XII back before things went awry. Photo provided by XII
Capitol Hill Corner has the latest from a recent community meeting in which a representative of the new owner (who reportedly has no ties to the owners of the troubled XII Lounge) outline plans to transform the space into a restaurant (all the time)/entertainment venue (evenings)/culinary & service training academy(days). The space in question is located at 1123 H Street.
8 comments:
There must be big bucks in this training business. The "new" owner lacks experience in running a school or a business.
According to Andy Shallah (owner of Busboy and Poets) says that,in his experience, graduates of these DC culinary schools can't even properly dice an onion.
As long as Bernie is still running the place you really have to wonder about any proposal from anyone.
He has consistently been a terrible, terrible neighbor and a blight on H St. Anytime the property gets into trouble, he just brings in another straw man and starts up again under a new name and business description(see, Cluck-U, XII). But problem isn't so much the business as the guy who owns the building, unfortunately.
Fill it with toys and let the children of Hst take over.
That first floor would make great off-street stroller parking.
The culinary school thing is a scam, some kind of tax shelter. They tried something similar at the Ethiopic property a few years ago. I frankly don't trust any restauranteur who mentions entertainment in the same sentence....
Was it at Ethiopic, or across the street pre-Tru Orleans?
This is a really bad idea. This will probably be underwritten by government grants for the so-called "culinary school" that turns into a nightclub after dark.
The woman who wants to run this has NO experience in the entertainment or food and beverage industries. When she can't book music for the nightclub and roof deck, the same outside promoters and liquor companies that provided that function for Bernard Gibson and XII will be happy to do it for her for a cut of the profits.
H Street and the neighborhood will be right back where this started. Fights, stabbings, guns, noise, and hoodlums.
You do know that there are plenty of people that have restaurant experience and still fail in the business.
"Was it at Ethiopic, or across the street pre-Tru Orleans?"
Sorry if I was unclear -- it was a group of proprietors before Ethiopic was in operation. They showed up with sample menus that were patently stolen off the Internet. The purported chef didn't have credentials. It was well-chronicled on FroTro.
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