The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf has opened up at 1919 Connecticut Ave, NW in the Hilton.

Their Website says:

Born and brewed in Southern California since 1963, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf® is the oldest and largest privately-held specialty coffee and tea retailer in the United States. Beginning with our first café in Brentwood, California, we have always been passionate about connecting loyal customers to one another with carefully handcrafted products.

Known for sourcing and providing the finest ingredients and flavors, we have built relationships with the best private coffee farms and tea estates around the world, selecting only the top 1% Arabica beans and finest hand plucked, whole leaf teas. Our coffee is freshly roasted daily in small batches in a manual European roast style in our private roasting facility. All of our teas are hand blended under the direction of our tea master. Today we proudly offer over 30 varieties of coffee and 20 varieties of tea. And for nearly 50 years, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf® has demonstrated a passion for product innovation epitomized by The Original Ice Blended® beverage.

Any fans? I was digging the lounge area:

Dear PoPville,

My friend lives at 1630 R St., NW where there was a fire Tuesday night. She is actually the one who called 911 when she went outside and saw flames coming out of a window. The firefighters told her that the cause of the fire was a meth lab(!) on the 4th floor. This news story confirms it. Who knew people make meth in luxury apartment buildings in Dupont?

Wild. WUSA9 wrote:

“An investigation into the cause of the fire led to the discovery of suspicious materials which may indicate a meth lab was being operated in the apartment.”

Somebody watching too much Breaking Bad…

Back in mid-Dec. 2011 we learned that the New Orleans PoBoy Shop was coming to Dupont Circle. Lots more details have become available from their new Website:

“We are conveniently located at 1205 19th St. NW, near DuPont Circle, in the business district area of Washington, D.C. and are with-in walking distance from 3 major D.C. Metro Stations. We will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, with the possiblity of private events on nights and weekends.”

Lots more background info here (including an Emeril LaGasse connection) and you can see their menu here (though the font is pretty small.) Stay tuned for an April opening.

We’ve known it was coming…

From WMATA:

The south entrance of Dupont Circle station, located at 19th Street NW, will be closed through October, beginning Wednesday, Feb. 1, to allow for total replacement of three escalators with new, modern units.

The project is part of Metro’s multi-year, $150-million plan to improve escalator and elevator reliability. Under the current plan, 94 escalators are scheduled for full replacement over the next seven years.

The existing escalators, each 188 feet long and rising 85 feet to street level, are among the least reliable and most difficult to maintain of Metro’s 588 escalators. Originally installed in 1997, the current escalators are non-standard (they were custom built to fit in the narrow entrance that was originally designed for two units), and their manufacturer no longer makes escalators, making finding replacement parts near impossible.

During the project, the three existing escalator units will be demolished and removed from the site; the area beneath the units will be modified; and new, standard size, industrial-grade escalators will be installed. Due to the tight nature of the work zone, each escalator segment being removed and installed will travel on three separate cranes between the site and street level.

A full closure of the entrance is required to provide for customer safety while heavy lifting of escalator segments takes place in a narrow workspace. As a secondary benefit, closing the entrance will allow the work to proceed on a faster timeline than would otherwise be possible.

Crane operations at street level will necessitate occasional overnight closures of 19th Street NW.

Future home of “TakEatEasy” at 1990 M St, NW

Back in March 2011, I shared the news that the folks behind Fast Gourmet were looking to open more one or two more locations in Dupont and Georgetown. WUSA9 shares the news that a Dupont location has been selected:

The restaurant, which will be called “TakEatEasy”, will be located at 1990 M Street in Dupont and should open by the end of March, Fast Gourmet General Manager and Co-owner Manuel Olivera confirmed in an interview.

“I’m not going to say (TakEatEasy) is going to be upscale, but it’s going to be more ambitious in terms of the quality of food,” Olivera explained. People can look for great homemade pasta. We’re going to make different kinds of pasta over there from scratch. We’ll have some select sandwiches from Fast Gourmet that we will try to do something different with. We’ll have a dinner menu with fish, steaks, and salads.“

To orient folks, 1990 M St, NW is also the building that houses Vidalia though China Cafe (pictured above) is the only vacant space.

Back in Dec. 2010 a reader declared Fast Gourmet to have the best sandwiches in town. You can see their menu here. We’ll revisit “TakEatEasy” when they open.

