2008 is shaping up to be another happening year for the DC restaurant scene with more wine bars and resto-lounges enlivening burgeoning neighborhoods, popular eateries cloning themselves and established talents cooking up new concepts.
Agraria still plans to open a second outlet serving its farm-sourced, ingredient-based American fare in Foggy Bottom, but now it's targeting a fall opening.
Asia Nine, a sushi bar, cocktail bar and lounge serving a range of Thai, Vietnamese and Japanese fare, will fill the sweeping Penn Quarter space at the Artisan condominiums by the end of January (915 E St. NW).
Bice, the international Italian chain, will give local pasta-lovers a second chance (a prior edition pioneered the Penn Quarter from 1991–1997) to appreciate its high-end fare when it begins slinging spaghetti in January in the swank Bethesda building where Old Homestead used to be (5530 Wisconsin Ave.).
Adams Morganites will hightail it to Black Squirrel for retro Franco-American fare like braised ribs and macaroni and goat cheese, against a backdrop of iconic images of the '60s and '70s; its grand opening is in January (2427 18th St. NW).
Bookbinder's, the legendary Philadelphia steak and seafood house, will open a branch in Old Town in January (109 S. St. Asaph St.).
Commonwealth, a British style gastropub from Jamie Leeds (Hank’s Oyster Bar), will elevate the Columbia Heights dining scene sometime this spring when it opens in a yet-to-be-completed building.
Old World wines will pair up with cheese, charcuterie and locally sourced salads in a laid-back, brick-walled Logan Circle setting when Cork Wine Bar pops in early 2008 (1720 14th St. NW).
At General Store & Post Office Tavern, chef-owner Gillian Clark (Colorado Kitchen) will be serving pizza and beer in an 1890’s Forest Glen building that once served as a general store and post office (hence the name); renovations are still being completed, but it's aiming for an early spring debut.
As its name suggests, Good Stuff Eatery will offer simple fare (think burgers, shakes and beer) when it opens on Capitol Hill in February (303 Pennsylvania Ave. SE).
The restaurant in the soon-to-open Hotel Monaco in Alexandria will be called Jackson 20 in honor of President Andrew Jackson and his mug on the $20 bill; it will feature locally sourced ingredients in updated American dishes along with regional beers and wines (480 King St.).
Chocolate in desserts, drinks and confections will be the focus of Locolat Café, a cafe-confiserie opening very soon in Adams Morgan (1724 Florida Ave. NW).
Matchbox will heat up Capitol Hill’s Barracks Row with its wood-fired pizzas, mini-burgers and hip vibes in the late spring (521 Eighth St. SE).
Mon Ami Gabi will open an outlet in the Reston Town Center in June (11900 Market Sq.).
In early 2008, restaurant conjurer Savio Racine (Primi Piatti) will outfit his latest Italian dining venture, Oro Pomodoro in Rockville Town Center, with a white-marble-and-dark-wood bar/lounge, a wood-burning pizza oven and a wide antipasti selection including house-cured charcuterie.
Policy, a multilevel complex with a California-style bistro on one floor and sushi bar on another, is under construction in the Logan Circle area; it has an April/May delivery date (1902-1904 14th St.).
Come springtime, Punk’s Backyard will try out a casual-dining concept featuring grilling – chicken, ribs, homey sides – in this (possibly cursed) Bethesda locale, most recently vacated by the short-lived Yin Yankee (4936 Fairmont Ave.).
Ris Lacoste, who is currently consulting chef at Rock Creek, plans to be cooking her distinctive Modern American fare at her own bistro, Ris, in the West End by the summer.
Redwood will follow the lead of its siblings (Mendocino Grille and Sonoma) in its focus on wine, and Contemporary American foods that pair well with its bottles, when it launches in Bethesda Row in the spring.
Royal Blue Mediterranean Lounge, debuting in Columbia Heights in the early spring, will draw culinary inspiration from Northern Africa, Southern Europe and the Middle East for its small plates and dispense an international roster of wines by the glass, flight and bottle (14th St. NW and Kenyon St. NW).
Sei, an Asian niche in the bustling Penn Quarter, will serve sushi and inventive small and larger plates along with sake and wine when it opens in February (444 7th St. NW).
Stingrays swimming in a huge aquarium will certainly spark conversation at a Penn Quarter sushi lounge and seafood spot that will be aptly named Ray; slated for a late spring debut (901 I St. NW).
Nightlife impresario Mauricio Fraga-Rosenfeld, whose Latin accented
resto-lounges are scattered in hip neighborhoods around town, is mining
Peru’s Chinese culinary heritage for Yaku, his long-awaited venture –
now arriving in March – in Clarendon’s Odyssey building (2001 N. 15
St.).
– Olga Boikess