best local food if you're sick?

The weather is crummy and germs are going around -- it's cold and flu season. That means folks are getting sick and (hopefully) staying home, which also means they need to eat. What are some local food delivery places you'd recommend for sick folks?

I got sick a couple of weeks ago and didn't have much food in the house, so I went looking to order. The first thing that came to mind was Pho 14, which delivers to most of the area. To me, it's the ideal sick food: hot, herby and (relatively) healthy. I get the large, which is enough food for two meals. And it's good stuff: tasty, salty broth, lots of fresh basil, veggies, and the little cup of red spicy stuff, which helps to open up your sinuses. Add in some tea and you're in business. They also have an order online feature, but the credit card option wasn't working for me, so I gave them a call.

However, that's where my knowledge of good sick food spots ended, so I asked on Twitter and got a few other recommendations. Thaitanic II on 14th was one, @candacearm recommended the Tom Kha Gai (Thai chicken coconut soup.) They deliver, but with a $20 minimum. I bet a lot of their options would be good -- hot curries, soups, and the like.

Another person, @aoadcmetro, recommended the Colombian soup from Fonda Paisa in downtown Silver Spring. It's on the Red line, but doesn't seem to deliver.

So, how about you? Any other ideas? Leave them in the comments. To me, sandwiches and pizza aren't good sick food, but maybe some other folks disagree.

Image from giantmicrobes.com

Checking out Washington Pizza: solid delivery pizza

A few months ago I wrote about the awesome mural on the Washington Pizza building at 14th and Randolph, and I finally got around to trying them. The result: solid delivery pizza.

They have a fair amount of decent specials for pizzas and subs, but I was feeling hungry so I got a large supreme and garlic knots, for a total of about $20. The knots were delicious, buttery and garlicky goodness, and the pizza was tasty. Decent crust, good ingredients. It's not as good as my favorites, like Italian Kitchen on U or fancier delivery spots like Pete's Apizza, but still solid. Definitely better than Manny & Olgas.

Aside from pizza, they offer a variety of subs and calzones, plus salads and various kinds of fries -- the pizza fries and bacon & cheese fries sound pretty interesting. Oddly, there's a sign on their building for Indian food, but I don't see that on the menu. Maybe that's next door.

You can order on Grubhub and Seamless, or their website, though the times can be a little off -- when I ordered, it said it would take about an hour but actually showed up in half that time. Always a nice problem to have.

They get 3.5 stars on Yelp. I'd say that's about right -- pretty good but not amazing. It does sound like they are responsive to problems, one person who ordered before and didn't receive all his items tried again a month later and they remembered, bringing him the things he didn't get before as a way to say sorry.

Filipino restaurant from Room 11 owners coming to old El Rinconcito Deportivo space on 11th

I don't have too many details, but thanks to ANC commish Kent Boese's Park View Newsletter, I learned that Nick Pimentel of Room 11 and Genevieve Villamora are looking to open a Filipino restaurant called Chitiking -- they are still working on the name, Chikiting is the name of their LLC.

It will be in 3226 11th Street NW, which used to be El Rinconcito Deportivo, a Latin American restaurant that closed a few months ago (note this isn't El Rinconcito II, a different place on Park Road NW.)

I'll be looking for more details, but considering how tasty Room 11's food and drinks are, I'm excited.

El Chucho now serving brunch!

Oh, man. I'm about to gain 100 pounds. El Chucho, the great Mexican restaurant and cocktail spot on 11th, started serving brunch last Saturday.

DCist reports the dishes are Mexican items with a brunch spin, and brunch items with a Mexican spin: chilaquiles with black beans, salsa, queso fresco in a tortilla, ham and poached eggs hollandaise on a huarache (sort of a fried tortilla), buttermilk masa (corn flour) pancakes with cinnamon butter, agave-maple syrup and fruit, and rum raisin tamales. That all sounds pretty fantastic.

As for drinks (which they're also known for) they'll have red or green Bloody Marys, mimosas and French press coffee.

I'm hungry now. DCist even calls 11th Street (what the New York Times called the Hip Strip) "Brunch Row." I like it.

Opposition to TGI Friday's from Monroe Street residents: ANC meeting on Wed. to discuss

The other day I got a couple of messages on Twitter from people with issues with TGI Friday's. When we got in touch via email, I learned that a number of residents of Monroe Street are opposed to the way TGI Friday's is dealing with them and their issues about the coming chain restaurant.

