Photo by PoPville flickr user Mylar Bono

“Dear PoP,

Do you know of anywhere that will be showing the NFL Draft (preferably with sound) on Thursday night? I tried to do a little bit of online research, but to no avail. Thanks for any help you can give!”

Hmm, I’d guess every sportsbar in town. Lou’s in Columbia Heights, Blue Banana in Petworth/Park View, Touchdown on U Street, Ugly Mug on Barracks Row, Maddy’s in Dupont.

Are you guys gonna watch the NFL Draft? If you go out – where will you watch?

December ’10

Big news just released on the Cleveland Park Listserv:

“ANC3C has received notice from the Board of Zoning Adjustment that Chipotle Mexican Grill has filed for a Special Exception to occupy the former “Cereal Bowl” space at 3420 Connecticut Avenue. Chipotle Mexican Grill is classified as a “fast food restaurant” and is only permitted in a C-2-A zone, which is the zoning for this address, by Special Exception.

ANC3C would appreciate hearing the community’s thoughts on this application. Both positive and negative comments are welcome.”

Cereal Bowl closed back in Dec. and Starbucks closed back in Apr. ’09.

Do you think Chipotle will be a good fit for this space?

April ’09

Photo by PoPville flickr user ekelly80

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

Photo by PoPville flickr user Takka-San

Not the dog in question, this dog was actually very chill

“Dear PoP,

I’m trying my best to come up with a diplomatic solution to this problem and I hope you can help by posting this letter!

I live right in Mt. Pleasant, with my bedroom window directly facing Heller’s Bakery. For the past several months, every Saturday morning someone goes into Heller’s and ties his or her dog out front–and leaves it out there all alone for sometimes up to an hour. The dog get very upset and yelps and yelps and yelps at the top of its little canine lungs.

Two things: don’t you think this is cruel to the animal? This isn’t a temper tantrum this dog is having–my friend says it just wants a donut!–it’s a fit of pain and sadness that its tied to some poll while its owner sits inside, apparently deaf to its cries.

On a more selfish note, this dog is waking up the entire neighborhood. I sit here writing this now [Sat.] at 10:30 am which isn’t an unreasonable time to be awakened, but sometimes it’s 8:30 or 9 am, which is a bit much on a Saturday morning when sometimes all you want is to wake up naturally at a later hour after a long hard workweek, don’t you think?

I’m at my wit’s end, and short of marching into Heller’s and demanding to know the identity of the owner, I don’t know what to do to solve this problem. Heller’s is my neighborhood bakery, and I know the people who work there and don’t want to start a fight or make a scene, because chances are I won’t be very nice to whoever in there is waking me up every Saturday morning AND borderline abusing his or her pooch!”

In mid-March we had an epic conversation about a similar incident in Adams Morgan. For this specific instance – if the dog is tied up for an hour – I’m just gonna straight say it – that is bullshit. If the dog is barking/yelping for up to an hour with no attention, no matter what time of day it is, that is bullshit. It’s even worse that it’s before 9am on the weekend.

So what would you guys do? I’m afraid I think the only solution is to go to the bakery the next time this happens and talk calmly to the owner. Say something like – what a cute/cool dog but I’ve noticed he/she has been barking every Sat. morning for a long time – is there anything we can do about this? Short and sweet and friendly is the key in my opinion.

Right? Or do you think the reader (and I) have unrealistic expectations? Would it make a difference if the dog was only barking/crying for 15 minutes?

This home is located at 1509 Swann St, NW:

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The flier says:

“LUXURY AT IT’S BEST. 4BR 3.5BA TOWN HOME ON PRETTY SWANN ST IN VIBRANT DUPONT. ORIGINALLY BUILT IN 1886 THIS PROPERTY HAS BEEN BEAUTIFULLY RENOVATED WITH TOP-OF-THE-LINE AMENITIES THROUGHOUT. FROM THE ROOF DECK WITH CITY VIEWS TO THE NEW LOWER LEVEL IN-LAW SUITE WITH SEP ENTRANCE. NO DETAIL HAS BEEN OVERLOOKED IN FIVE FLRS OF ELEGANT LIVING. PLUS PATIO AND GATED PARKING FOR TWO CARS.”

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

Oh man, I’m digging that roof deck. Just awesome. What do you think of the rest of the house? This 4 bed/3 bath is yours for $1,599,000.

