Monday, May 24, 2010

America's Best Wings

A fast food restaurant called America's Best Wings is seeking to located at 941 H Street. ANC 6A is ensuring that they are required to get a special exemption to locate there. Here's a letter from the ANC:

Mr. Matthew LeGrant, Zoning Administrator
Office of the Zoning Administrator
Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs
District of Columbia
1100 4th Street, SW
Washington, DC 20024

RE: A Fast-Food Establishment at 941 H St NE Requires a Special Exception

Dear Mr. LeGrant:

It is recently come to our attention that an America’s Best Wings fast-food franchise has signed a lease to operate at 941 H St NE. We would like to alert the Office of the Zoning Administrator to the fact that this establishment will likely meet the definition of a fast-food establishment set forth in Section 199 of the zoning regulations. While fast-food establishments are normally operated as matter-of-right in C-2-B zones, Section 1320.4(c) only allows this use as a special exception for properties within the boundaries of the H Street NE Neighborhood Commercial Zoning Overlay.

Since this property is subject to the provisions of the H Street NE Overlay, we respectfully request that no building permits or a certificate of occupancy be issued without the required special exception to 1320.4(c).

If you have any questions, please contact Commissioner Terres (Drew) Ronneberg at ronneberg6a02@gmail.com or (202) 431-4305.

On Behalf of the Commission,

Kelvin J. Robinson
Chair, Advisory Neighborhood Commission 6A

cc: Tommy Wells, Councilmember, Ward 6
Linda Argo, Director, DCRA
Nicholas Majett, Deputy Director, DCRA

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't care for it. It's not hipster enough. Plus it's a chain.

I prefer my wings from Citi Pizza.

Anonymous said...

Looks cheap... and tasty.

Tom A. said...

hmm not impressed that they have their address wrong at the bottom of their website. Ziberty Road?

And when you click on "about us" there is nothing. I guess they are nothing?

I can't believe the wing phenomenon is stil going strong. I'm old enough to remember when it began, and was sure it would go the way of the pita sandwich, chipwiches, and deely-bobbers. Hmm, it's probably time for all of these to make a comback...

Anonymous said...

The last thing H Street needs is another wings spot. Thank you ANC!

Anonymous said...

I would be against this if it wasn't for the location. The stretch running from 6th to 10th is no man's land. Perhaps this will drive some street traffic and reduce the number of muggings near the monthly storage building.

Anonymous said...

The last thing H Street needs is another wings spot.

Because there are so many? I don't understand. Citipizza is great for delivery, but I don't think there's another decent place to stop in and have a basket of wings.

And wing phenomenon? Yeah, I guess it will pass as soon as this whole "pizza fad" goes away too.

Anonymous said...

Wing bones end up on the street, feeding rats, causing dogs to choke. If the wings place was a sit down restaurant that did delivery instead of a take out spot, I might feel differently. In the meantime, I'm glad my dog wont have that many more opportunities to choke each time I take him for a walk.

ro said...

Oh noes a wing place. There's no way H st. can survive a wing restaurant, not even America's best wing restaurant! This will be the turning point. Sell your houses now folks. It's just a matter of time before the wingless chickens rise up and start choking your dogs and hogging the jukebox at the Argonaut.

jamie said...

Anon 12:27 has a point about the bones. Each and every week there is at least one instance of my dog finding a chicken wing bone. Sometimes I find it before she does, often I don't, and one of these days she might choke on it or have it splinter in her stomach and cause tearing.

It's not the fault of the wing purveyors that many of their customers tend to think nothing of discarding bones on the sidewalk, but it is an inescapable byproduct.

charles said...

Will they be serving raccoon wings?

chuck said...

Yeah, I really hate when I trip over chicken wings when playing stickball. Maybe we can start a chicken bone deposit program (like aluminum cans)...

But seriously, I am all for a decent wing place in our 'hood, especially in the no-mans-land that is the middle of H.

Anonymous said...

"I SMELL A RAT",we dont need another wing joint on the strip,Citi Pizza,Yums,Dannys,and Popeyes sell wings.Beside check out there web site,abouts us.It is small details like this that make me raise my left eyebrow hmmmmm


5th street.

Dave B said...

We should have a chicken wing district. That way dog people know not to go there with their survival of the fittest defying dogs

Anonymous said...

What is the case for their getting an exemption? Just because they signed a lease? I think that folks should look at this in terms of the bigger picture-- it's not about wings, it's about fast food. If the ANC does not protest, they will get rolled by other chains. It's a slippery slope. I encourage the ANC to keep up the protest.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm... Is Chopt and Sweet Green considered fast food?

Anonymous said...

Yeah, and we should ban Taylor too because they serve food over the counter. What a plague they have been!

Ro got it right.

Also, Yums and Popeyes can't even be a factor in this argument. We are talking about a brand new place without, I presume, bulletproof glass, and where you can be confident the kitchen is clean.

To protest this place is just beyond the pale. It's like an Onion article that picked the most arbitrary, harmless item possible and made a NIMBY, pain in the neck, holier than thou, self important ANC movement to nitpick it.

Though if this place were allowed to open...I bet the former owner of Cluck U would be furious. I was quite sad when that place closed.

Anonymous said...

The owner of Cluck U opened Twelve in the same location.

inked said...

Anon 702,
Anon 707 is correct. Bernard Gibson chose to close down Cluck U in order to open XII. Recall that that particular Cluck U had dishes, and cooked food to order. So that was the (to my knowledge) only non-fast food Cluck-U in existence.

Anonymous said...

Yes, I agree about all the greasy fast food places along "H". America Best Wing is a little different twist you can get grilled talipia fish sandwich, subs, and salads, turkey burgers, various seasonings other than salt and pepper. I love America Best Wings because of variety, I drive to Landover, Maryland to America Best Wings and I live around the corner from "H" street. It would be nice to eat in my neighborhood Not to mentioned their delicious bake goods