Friday, March 02, 2007
CP: Eat at Joe's
The City Paper blog City Desk has a piece on Joe Englert and his food oriented plans for H street. Not only does Sticky Rice get a mention, along with upcoming grub from the Rock & Roll Hotel (middle eastern inspired fare with an emphasis on the vegan and vegetarian), the H Street Country Club (burgers, or course), Dr. Granville Moore's (unpretentious Belgian food), but the piece also mentions a spot (location not yet disclosed) that Englert hopes might house an Ethiopian restaurant.
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18 comments:
Heh, I mean read this piece...he talks like a one-man community development office. I would *love* to have a look at how the Englert "Empire" is run...what does his strategy look like...does he have a group of decision makers or is he running this whole thing himself?...where does the startup cash come from...does each restaurant/bar have to stand on its own or do the more established ones subsidize the ones that are starting out...what is his *motivation* to do all this??? It would make an excellent business school case study or documentary.
Also, with all this buzz will this spring witness a lot of buying in Trinidad?
most of the bars are done in conjunction with business partners. a great way to leverage his businesses (so his capital is the only money at risk, spread the risk, spread the reward, up the chance of success). i hope we can get a nice critical mass of restaurants. that can keep foot traffic up while the construction continues...if private security and police presence is in place, that means the growth of the street can continue unabated and we can keep getting those crime stats lowered, which in turn will encourage more people to come...a prosperous cycle...but parking, man...they should have something worked out with autozone so that lot becomes a paid lot at night with attendants...or perhaps a valet lot? that'd be a good use of all that space.
so his capital is NOT the only capital as risk...i type too fast...
Makes sense. But if there are different partners for each place it would make cross-subsidization between the establishments harder. I guess some of it is hype, too...he may do some stuff seat-of-the pants and then portray it to the press as part of a grand plan. No complaints here, just curiosity.
On the points about how the virtuous cycle can be sustained...I went to the 5B ANC meeting last night. *All* residents who want to see the area improve should go to their ANC meetings...organize, find out what works, execute. The access to our council member and the police leadership was very encouraging. I got the impression that it was a forum where things could get done.
Joe Englert said:
Guys, I bring in partners with money and business acumen. Nobody is deluded enough to think we will make money on any one of these places for 24-30 months. Critical mass and mass success of other neighborhood places could make this happen sooner.
This is a very loose confederation of people--liken it to the former Soviet Bloc countries. RB is then Albania. Argo is Soviet Georgia.
Two years ago when we started the project, we surmised that any nightlife or distinct commercial area of any city or town has 7-10 good places in which to eat or shop. So we sought out to supply the street with these places.
Restaurants will come but early on they will come because they are given financial incentives or because landlords would be willing to break even with generous rents.
We still need many more of the nearby apartment units to fill with young or youthful minded people whom want to frequent hip and ethnic restaurants in order for them to be financial successes.
And we must be pragmatic about this. We are competing against Arlington, Alexandria, G'town and Adams Morgan (among others) for business. We have to be cleaner, safer and ultimately more interesting than the other areas in order to achieve quick success. I think we are working toward that goal.
it's happening.
i can't tell you how many people i know that want to frequent the area, and/or live here.
all the way up to the women who work at the new neiman marcus CUSP store in georgetown.
momentum is a funny and VERY powerful thing.
and it's up to folks like joe to create that.
the dude is a godsend for h street.
i was wondering where a cool place would be to put up a bust of joe.
maybe somewhere in the starburst area... the park?
:o)
Thanks Joe, čes prací. I hoped you might chime in :-) Your comment, like the piece up top, focuses on the what & how (which is definitely very interesting) but what I'm interested in is the why.
Hey, I know real estate in your mini-golf place is going to be precious, but see if you can fit in some skiball machines. Just like miniature golf, a beloved part of my youth on the Jersey Shore. Sure to be a hit w/ the hipsters. Hodně štěstí.
Great piece and subsequent comments. Looks like there is a method to the maddness. My wife and I are very much looking forward to the addition of Sticky Rice and G. Moore's as restaurant options for the neighborhood. Also, I agree with anon 6:23 in terms of momentum. More and more I hear interest in our neighborhood from friends who live in DC and have started to catch hints of the vibe from H Street happenings. Keep up the great work and we will keep buying sweet potato fires and booty beer.
Linden Place Dweller
I'm definitely looking forward to the new food options, particularly Dr. Granville's. If anyone is looking for ideas, I'd also love to see a cheap a cheap Vietnamese place and maybe a good South American / Pollo a la Brasa joint.
As someone who just bought a house in Trinidad, I'm pretty excited about all that's happening on H street. My first visit to an Englert-started bar (The Argonaut) was my best bar experience in DC. Now, I'm spreading the buzz about H street to everyone I know, reading all the great resources people in the community have put up, and generally feeling like we got pretty lucky in our choice of neighborhoods.
And, Rob, I'll definitely be attending the ANC meetings.
I just wanted to reiterate that I definitely think that the plan is working. I currently live on Maryland Avenue near H street and have really enjoyed the new places on H street. My boyfriend and I were planning on buying a house in Columbia Heights but are now leaning more towards north of H street. I would also add that this blog has a lot to do with it for me.
What's missing on H Street is something for 'the gays'. There's a lot of gay people moving into the area, in particular North of H Street. And there are a lot of long-term long time gay couples on the Hill itself. We've got money, and we've got free time. But we're bored with stupid little 'twink' bars with trendy drinks and heinous twenty-something attitude. We don't feel like schlepping up to Logan or Dupont. But we'd love an outlet or two on H Street for adults, and we'd be stunningly loyal to our 'home pub'. What DC is missing generally is an outlet for mature gay people, like a terrific local pub that caters to gay people (think any NYC traditional Irish pub, not an annoying dance club with crappy techno music). The hot new trend in gay establishments is sports bars and places where you can actually speak to each other without blaring music. Anyone that opened a gay sports bar combined with a terrific classic pub experience on H Street would do very well..... some place adult gay men would like but wouldn't be embarrassed to bring their straight friends to for dinner. Especially since the DC Eagle is destined to close and/or move. A lot of guys go to the Eagle not because we like it's skanky atmosphere but because it's closer to the Hill (and has better access to the 'burbs) and because it's not an annoying stereotypical young gay man's bar.
The gay ghetto in DC is disintegrating. Dupont is too expensive now. Logan is as well. And the parking in Logan is stopping those of us that don't live there from going. Plus, gay people are integrating into the overall neighborhood more than in years past.
I agree. I've really liked the bars I've been to on H but it would be great to have one aimed at a gay crowd. Ft. Lauderdale has some great gay sports bars or 'pubs' and I definitely think H Street could support one.
In the meantime, I wonder if any of the current bars might try a gay night. I know Tapastini down in Barracks Row was trying it out but don't know if it caught on. I really like that so far on H gay and straight party together, but it'd be nice to see more than one or two other gay faces.
I heard Anne Coulter is thinking of opening one up now that she has no career left.
Kenny G, i dread to think what she would call such a bar.
My partner and I frequent many of the bars on H street and have always felt comfortable, that said a gay/queer night somewhere would be a great idea. I've been to a couple bars such as palace of wonders and the red and the black in the middle of the week and they were fairly empty. Adding such a night might make for good business (and good times).
Doea anyone know when the H Street Country Club is scheduled to open? I read next year, but 2008 seems like a long way away...
and i apologize in advance if i somehow missed the answer to my question in an earlier post.
H Street Country Club scheduled to open August 2007
I think I did see summer of 2007, so August sounds right. I can tell you that they are currently working on the building.
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