420 H Street Building Now Available for Lease
According to a real estate brochure, 420 H Street, NE, formerly B.K. Henry Funeral Chapel, is available for lease. The brochure says that all three levels are available and that it has the potential for a patio. District Cuisine had noticed earlier in the week that the awning outside the building had been removed.
Touche Live Now for Lease
The spot that previously housed Touche Live at 1123 H Street, NE is now vacated and for lease. The former night club has changed names several times in recent years, going from XII to Touche to Touche Supper Club to most recently Touche Live. There was controversy recently when ABC 7 news revealed that the business (or some variation of the business) had received a $50,000 grant from the DC Great Streets grant program, even though nightclubs and bars cannot receive such government funding. At the time, the DC government pledged to review the grant. Updates when we hear what might replace it.
Not long ago the 1100 block of H Street housed Taylor Gourmet, Little Miss Whiskey’s, and not much else. The combination of vacant buildings and a somewhat sketchy liquor store made the block one of the less appealing parts of H Street. However, this summer the block sprung to life with first the exciting addition of H&pizza and now Cusbah (1128 H Street), a Southeast Asian restaurant with a wonderful outdoor bar and patio. Even in its first few weeks, Cusbah has already helped transform a largely abandoned block into one of the most exciting (and tasty) blocks on H Street.
Cusbah on H Street
The owners of Cusbah completely remodeled what had previously been Naby’s Island Restaurant into a beautiful new space that has both indoor and outdoor patio seating. Cusbah is located in a corner townhouse unit on the eastern end of the block. As you enter, the indoor seating is intimate with dimly lit lights that reveal jars of spices above the tables that line the left side of the restaurant. The seats on the right hand side are high top stools located at the bar. The owners knocked out part of the exterior wall on the right side to create a large window behind the bar to form a two sided bar (with the bar tenders in the middle by where the exterior wall should be), so that diners can sit inside at the bar or outside on the patio at the bar. To get outside to the patio, diners are escorted through the restaurant and through the interior door by the bar to the patio that is located on the corner of H and 12th streets (it is separated from the sidewalk by a waist-high fence and several planters). Apart from the bar seating (four seats) outside, there are a variety of regular tables and high top tables. When it is nice weather outside, you would be pressed to find a more pleasant environment to dine. As it gets colder outside, we are told that the owners plan to put up a temporary roof over the patio and will presumable heat it somewhat, so that diners can enjoy the patio even during the winter. Continue reading
We stopped by Newsom (1110 H Street, NE) during H Street Festival on Saturday and got a chance to talk with the owner of the restaurant which hopes to open within the next three weeks. The restaurant will open up in the newly renovated Hubert Newsom building (which apparently has its origins in the 1890s), will serve a menu featuring “global cuisine,” and will be open for dinner and then brunch on the weekend.
Second Floor of Newsom (the window in the back left is the enclosed karaoke booth)
The owner told us that the food will draw inspiration from a variety of cuisines. The preview menu during H Street Festival included jerk skewered quail (we didn’t personally try it but heard that it was quite tasty), steak and cheese spring rolls (we tried and enjoyed), pickled shrimp, edamame hummus, and crispy shishito peppers.
First Floor of Newsom
Newsom will have a variety of different cocktails and will also have sangria on tap according to the owner. The drinks debuted during H Street Festival included Icy Ting (vodka, grapefruit, lavender bitters, lemon, and aloe), New Kid on the Block (bourbon, roselle syrup, condensed milk, and fruit), and the H Street Gold (bourbon, white wine, and fruit).
Window on Second Floor of Newsom Overlooking H Street
We’ve known for several months that a new gourmet pizza place was coming to H Street (1118 H Street to be precise) and would add an important missing ingredient to the H Street dining scene. The new place will be called H &Pizza, and co-owners Steve Salis and Michael Lastoria have been slowly revealing the details of the restaurant in anticipation of the opening. Last week, Washington City Paper filled in some details by reporting (among other details) that H &Pizza plans to open June 1st, will allow customers to completely customize their pizzas by featuring an assembly line style format (and choosing from a variety of toppings, sauces, and crusts), and will be open late on the weekends.