As you may recall, TGI Friday's is planning to open a 300-seat location in the space at the corner of 14th and Monroe, which is under the Samuel Kelsey Apartments for seniors. The neighbors say they've been trying to work with the restaurant on issues about noise, hours, trash and traffic, but the restaurant isn't compromising. The issues will be discussed at today's Advisory Neighborhood Commission meeting, which will be at 7 pm at Tubman Elementary (13th and Kenyon.) I expect that it'll be pretty raucous.

The meeting will include a brief presentation from TGI Friday's and also a discussion of the restaurant's "settlement agreement," which is the agreement between the ANC and the restaurant that determines their hours of operation, trash plans and the like. A liquor license has legal limits to what the business can do, like how late they can stay open, how they handle trash, music, sidewalk cafes and so on, but often those limits are wider than what neighbors want. The agreement is a way to change those limits, with the threat that if they don't enter into an agreement, the ANC will oppose their liquor license. Kind of byzantine, but it seems to work. They used to call these "voluntary agreements," but they weren't very voluntary, hence the new name.

Here's more on those issues with TGI Friday's from a local resident, who asked to remain nameless.

(...)Everything went great until we questioned them on a couple of issues. They saw our settlement agreement and basically rejected any type of compromise on most of it. Their discourse on willing to do anything to be a good neighbor went out the door when we asked for them to amend their closing hours to around midnight. At that point their bullying behavior became apparent and they immediately shut us down without any room for discussion. the fact of the matter is that they have not shown any action or willingness to go out of their way to appease our concernsWe asked for:No DJ/Livemusic band,No sidewalk cafe (there is not enough room either on Monroe or 14 St)Earlier than 2 amclosing time (12am),No dumpster on Monroe St.No deliveries during rush hour 

And so far we've got NONE of it. They said that they don't plan on having parties but then why do you need live music/DJ license until 2am? They are willing to consider not having side walk cafe but its in the plan right now so why would they be willing after all approvals are received to not do it just for us? If their concern was US, they would have already scrapped that from the plan.

The email is fairly long, but to summarize the next part, the restaurant said they'll put up an outdoor trash compactor, but the residents still fear rodents. They also note that Ruby Tuesday across the street closes at midnight. As for the deliveries, here's their take on that:

The impact on local traffic: Maybe here we got something from them by not having deliveries on Monroe but the hours for delivery on 14th St will make traffic just as bad as if they received deliveries on Monroe. We need to not allow deliveries anytime before 9 or9:30 am. Right now they plan on instructing supplier to deliver between 7 and 11 am which will cause a nightmare during rush hour for all that drive through the intersection as you can bet on having their trucks double parked and completely blocking traffics while they deliver. Having the two parking spaces as delivery only will not guarantee that the spaces will be available when deliveries show up.

The writer also mentioned bullying by TGI Friday's -- I asked for more information on that:

...in regards to the bullying, they basically accepted a meeting with ANC reps and us the Monroe St residents but when it came to negotiating any type of compromise so that the nuisance of their presence is not as bad, their position was "We have the permit so we'll do as we please and make as much money as possible" mostly when negotiating the closing hours. Also, when we mentioned the negative impact their business will have on parking for residents, they completely dismissed our concerns. We asked them to offer complimentary parking to their patrons at one of the two parking garages less than two blocks away and their response was "no one else is doing it around here so why should we" we told them that actually a few businesses do it and that would be a sign of good faith when it comes to showing their intentions on being a good neighbor. Again they dismissed us by saying we'll look into it. In regards to rodent control, they'r telling us that by having a compactor they will not cause an exacerbation of the already serious rat infestation problem we have on Monroe St. Any person with some common sense will know that this is not true. I will not even mention the way the building management is behaving with its residents because they asked not to make it public so I will abstain from commenting further and let them pick that battle if they wish to do so.

So, it's going to be an interesting meeting. There are obviously some strong feelings about TGI Friday's coming in, as the writer makes clear. Some of these complaints are at least somewhat justified, to me: the traffic issue, for example, as I've spent 15-20 minutes or more on the bus in the mornings trying to get from about Newton the Irving. If TGI Friday's loading and unloading cargo is planned at the same time and that affects traffic, that would be bad. That's a big if, but traffic is already terrible there, we don't need more things making it worse. Maybe deliveries on Monroe rather than 14th would actually be better, if that's the case.

