This rental is located at 2517 K St NW:

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The Craigslist ad says:

“The Shoremeade studios are the perfect fit for you, approx 390 sq ft, hardwood floors, full size kitchen, with walk in closets!

The amenities include, on site laundry facilities, 24hr emergency maintenance, and controlled access entry.
Walk to markets, shops, eateries, banks, metro, and much more!”

$1275 sound reasonable for a studio here?

Photo by PoPville flickr user m hoek

“Dear PoP,

I am hoping for the wisdom of PoP-ville here.

I think it must be time to repoint my house: the roof flashing is blowing off because — apparently — the mortar is too soft to nail anything to. Roughly how much should it cost to get an end-unit brick Victorian DC townhouse repointed, and does anyone have any suggestions about people to hire (or to avoid) for such an undertaking? In the meantime, the roofer is going to attach new flashing to the bricks themselves…

Thanks as always!”

Anyone have this done before? Any guesses of cost?

Photo of Housewarming Pâté en Croûte, special transom edition by PoPville flickr user theraspberryexpress

Submit your photos to the PoPville flickr pool here. Follow PoPville on twitter here.

Photo of Housewarming Pâté en Croûte, special transom edition by PoPville flickr user theraspberryexpress

Desserts after the jump. (more…)

“Dear PoP,

So I went to dinner at FunXion (1309 F St, NW) with a friend last night. We had one of those daily deals for 20.00 worth of food and drinks. I read one of your old posts where people were pretty dissatisfied with it overall before I went and was not expecting much when I got there. However, I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised and happy with the place. Our waiter was extremely friendly and the service was excellent, the food was really reasonably priced as well as delicious and fresh tasting. I got a small Asian Chicken Salad with a Portabello Mushroom Slider and my friend got the Black Bean Salsa and the Buffalo Nachos. We both really enjoyed our own (and each other’s food) and we left feeling the perfect amount of full. People complained that the place was expensive but our total bill only came out to 19.00, which is nothing for the amount of food we got.

Also, we chatted with the waiter for awhile and he told us that they were going to have a grand reopening next month where they would have a new license that would allow them to remain open 24 hours as well as serve alcohol until 4am and food all day and all night.”

This home is located at 803 Maryland Ave, NE:

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The flier says:

“Fantastic Capitol Hill Location for this NEWLY renovated townhome. Nothing has been overlooked. Quality contruction and finishes, open floor plan with versatile space. Private courtyard leads to oversized one car garage.”

You can find more info here and a virtual tour here.

I’m not sure if it’s a typo but the redfin listing says it is 2 bed/3.5 bath that seems like a bit of overkill on the bathroom front right? Either way – do you think $599,000 is a realistic asking price?

And I have to share a bonus one nearby that seems like an incredible deal:

This home is located at 334 8th St, NE. It’s a 2 bed/1.5 bath going for $364,000. You can see photos here – good deal, right?

Kristi Green is the author of the blog DC Wineaux. She further indulges her love of wine in her work at a wine bar on U St NW.

Cork and Fork (1522 14th St NW) is a reasonably new addition to the network of wine shops that weaves its way across our fair city. This bright little boutique is run by the Landragin family who own two other shops by the same name; one in Bethesda, MD and one in Gainesville, VA. The founder and official owner/operator is Dominique Landragin.

Dominique Landragin was born in the heart of France’s Champagne region where his grandfather was once a manager at Veuve Cliquot Vineyards, a premier producer of Champagne. Before coming to Washington, Landragin made a lasting impression on the wine world by co-founding Yellowglen, the first Methode Champenoise producer in Australia. This means that the production followed the rules set by the French government for sparkling wine from the Champagne region to the letter–and largely to Landragin’s credit.

The staff, particularly Monsieur Landragin himself, are charming and knowledgeable. If you need a recommendation, don’t hesitate to ask–I’ve not been disappointed yet. The best and worst thing about being such a “wineaux” is that, by having so much knowledge, I have too much to consider when choosing a bottle.