This week we caught up with co-owner Steve Salis and were able to learn some exciting (and tasty) details. Most importantly, H &Pizza will not be any average pizza joint. Check out some of these sauces that diners will be able to choose from: Basil Pesto, Mushroom Tartufo (Mushroom Truffle spread) Ricotta, Red Chickpea spread, Classic Marinara, and Spicy Marinara. And how about these toppings: Smoked Bacon, Sopressata, Proscuitto, Hot Sausage, Caramelized Onions, Roasted Broccolli Rabe, Kalamata Olives, Artichokes, Arugula, Soy Cheese (lactose free) and mozzarella cheese they will make in house. If you don’t feel like designing your own pizza, H &Pizza will offer special pizzas that you can order right off the menu and they will make for you. In addition to pizza, H &Pizza will have several salads and deserts as well as a beverage menu featuring wine, beer, and specialty drinks.
Boundary Road, the newest addition to H Street, continues to make news this week (President Obama visited the practically brand new restaurant last week). The Washington Post‘s Tom Sietsema wrote a very positive review of Boundary Road for this week’s “First Bite” column. Sietsema loves the atmosphere and the food:
So the chef and his team are slicing potatoes by hand for their french fries, which they double-fry in peanut oil and send out with a gentle curry dip. Their minestrone shows off a perfect dice of vegetables, pleasantly crisp, and it avoids the blahs with garlic, vinegar and Parmesan in its seasoning. An entree of ropy hanger steak takes my tongue on a ride, thanks to the spicy kale and choron sauce sharing the plate. The most comforting dish on the menu may be pierogi. Walker got the idea from his mother-in-law in Pennsylvania, lightening her tradition by using quark (curd cheese) instead of sour cream inside the boiled dumplings, which are served over heat-softened onions and are easy to polish off.
D.C. institution Ben’s Chili Bowl had announced several months ago that it was opening a location on H Street, which was very exciting news. Now WTOP reports that an ex-Ben’s Chili Bowl employee who thinks he can improve the Ben’s Chili Bowl model is opening his own place, D.C. Chili Bowl, on H Street as direct competition.
From WTOP:
A former employee of the U Street greasy spoon stalwart plans to open up a competing restaurant on H Street in Northeast, the same neighborhood where the tight-knit clan of Ben’s Chili Bowl founder Ben Ali plans to open a new franchise.
Holmon’s alternative, D.C. Chili Bowl, plans to serve fried onions, sauerkraut and cornbread — all ingredients unavailable at the purist U Street hub. They are already catering to downtown businesses while they settle on a permanent location. Along with partner and former colleague Menyana Williams, they will also serve turkey chili and turkey sauce, contrasted against the beef versions at Ben’s. Continue reading
We just got back from the meeting with the mayor down on H Street regarding the H Street streetcar project and wanted to write some quick thoughts about the streetcar. The big news of the meeting was that the streetcar is planned to begin operation (if it stays according to schedule) in summer 2013 and that it will run directly down H Street from Union Station (crossing the Hopscotch bridge above the Amtrak tracks) all the way to Benning Road and then will continue down Benning Road; it will not cut up 2nd or 3rd streets to get into Union Station. While we are pleased that the streetcar project is progressing, we are disappointed that it will not open for over a year.
The H Street corridor has developed incredibly over the past few years (and even months), but the streetcar will help take it to the next level and continue making the area one of the top dining and going out regions in D.C.
The sooner the streetcar is operation the better for a few reasons:
The streetcar will connect east and west H Street. The east end of H Street has featured new and popular restaurants and bars for the past few years. Until recently, the west end of H Street had lagged behind and did not have many going out places (except for Ethiopic). The recent openings of Tru Orleans and the Bigboard have made the west end of H Street a second destination for people going out on H Street (planned restaurants such as Boundary Road and the apartment/Giant grocery store development will continue to add to it). However, the middle section of H Street has seen no real development over the past few years. While there are planned developments and openings (ranging from Hikari Sushi to new apartment buildings), currently the middle section of H Street is uninviting late at night and many people do not feel comfortable walking from the eastern end to the western end. They could take a cab from one end to the other, but for most people that is too much effort and taking a cab six blocks seems silly. Unfortunately, that means that many people remain in either the east end or the west end but do not go back and forth. Both people going out on H Street and the businesses lose out currently. The streetcar will fix all of this as it will provide a quick, easy, and safe way for people to get from one end to the other. (All of this requires that the streetcar stay open late into the night, which we think is a must).
The streetcar will provide another way for people from outside of the H Street region to get there without taking a cab or driving. Right now whenever we go out with friends on H Street the first question we get is “how do you get to H Street?” For those of us who live in the region it is easy: we walk. However, as H Street continues to become more and more of a hot spot for dining and going out, it needs to be more accessible. Currently, people from outside of the H Street region can drive and park or take a cab. Continue reading
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