Monday, May 07, 2007

A Restaurant in the 500 Block of H?

IMG_3310
A vacant, 2nd from the left, aims to become a restaurant.
While walking down H Street on Saturday I noticed people working on a building on the north side of the 500 block, right between the Language Doctors & the former Citi Pizza building. They claimed that the space is being prepared for a "bohemian restaurant." I'm not sure what that means (maybe it means the owner wants a cool restaurant but doesn't have one lined-up yet?), but that particular space has been empty forever. I believe it even had a tree growing out of its roof. Also, if you've been curious about the British and American flags flying outside 508 H Street (formerly occupied by Pet Dreams and Anointed Visions), those signal the 2nd floor occupancy of tattoo artist Paul Roe & his tattoo parlor/art gallery Britishink.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hope it means they'll be serving actual Bohemian food. Rad bych si dal nejakou dobrou ceskou jidlu!
But I doubt it. Is anyone aware of any Czech restaurants in the city anywhere?

Mike said...

Even the Czech Embassy draws a blank on Czech restaurants in DC...their website lists quite a few restaurants across the country (many in Arkansas, for some reason), but it doesn't have any in the District.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know about the restraunt opening on H St. around 9th or 10th? When it might be opening? Any progress on SOVA?

Anonymous said...

I wrote the owner of SOVA about three weeks ago and the situation was basically the same. He's caught in a disagreement between the previous tenant and the building owner. He'll let Inked know of any developments.
It's a real shame. R&B was great & it sucks that there's acrimony. Just goes to show opening a business like that isn't for the faint of heart.

Mike said...

On a slightly more positive note, I stopped by AutoZone today and saw that they were hanging a sign for Granville Moore's. The sign advertises "Frittes - Bier - Moules" (Fries, Beer, Mussels), and they have just taken delivery of their kitchen equipment.

The interior is still a bit of a mess, but the guy who was hanging the sign indicated to me that they were planning to keep a lot of the interior unchanged to preserve the historical look of the place. They plan to "knock off the biggest stuff and then give everything else a coat of polyurethane" to make it easier to keep clean.

He said they were shooting to be open by the end of the month. To be honest, I think that may be a bit ambitious, but I would say we're just a few weeks away from Belgian beer and mussels on H Street!

To sweeten the deal even further, they're laying a brick patio in the back of the space. Should make for a great little beergarden when it's open.

Alan Page said...

here i hoped the good news was they were getting rid of auto zone. that place is the biggest waste of space on a commercial corridor that i've ever seen. i mean, if we're going to have a big box store there, make it a best buy or something. LOL.

Hill Rat said...

I rather like that Auto Zone on H St., it has saved me many treks out to the burbs to keep my two hoopties running.

Anonymous said...

Inked, do you mean the north side of H St?

inked said...

yeah north, sorry.

monkeyrotica said...

Haven't been to the Auto Zone in a while. Are they still running that illegal car repair op in the parking lot? For a while, it seemed that every time I went there, some guy would come up to me and say, "Hey, let me fix that dent in your car!"

Anonymous said...

you don't even have to visit the store to get solicited by auto zone's parking lot mechanics. almost everytime i walk by that place some bozo hanging out in the parking lot asks me if i need a mechanic. if i'm ever in a bad mood, i'll probably lose it and yell "you do shoe repair too? i'm walking, do i look like i need a mechanic you jive turkey??"

Anonymous said...

Brotha, that's so hilarious! I hope I'm there to witness if that ever happens.

Anonymous said...

in my country, this mechanix talk is verrrr big compliment.

it mean that he think you are like a rich people and have car.

next tiiiime, you should thank him.

Alan Kimber, Commissioner, ANC 6c05 said...

Getting back to the topic of the original post...

I've not heard anything about the restaurant yet, which is in my SMD. Assuming they want a liquor license, they will come before the ANC at some point in the (hopefully) near future.

I hope that inked's information is correct--a neighborhood-sized sit-down restaurant would be a major boost to this block.

I'll send an update to inked when I get more information.

Best,
Alan Kimber
Commissioner, ANC 6C05