Nearly each time I’ve gone to Cork and Fork I’ve asked for a recommendation. The only time I did not request a recommendation was my first time in the shop, a hot day last summer, and I picked up juicy, bright white Bordeaux and a six pack of some light variety of Eggenberg beer from Austria. On various recommendations I’ve purchased an organic Cotes du Rhone, an organic Pinot Noir from Austria, a bold Spanish Monastrell based blend from Jumilla, a very well priced Chateau-neuf-du-Pape and countless other delicious finds.

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Photo by PoPville flickr user Brandon Kopp

You can talk about whatever is on your mind – quality of life issues, a beautiful tree you spotted, scuttlebutt, or any random questions/thoughts you may have. I’ll open this thread every Monday and Friday. So anything good happen to you this week?

Quick admin query: It seems to be better today but is anyone having an issue with slowness on the site?

There’s been a lot of anticipation for the opening of the Queen Vic which will be opening soon at 1206 H St, NE.  Thanks to executive chef Adam Stein for sharing the sample menus (which, remember, may be tweaked a bit).  He also adds:

“In addition there will be about 4 daily specials, which is where the FUN stuff will be, things like beef heart, deviled kidneys, braised tongue, sweetbreads and a whole host of other items will reside.”

Stay tuned for an update when an opening date is announced.

Brunch ($7-12)

Skillet Bubble & Squeak… served with two poached eggs, sausage & black pepper cream gravy

Cornmeal Pancakes… with maple syrup, whipped butter & your choice of rashers or sausage

Steel Cut Oat Porridge… served with brown sugar, fruit compote, whipped butter & cream

Breakfast Sandwich… two fried eggs, rashers, cheddar, dressed greens, mustard & mayo on our house bread with chips

The Full Monty… two fried eggs, beans, rashers, sausage, tomato, mushroom & fried bread

Market Salad… local mixed greens & seasonal vegetables with our honey-herb vinaigrette

Bacon Salad… bitter greens with our house lardons, bacon vinaigrette & crackling garnish

Burger… a mix of local lamb & dry aged beef, three onion jam, mustard aioli & house chips

Fish & Chips… beer battered daily selection, house chips, mushy peas, grilled lemon & tartar sauce

Murgh Makhani (butter chicken)… tandoori style chicken, pureed cashews, tomato, ginger & garlic. Served with basmati

Sunday Roast (sample menu $17-21)

Roast Chicken… one half of a local, beer brined, chicken with duck fat roasted potatoes, Yorkshire pudding & chicken jus

Beef Rib Roast… Grayson County beef with duck fat roasted potatoes, Yorkshire pudding & gravy

Leg of Lamb… marinated in shallot & fresh mint with made to order mashed potatoes, Yorkshire pudding & crushed herb sauce

Voted one of the best real estate agents in DC by the Washington City Paper Readers’ Choice Poll in 2009, hipchickindc aka the not-so-hip Suzanne Des Marais is an Associate Broker with Urban Pace. She lives (and sells a lot of houses) in Bloomingdale, but works all over DC, with everyone from first time buyers to highly regarded developers. Unless specifically noted, neither she nor the company that she is affiliated with represented any of the parties or were directly involved in the transaction reported below. Unless otherwise noted, the source of information is Metropolitan Regional Information Systems (MRIS), which is the local multiple listing system. Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

Featured Property: 1322 Kenyon St NW
Legal Subdivision: Columbia Heights
Advertised Subdivision per Listing: Columbia Heights

Original List Prices

Unit 1: $499,900.
Unit 2: $589,900.
Unit 3: $609,900.
Unit 4: $650,000.

List Prices at Contract

Unit 1: $479,900.
Unit 2: $589,900.
Unit 3: $609,900.
Unit 4: $650,000.

List Date: 10/29/2010
Days on Market: 23-47

Settled Sales Price

Unit 1: $467,500. Subsidy: $0. Price per Sq Foot*+: $277
Unit 2: $580,000. Subsidy: $0. Price per Sq Foot*+: $368
Unit 3: $584,000. Subsidy: $0. Price per Sq Foot*+: $370.
Unit 4: $620,000. Subsidy: $10,000. Price per Sq Foot*: $404.