Photo by PoPville flickr user ekelly80

“Dear PoP,

Do you know where I can find yerba maté (in the loose-leaf form) in DC? I assumed that any grocery store up on Mount Pleasant would have it but so far I haven’t had any luck. Thanks!”

Hmm, what about Panam International Supermarket at 14th and Parkwood Pl, NW?

Any other ideas? Teaism?

The Sensorium is located in the Capitol Riverfront near Yards Park. It’s web site says:

“Sensorium is a culinary and sensory experience featuring creative atmosphere and cutting-edge production. Enjoy a 12 course tasting extravaganza brought to you by Executive Chef Bryon Brown, amidst an evening of delights, mysteries, and surprises for all five senses!”

It ain’t cheap but sounds pretty cool. They’ll be serving until May 1st. Anyone have a chance to try them out?

“Dear PoP,

I wanted to see if you’ve noticed or heard about the new shop opening in Columbia Heights on 14th st. between Park and Monroe where the old “Mozel Fashion” store was. It’s called Coffy Cafe and says it will serve cupcakes and crepes among other things. It advertises a logo of a woman’s head with a huge afro and says it will have a “mod 70-s feel”. The glass is covered in bright orange and pink paper right now. Let us know if you find out any more details!”

This is the space I mentioned back in the end of March that should open in late summer. I’ve been emailing with the owner who is super enthusiastic. Stay tuned for more updates as build out progresses at 3310 14th St, NW (just north of Park Rd).

Another reader writes:

“Dear PoP,

For all the haters that said “Coffy” was a stupid nonsensical name, we can see now that it’s really “Coffy” as is in Pam Grier from 1973. Now lets just hope those crepes will keep them in business!

“Dear PoP,

I got an email last night on an anti-littering campaign being rolled out.

Then, this morning, I snap a video of a lady in a DC Office on Aging van littering right in front of my house.

Not a problem like stabbings or shootings…”

But still def. a problem, personally I find this behavior maddening. I feel like we also need a serious education campaign to take place in DC public elementary schools.

Photo by PoPville flickr user Vileinist

According to DCBOEE Orange (28%) beat out Patrick Mara (25%) who took second and Sekou Biddle (20%) who took third (Weaver came in 4th with 13% and won Ward 1). Only 12% of the electorate voted.

D. Kamili Anderson won State Board of Education seat for Ward 4.

Trayon White Sr. won State Board of Education seat for Ward 8.

On twitter last night there was a lot of discussion that Mara had lost the election because the white vote was split – do you feel like there was a ‘Ralph Nader ala 2000′ candidate(s) in this election?

“Dear PoP,

Any idea what happened to the Angelico’s at 1334 U Street, NW? It seems to have reverted back to Jumbo Slice. Would be nice to know because there is a decent amount of us that have LivingSocial deals to it.”

Strange it was almost exactly a year ago that this space became an Angelico’s. So, I stopped by on Tues. afternoon and the guy working the front desk said it’s still under the same ownership they just decided to change the name and perhaps more importantly for the question above: they are still taking the LivingSocial deal.

Which do you think is a better name?

And just south of Logan Circle at 1418 12th St, NW (in the former Roosevelt Food Shoppe carryout space) comes Pizzolis Pizzeria. It’s a takeout place that opened up about two weeks ago that also will deliver if you live between 1.5-2 miles away. In addition to pizza they have stromboli, calzone, pasta, salads, subs, gyros and more. Their flier says:

“Pizzoli’s is your neighborhood pizzeria. Our goal is to serve the fresh natural ingredient and tasty food. All of our pizzas, stromboli, flat bread and foccacia bread made with organic flour. Our dough is made fresh daily on site with 100% organic wheat flour mixed with spring water and extra virgin olive oil. Our pizza sauce is made with organic sweet tomato with real italian herbs and kosher salt topped with top quality fresh ingredient and best cheese money can buy.”

Sounds awesome – makes me wish I lived within the delivery zone.

Photo by PoPville flickr user Sanjay Suchak

Your captions in the comments and winner (free PoP t-shirt) picked Friday.

“Dear PoP,

This is a photo of me outside the national Opera House in the capital, Bishkek. The sign is advertising a performance of Bizet’s Carmen for this past Sunday. It was awesome.”

You guys are adventurous travelers – we’ve nearly all the ‘stans now!

Check out the tongue. Awesome.

I’ve always given this house on 13th St, NW a tough time because of its prison door

but I gotta give credit where credit is due – they have the makings of a sweet garden out front.