Tag Archives: driftwood kitchen

Detour Coffee Company Replacing Driftwood on H Street

16 Aug
Outdoor Patio at 400 H Street

Driftwood Kitchen (400 H Street, NE) closed several months ago, but there has been some activity in the space in recent weeks.  District Cuisine can now confirm that Detour Coffee Company will be opening in the spot.  Detour Coffee, which also has a location in Arlington, is from the same restaurant company as Driftwood.  Detour Coffee sources its coffee from Vigilante Coffee and its tea from Smith Tea in Oregon.  In addition to coffee and tea, the restaurant offers a variety of breakfast sandwiches, lunch sandwiches and salads, several small plates, and brunch on Saturday/Sunday.

Prior to being Driftwood, the space housed Tru Orleans and has quite a large patio and second floor deck.

H Street Festival Preview: Driftwood Kitchen

15 Sep
Driftwood Kitchen on H Street

Driftwood Kitchen on H Street

Driftwood Kitchen (400 H Street, NE) will have a tent on their patio featuring Devils Backbone beers to celebrate H Street Festival this coming Saturday.  In addition, Driftwood will have $5 drafts, $5 rails, $4 bottles, and $3 cans as part of the Festival.

Driftwood Kitchen Launches New Brunch Menu

29 Feb
Driftwood Kitchen on H Street

Driftwood Kitchen on H Street

Driftwood Kitchen (400 H Street) has launched a new brunch menu in time for the (very) beginning of spring.  It looks like it has some pretty exciting new items, and you can see the entire menu down below!

 

ENTREES

Short Rib Hash
salsa verde and poached egg….14

Banana Walnut French Toast
bananas and walnuts,
served with candied bacon….12

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes
served with honeycomb butter
and fresh fruit…13

Chicken & Waffles
your choice of light or dark meat,
on top of a buttermilk waffle,
with house syrup….14

Moroccan Scramble
scrambled eggs, beef & lamb merguez sausage,
on grilled sourdough toast with avocado mash,
with a chickpea salad….14

Driftwood Omelette
mushrooms, roasted tomatoes, red onions,
red peppers and goat cheese,
with homefries….11

For $2: ADD bacon or sausage, or SUB egg whites

Steak & Eggs
flat iron steak, two eggs any style,
with homefries….14

Soup & Sammy
grilled cheddar cheese,
bacon and tomato sandwich on sourdough,
served with a cup of tomato soup….12

Breakfast Sliders
scrambled eggs, cheddar cheese, bacon, sausage, on an english muffin and biscuit
served with homefries ….12

Fried Chicken Sandwich
fried chicken breast on a Kaiser roll with sriracha aioli, pickles, mayo, lettuce, tomato and onion,
served with homefries….11 Continue reading

Driftwood to Celebrate One Year Anniversary on Saturday

8 Oct
Driftwood Kitchen on H Street

Driftwood Kitchen on H Street

Driftwood Kitchen (400 H Street) is celebrating its one year anniversary this Saturday (October 10th).  For brunch, they are inviting guests who wear their pajamas to get a free glass of campaign to celebrate, and they will be offering a special prefix menu (as well as an a la carte menu) and bottomless mimosas and bloody marys for $15.  For dinner, every guest will get a complimentary glass of champagne and there will be a prefix menu, free give aways, and half price bottles of select wine.

Driftwood and Atlas Brew Works Holding Joint Event During H Street Festival

15 Sep
Outdoor Patio at Driftwood Kitchen

Outdoor Patio at Driftwood Kitchen

Driftwood Kitchen (400 H Street) will be holding a joint event with Atlas Brew Works during H Street Festival this year (September 19th).  Atlas Brew Works will be offering four of their beers at Driftwood, including 1500 South Cap which is usually only sold at Nats Park.  Driftwood will be serving its bar menu throughout H Street Festival; current items include: the Driftwood burger, Merguez Dogs, deviled eggs, and fried blue cheese stuffed olives.

Antonio Burrell Now Chef at Driftwood Kitchen

4 Jun
Outdoor Patio at Driftwood Kitchen

Outdoor Patio at Driftwood Kitchen

Driftwood Kitchen (400 H Street, read our review here) has a new chef taking over for the restaurant’s opening chef, James Duke who is now at Provision No. 14 on 14th Street.  Antonio Burrell, who previously has worked at restaurants including Masa 14, Vidalia, and Agua 301, is now in charge of the kitchen at Driftwood and has begun adding his own spin to the menu (view it here) which changes seasonally.

H Street’s Horizon: What’s Coming Soon (Fall 2014)

22 Oct

Last winter, we looked at the new restaurants and bars that were coming to H Street.  Now that several months have gone by, we wanted to take a look at what restaurants have opened, what ones have made construction progress, and what new restaurant concepts have been announced recently.  For each of these categories we list the establishments in order of going west-east down H Street.  If we’ve missed a place, please let us know in the comment section.  You can see previous versions of H Street’s Horizons here, here, and here.

