Friday, January 11, 2013

CP: More on Vendetta

vespa by antmoose
vespa, a photo by antmoose on Flickr
The City Paper has some details to flesh out Vendetta, which replaces Red Palace at 1210-1212 H Street.

Highlights:

*6-8 different pastas and sauces to mix and match
*"Adirondack rustic" look for the interior
*5,000sqft
*120 seats
*Two 35 foot bocce ball courts (free to play)
*16 seat Vespa bar that Washington City Paper says will actually have Vespas hanging from the ceiling.
*Expected opening mid-April

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can't wait for the Frozen Tropics follow up article "16 Crushed By Falling Vespas At Local Italian Restaurant's Cold Open"

fatty said...

Sounds good and the bocce courts will be fun

Anonymous said...

How do you have an Adirondack Rustic feel and a Vespa seat bar? I'm super excited for the food but Vespa's aren't really found in the Adirondack Mountains. I'm curious to see how this will look.

Anonymous said...

I do hope the Italian is better than the Mexican at Country Club.

Anonymous said...

agreed Anon 5:22. I hope the pay as much attention to the food as they do the kitchy theme.

NE said...

hells yes to bocce!

Anonymous said...

Hernando on H:
5:22 and 5:31 are typical Yelp-ish trolls. Food at Country Club is very good....especially compared to the Mexican food on the Hill. Gauc is great. Margaritas rock.

Tom A. said...

anon 8:56: This isn't first grade-- not everyone wins a blue ribbon.

Not liking a particular restaurant's food doesn't make anyone a "troll." It's just their opinion. Your opinion about the food at a restaurant doesn't make it any more valid than anyone else's opinion.

Anonymous said...

We do not need anymore restaurants or bars. We need more locally owned retail shops to draw people here during the day.

Anonymous said...

11:02,
Do you have plans to open one? What sort of store do you think would work well over here?

Anonymous said...

Yeah well that's just like your opinion man.

Anonymous said...

They seem to be moving quickly. Web site is up. vendettadc.com

Bocce!!!!!! :)

Anonymous said...

HSCC does not serve delicious food.

Anonymous said...

Ancho Anonymous:

Disagree......H St CC serves great food. Love the tequila too..........

Jason said...

Awesome. Can not wait for them to open.

Anonymous said...

Food at HSCC wildly inconsistent. And overpriced for what it is. Much rather spend my $ at Smith Commons, Toki, Vic, Boundary, to name a few.

Anonymous said...

cant we just have a straight up italian food place without the idiotic themes? Thank goodness there is Toscana (just off H), no frills, just really, really good italian.

Marion Barry said...

No, Idiotic Themes are a prerequisite to get Special Tax Breaks on H Street.

Seriously, check out the valuations of some of these buildings ...

Anonymous said...

Anon said:
1) Can you name one "special tax" break any of these businesses have ever received?
2) Why do we have to be "straight up" anything? A restaurant is a very hard way to make money. Why can't we have a little bit of fun?

Anonymous said...

RE: Anon 11:17am

I am all for fun. But as someone who enjoys food, particularly good food, I think the focus of any restaurant MUST be on exceptional food made from top quality ingredients and prepared by a chef who knows how to cook. A "theme" may get people in the door, but will it be enough to keep them coming back. I live only a block from the proposed location for Vendetta. But, I assure you if the food is not good, no matter how "fun" it is, I will continue to eat at Toscana, or other Italian places, that focus on the food, not the fun.

Anonymous said...

Anon 1:55 has a great point. A lot of restaurants on H Street started out with excellent food but subsequently the quality dropped off. I dont want to name names of the restaurants because people may get their feelings hurt....

happy camper said...

sorry to say, i don't like the food at h st country club either. the drinks rock, though!

Anonymous said...

I agree: Country Club food is really inconsistent…and I have been many times.

I guess everyone is hoping Vendetta has better fare. Looks like a different chef, which maybe is a good sign?

Anonymous said...

Granville Moores used to have amazing food. Now it's terrible. The artichoke dip is especially terrible.

jonathon "in the know" said...

agreed. granville moore's will go the way of some of the adams morgan places: ADIOS!

too bad, really, but it's what happens.

any guesses on what will replace granville's?

any bets?

:)

hint, it smells like real THAI!

Campy said...

I dunno, Granville Moore's is certainly not terrible. Maybe they've fallen off their mark from back in the day when they were king of northeast DC but I've had enough brunches there lately to say it's still pretty damn good.

Anonymous said...


Mussel Beach said:

Two hour wait last Friday at Granville...packed this Monday, too. Have eaten outstanding food there consistently fries bst in the city...hasn't dropped off at all.....and you H St CC haters don't go out much. Better than Guapos, Cactus Cantina and Tortilla Coast. Have the Gauc, steak, enchiladas. I just think you don't like busy places....

Anonymous said...

I beg to disagree. There are plenty of places that are not great but are still packed (see sticky rice and any TGIFridays in the burbs). The last time I went into GMs, it was too dark, sub par food, and overpriced for what you got but fact is, there isn't much in the way of a decent brunch unless you go to the same handful of places that are open on Saturday mornings over and over.

I give a lot of places on H a pass for sub par food because I like to help local/independent owned restaurants and don't expect them to have the resources that a large company would have to ensure quality ingredients, best chefs, etc.

Anonymous said...



Jonathon In the Know...is this a good use of your time and energy on the internet? I don't think this is what Al Gore had in mind when he invented this contraption. Why say/write these sorts of things? My God, being anonymous surely is the curse of the social media class....name, address, vocation please if you have to be so nasty..