I also somewhat agree with the concerns about the hours and DJ. I don't expect there to be a huge dance party at Friday's, but I can see how neighbors would be concerned, especially if Ruby Tuesday across the street seems to have always been a good neighbor and agreed to reduce their hours. It doesn't seem fair for TGI Friday's to not do that, and I expect we'll hear a lot about that.

I'll reserve judgement on the other issues, as to me this seems more like a disinterest in compromise rather than actual bullying by the store, since most of these things they are legally allowed to do.

It's also it's important to note that we haven't heard from Friday's in this case either. We will tomorrow.

What do you think? Do these complaints seem reasonable?

First look at Park View Patio, new bar with huge patio in Blue Banana space on Georgia, opening Thurs.

This weekend a few friends and I checked out Park View Patio, a new bar that replaced the Blue Banana sports bar at 3632 Georgia Avenue NW, between the Looking Glass Lounge and DC Reynolds.

The bar has new owners and a new feel -- there are still a number of TVs, but the inside is a bit more hip with dark colors and mirrors. The main attraction to me though is the back patio, which is huge and filled with picnic tables. The Blue Banana never really utilized their patio area, while Park View Patio has expanded all the way back to the alley (the same depth as DC Reynolds) and took over the next door lot's back area. It's massive, with two bars, and I think it would be great for springtime. I chatted with Scott, one of the owners, and he said they also plan to install a 40 foot retractable tent with clear ceiling, plus heaters, so it could be a good place for the cold weather as well.

As for food, they're currently working on finding a chef and finalizing their selections, but they will have a full kitchen. They might work with a chef or two who has experience from various Food Network TV shows, like Diners, Drive-ins and Dives or one guy who won a show called Cutthroat Kitchen, but it's still up in the air. For now they'll have various food trucks or food vendors -- when we were there, they had Green Eggs Burger's truck set up in the back (you can see that above.)

They'll be open Thursday-Sunday at first and will have buy one-get one free happy hours from 6-9pm each of those days.

The interior space is similar to when it was the Blue Banana, though it looks more open -- they took out the wall that was on the side when you come in. They plan to have DJs often and I get the feeling it'll still be a good place to watch football on Saturdays and Sundays or other sporting events since they still have the TVs.

The owners also own a couple of places in Georgetown and Cleveland Park called George, Mason Inn and Capitale, with which I'm not familiar. Apparently George is members only, but Park View Patio sounds more laid-back than the other spots. Scott also mentioned that he didn't think competition between the bars in the area was a bad thing -- if anything, they have different themes and the more places, the more people will come to the area. I agree with that.

It'll be interesting to see how Park View Patio develops, and nice to see something replace the Blue Banana -- which I sort of liked, but it never really had an identity aside from a place to watch games. The patio and food should change that for this new place. It's a similar idea to DC Reynolds though, so we'll see.

What do you think? Excited? There are a few more photos below.

The inside


The second outdoor bar (third total) to be opened in big crowds. That's DC Reynolds through the slats.

Breakfast hoagies back at Taylor Gourmet!

Good news for breakfast and/or sandwich fans: Taylor Gourmet, which has a location at 14th and W, is again going to sell breakfast hoagies, starting tomorrow at 11 am. The hoagies were stricken from the menu a few months ago after sluggish sales. My theory was that they stopped selling them too early in the day, they were only available from 8am-11am -- on the weekends I sleep in, on purpose or not, and often am not up and running fully with enough time to get there by 11 am. They've addressed that by selling them all day, though they'll open at 11 am everyday.

They're also getting rid of a few hoagies, including the popular Delaware Avenue eggplant one, and adding a couple more to the rest of the menu -- click it above for a bigger version.

And through Sunday, everybody will get a free side salad. Not bad.

Check out what the TGI Friday's coming to 14th and Monroe will look like inside

As you may recall, chain restaurant TGI Friday's is opening a 290 seat location at 14th and Monroe, in the Samuel Kelsey building. They don't have a date that I've seen

The Park View DC blog reached out about the interior, and the company sent them a video of what interiors look like. Kind of interesting to see. It's not this exact store but an idea of the inside.

I wrote before about how I think this isn't a great use of the space. I'm sure it'll make money and be popular, but I just wish there was something more interesting. I also hope it's better than the one in Foggy Bottom, that one has terrible and slow service.

But maybe I'm a grump. Are you excited about this?