Opened this Spring and Summer

  • Driftwood Kitchen (400 H Street)–new Mediterranean restaurant that replaced the controversial Tru Orleans restaurant that closed a year ago.  Our coverage here.
  • Micho’s Grill (500 H Street)–in the summer, Micho’s Grill brought fast casual style Lebanese food to the western end of H Street.  Our coverage here.
  • DC Harvest (517 H Street)–in late summer, DC Harvest opened for dinner and brunch.  The new American restaurant has a seasonal menu that changes based upon what is in season.  They focus on locally sourcing as many of their ingredients as possible, both for food and for drinks.  Arthur Ringel, the head chef, was previously head chef at Hank’s Oyster Bar.  Our coverage here.
  • The Spot Deli (701 H Street)–breakfast and lunch spot that replaced Heaven & H after renovations.  From the same owners as The Spot that has not yet opened further east on H Street.
  • Po Boy Jim (709 H Street)–after many months of construction, Po Boy Jim opened for lunch and dinner in late June.  The restaurant has an extensive menu of cajun po boys as well as po boys that are influenced from cuisines around the globe.  Our coverage here.
  • Kitty’s Saloon (1208 H Street)–country-western restaurant and whiskey bar that replaced the long closed Souk restaurant.  Our coverage here.
  • Pizza Parts and Service (1320 H Street)–this space owned by Taylor Gourmet was previously Taylor Charles Steak and Ice and served cheesesteaks.  That concept closed down late last year (you can now get cheesesteaks at all of Taylor Gourmet’s locations) and reopened as Pizza Parts and Service, which serves pizzas by the pie or the slice.  They also deliver.  Website here.
  • Ocopa (previously Chicken Tortilla) (1324 H Street)–the Peruvian restaurant opened this summer and serves both dinner and lunch.  They offer Peruvian chicken, many types of ceviche, and several other Peruvian dishes.  Website here and early Washington Post review here.
  • Bullfrog Bagels (1341 H Street)–previously a pop-up bagel place around town, Bullfrog opened its permanent location in part of the space that Star and Shamrock has occupied for years.  Our coverage here.
  • Impala Cantina y Taqueria (1358 H Street)–originally a pop-up taco window several years ago, H Street residents have been waiting years for Impala to open its permanent brick and mortar location.  They opened earlier this year with a very cool first floor that opens up into a large courtyard for outdoor eating.  Website here.
  • Pursuit Wine Bar (1421 H Street)–wine bar and grilled cheese restaurant opened at the far east end of H Street.  Our coverage here.

New Concepts Announced in the Middle of 2014

  • Sticky Fingers Bakery (406 H Street)–Vegan bakery with existing location in Columbia Heights.  Space is currently undergoing major renovations.
  • Nando’s (411 H Street)–South African (with major Portuguese influence) chicken chain will open a location on the eastern end of H Street sometime next year.  The space must undergo major renovations before Nando’s can open.

Continue reading

Driftwood Kitchen (Mostly) Shines in Debut

21 Oct
Exterior of 400 H Street, NE

Exterior of 400 H Street, NE

400 H Street, NE is arguably one of the most promising locations on all of H Street for a restaurant.  Occupying a large corner spot on the west end of H Street, it is within blocks of several major apartment buildings (and many potential customers) on H Street and in NoMa.  The space was completely renovated several years ago, transforming it from a falling apart music club into a beautiful two story restaurant with a large sidewalk patio and a two sided open balcony on the second floor overlooking both H and 4th streets.  Despite this great setup, Tru Orleans–the original occupants–was unable to survive after two controversial years.

New Light Fixture at Driftwood Kitchen

New Light Fixture at Driftwood Kitchen

 

Tru Orleans has largely been erased from the building.  Instead meet Driftwood Kitchen from the owners of Darna in Arlington (you may notice similarities between the logos of the two restaurants).  They have spent the last several months renovating the building and removing the previous New Orleans architecture.  The owners have labeled Driftwood Kitchen’s cuisine American, but it draws inspiration from Middle Eastern cooking (unlike Darna which is more traditional Middle Eastern fare).  Even in the first week of service, Driftwood Kitchen appears to have drawn a fairly solid crowd.

New Driftwood Kitchen on H Street

New Driftwood Kitchen on H Street

We started with a drink off of their craft cocktail list.  The Hawa combined an interesting mix of gin, egg white, cucumber juice, and elderflower.  While it sounds strange, it worked well, especially with the egg white foam on top.  In addition to their eight cocktails, they have several local beers on the eleven draught beer list.

The menu (click here to view it) is divided up into “snacks”–ranging from a few bites to medium appetizers–and “offerings”–mostly small sized entrees.  While the portions are on the smaller side, they are also priced fairly reasonably.  Some of what we’ve sampled:

Snacks: The hummus guacamole snack combined two favorites from different cuisines into one tasty bowl.  The house fries were fairly standard but were served with a spicy dipping sauce that set them apart from regular fries.  And the cayenne caramel corn mixed sweet and spicy into a very pleasant bar snack.

"Snacks" at Driftwood Kitchen

“Snacks” at Driftwood Kitchen

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Interested in Driftwood Kitchen on H Street? Here’s Their Menu

18 Oct

Driftwood Kitchen (400 H Street, NE) opened last Sunday for dinner.  We’ll have an initial review going up soon (spoiler: we liked it), but in the meantime wanted to post their menu which isn’t on their website yet for those who are interested in trying Driftwood.

Driftwood Kitchen Menu

Driftwood Kitchen Menu

Driftwood Kitchen Drink Menu

Driftwood Kitchen Drink Menu

Driftwood Kitchen Hiring, Opening Soon?

24 Sep

Driftwood Kitchen Hiring

Driftwood Kitchen (400 H Street, NE) has spent the past several months renovating the space previously occupied by the controversial Tru Orleans.  They have now posted a sign indicating that they are hiring, meaning that they are likely only a few weeks away from opening.  More details as we get them.