*Sq footage calculation includes deck or terrace
+Unit conveyed with parking but note that price per sq ft adjusted to not include parking

Settlement Dates: 01/20/2011-02/21/2011
Bank owned?: No Short Sale? No
Type Of Financing: All Conventional

Original Good Deal or Not post for the condos: here. PoP also looked at the pre-conversion listing, for which the GDoN post can be seen here.

The listings can be seen: here. To see pics, open the listing links, click on the main pic and scroll through.

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Danny Harris is a DC-based photographer, DJ, and collector of stories. He launched People’s District, a blog that tells a people’s history of DC by sharing the stories and images of its residents. You can follow People’s District on Twitter @PeoplesDistrict, and can read his previous columns here.

“Until moving to the states, I never really thought much about my accent. I was born in Liverpool and raised in Bangalore. To me, it is just a typical convent-educated, urban Indian accent. It is the accent of my sisters and all of my friends.

“Here, a lot of people can’t quite place me because of my accent. A lot of people have told me their mental image of me before we met is tall with long hair and white. I have had times when I go out to meet someone for an interview, and we have trouble connecting because they are looking out for someone else. Now, I just tell people, I am short, brown, and have a nose ring. It’s funny, I was meeting a cop once and described myself, and he said, ‘Great, I am six foot four, in uniform, and I carry a gun.’ We joked that we would have no trouble finding each other.

“Before going into radio, my plan was to do television. I did my master’s degree in communications in India and then did a second degree in broadcast journalism at Urbana-Champaign. While in school there, I interned for a TV station and they let me do everything, but wouldn’t let me get on the air. They said that people wouldn’t understand my accent and the ratings would drop. The station encouraged me to learn an American accent if I wanted to get on television. I thought about it a long time, but I knew that people would eventually realize that who I really am was not matching my American accent. I felt like they wouldn’t trust what I was saying, and trust is the most important thing in this line of work.

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“Dear PoP,

I took both my girls for their birthday dinner at Palena Cafe (the new part) yesterday. One daughter turned one, the other turned seven – it was the seven year olds choice (she loves it.) Anyway, I guess we usually don’t take the one year old so I was surprised when I asked for a high chair, they said they didn’t carry them. So I guess that’s a blatant message that they don’t really want kids eating there. Which is strange because the staff has always been very nice to our kids. The other thing I noticed is that the new cafe part was pretty empty but they tried to seat us in the old area – I said I wanted to be seated in the new area and they obliged but I still left feeling a little like the unwanted guest. On a positive note, they gave both girls lovely desserts and the works but that again leads me back to why they wouldn’t be more kid friendly with the high chairs. And the fact that they really weren’t that packed seems like it would be a nice option for all the young families around (who trust me – eat on the early side and wouldn’t really interfere with the dinner crowd.)”

Hmm, this is an interesting question I’ll throw out to everyone for the Friday Question of the Day – should all restaurants be kid friendly? What exactly does kid friendly mean? Do you think it is ok to bring young kids to a nice restaurant if it is before 8pm? Or should young kids not go to “nice” restaurants no matter the time? Are there different expectations with a “white table cloth” restaurant and a cafe? At what age is it ok take kids to “nice” restaurants? I know we’ve spoken before about folks who’ve been irritated by crying babies in bars – what’s the proper etiquette for restaurants?

Photo by PoPville flickr user BrennaLM

Well this has got to be one of the more unusual caption contests we’ve ever had. You can see all the great entries and responses here.

Congrats to McGheeSt_Jen with:

“What did I tell you about showering with that red sock?”

Runner up to Kevin with:

“For the love of God, please adopt us.”

Honorable mention to CapitolG with:

“Cerberus’s lesser known sister and guardian of Hell’s service entrance.”

Thanks to a reader for sending this one in from the O St. Mansion.

I haven’t seen too many elephants. I wonder if these from Mt. Pleasant are new or if I just missed them.

The 1300 block of Corcoran St, NW is one of my favorite in the city. So many cool row houses like this one.