Tag Archives: h street corridor

Le Grenier Opening This Sunday on H Street (Photos)

17 Aug

Le Grenier (502 H Street) will begin cooking French dishes for dinner and brunch (weekends only) this Sunday.  We sat down with co-owner Marie Ziar to learn more about the restaurant and to take a tour of the beautifully renovated space.

Bar Area at Le Grenier

Le Grenier will be a sister restaurant to Le Chat Noir in Friendship Heights.  Marie Ziar explained that she and her husband chose to open their second restaurant on H Street  because H Street is an exciting and booming area that she feels also has a real sense of community.  While Le Chat Noir has a more formal and traditional French feel, Marie Ziar explained that their goal for Le Grenier is to have a more modern atmosphere that will tailor to H Street’s younger crowd.  Le Grenier will be a restaurant first and will make food the priority (as opposed to some places on H Street that focus on alcohol but also offer food) but will also have an extensive cocktail and French wine list.

Stairs Leading to the Second Floor of Le Grenier

All of their food will have a French focus and will be made from scratch.  They will not have a incredibly long menu but will change it every three months to reflect the new season.  They plan on serving food that is fresh and authentic but not terribly expensive.

Corner Table on the First Floor of Le Grenier

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H &pizza Ready to Open Next Weekend (July 13th)

8 Jul

Exterior of H &pizza

We’ve learned that H &pizza (1118 H Street NE) is ready to open next weekend for dinner.  Check out our interview with the owner here and pictures of the newly renovated interior from their Facebook page.  The pizzas sound great, and the new interior looks great from our peeks inside to look at it.  Can’t wait to check it out!

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Chinito’s Burritos: Asian Influenced Tex-Mex

26 Mar

Exterior of Chinito’s Burritos

Asian influenced burritos with fried rice sounds weird.  So do Mexican egg rolls.  But if you are scared away simply because it sounds unusual, you will really miss out on what first time owner Jin Chong has to offer at the new Chinito’s Burritos (635 Florida Avenue, NE).  While eclectic, the food at Chinito’s Burritos is exciting and a nice change from the more typical tex-mex offered by so many restaurants and chains (and quite tasty too).

Chinito’s Burritos takes the typical burrito and puts an Asian spin on it.  You fill out what you want on a card (the restaurant is welcoming to its neighbors at Gallaudet University), choosing from either a burrito, tacos, or a box.  The burritos start at a very reasonable $3 base and then go up as you add more ingredients (but still stay reasonably priced as you add ingredients).  The restaurant always has three types of salsa and guacamole for you to add as well as grilled vegetables, beans, rice, cheese, lettuce, and sour cream.  Be sure to add the rice to your burrito; it is the delicious fried rice that adds the Asian flavor to the meal.  The meats you can add to your meal vary by day–some include carne asada, ground beef, chicken, and shrimp.  Chinito’s Burritos also has several side items from the typical chips and salsa to the more adventurous Mexican egg rolls.  The Mexican egg rolls are deep fried and look like a typical egg roll, but when you bite into them they explode with cheese, pieces of tenderly cooked chicken and corn all with a strong tex-mex spicy flavor. Continue reading →

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Tru Orleans: A Block of the Big Easy on H Street

20 Jul

On opening weekend, Tru Orleans succeeded in bringing a tiny bit of the French Quarter in New Orleans to DC’s H Street Corridor.  In fact, if you ignored the rundown buildings across the street, you might think you had been briefly transported to Bourbon Street.  The exciting atmosphere and promising food at Tru Orleans (400 H Street, NE) should excite anyone who has ever visited the Big Easy.

Tru Orleans from Across H Street

Only months ago, what is now Tru Orleans was a rundown former radio station on the western end of H Street.  The western end until recently had not experienced the same level of investment as the eastern end.  The Tru Orleans owners completely gutted the building and built a second level as well as a small patio on the street that rings the building.  The second floor looks like it came straight from the French Quarter: an open air bar complete with an iron balcony around the entire bar and several lazy fans that help cool it off.  Patrons can sit at the bar, eat dinner at the few tables upstairs, or lean over the balcony and people watch on H Street below.  The downstairs (first floor) level features more tables and art work imported directly from New Orleans.  Jazz adds the final authentic element to the overall atmosphere.  For opening weekend they were handing out Mardi Gras beads and goodie bags featuring Mardi Gras masks to each table.  One of the servers even wore a mask for part of the night.  Continue reading →

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