Fast Gourmet, 14th and W, St NW

Hipchickindc is a licensed real estate broker. She is the founder of 10 Square Team and is affiliated with Keller Williams Capital Properties. 10 Square Team is a princeofpetworth.com advertiser. 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: 2023 R St NW
Legal Subdivision: Old City #2
Advertised Subdivision per Listing: Dupont
Original List Price 1st Listing: $2,875,000.
List Price at Contract: $2,595,000.
List Date: 06/13/2011
Days on Market: 131
Settled Sales Price: $2,325,000.
Settlement Date: 12/16/2011
Seller Subsidy: $0.
Bank Owned?: No Short Sale? No
Type Of Financing: Entered in listing data as “Private”
Original GDoN post is: here.
The listing can be seen: here. The virtual tour can be seen here. (By the way, on Homevisit virtual tours, the tour will load faster if you go to the far right and click on “view in standard resolution”.)

I don’t know about you, but ever since Mitt Romney released his tax returns, I keep thinking about what I would do if I had that kind of cash available. I’m generally a Bloomingdale girl, but it does occasionally cross my mind that it might be fun to own a ginormous house with a hot tub on the roof deck. I also like the idea of being down the street from Teaism and I’m a Phillips Collection member, so it would be very convenient for popping in more frequently. And sometimes, as one of the commenters to the original Good Deal or Not (GDoN) post said, I would like to have a couch in my kitchen.

Continues after the jump. (more…)

Given the continuation of big bookstores closing in DC, I always stop and pause when I pass Books A Million on Dupont Circle. I always wonder how much longer they’ll be able to survive in that prime (and likely expensive) location if at all. Do you guys think Books a Million can survive here? If so why? If not, how much longer do you think they have?

Photo of Studio Bar courtesy of ESL

From an email:

Eighteenth Street Lounge (ESL) [1212 18th ST NW] will be hosting the official after party for the Thievery Corporation’s final 9:30 Club show, on Friday, January 13. The home of the local electronica music production duo, ESL recently opened a new room named after their first recording studio where the after party will be held, the Studio Bar. Everyone with a 9:30 stamp will gain free admission for the party. Afrolicious, currently touring with Thievery Corporation and recently signed to ESL Music, will be DJing for the night.

This rental is located at 1616 16th St NW:

View Larger Map

The Craigslist ad says:

Looking to get into the best neighborhood in the district, looking for the coziest studio in town? Well we got both! The Ravenel is home to some pretty cute and cozy studios who are just right for the right person. With Original hard wood floors, high ceilings, big closet, convenient kitchenette and more. Partial Utilities are included which are water and heat, you are responsible for paying electricity and cooking gas. This apartment is available December. So hurry because this apartment won’t last.

-On Site Laundry Facility
-Bike room Storage
-Dry Cleaning Service available
-Personal Storage available

This studio is going for $1375.

Scion is located at 2100 P St., NW. So I guess that explains all those parking tickets we talked about earlier this morning…

Thanks to a reader for sharing the press pool report:

Scion restaurant is described as having Asian-influenced cuisine, located at Dupont Circle in Washington. Lunch menu on its website includes burgers, crab cakes, and a lobster Reuben sandwich: prices for entrees between $9.95 and $18.95.Potus had taken off his jacket and had his shirtsleeves rolled up. The restaurant appeared to be empty of any other diners. Potus and his four supporters were at a table in the middle of the room with only place settings and filled water glasses.Potus was engaging his supporters in small talk, asking about their children and where each was from, how long they had lived there.One supporter said he had a question to ask the president from his 6-yr. old, but he did not ask it with pool in the room. Pool was ushered out after a minute or two and is holding near vans. There is a small crowd gathered on the street corner across from the restaurant.

Dear PoPville,

Went to Maoz for lunch today only to find it closed with no sign. Know what’s going on?

Sadly, Maoz located at 1817 M Street, NW has closed. Bisnow reported over the holidays:

“We had a great run,” owner Quinn Wallis tells us. “We had very loyal customers. People loved our food. But unfortunately, at the end of the day, we just weren’t able to get enough people through the door.”

Unfortunately this was the only Maoz location in DC.

Dear PoPville,

I live on the 1400 block of 21st St NW. This morning at 8a I found all the cars on the block ticketed and a tow truck preparing to move another vehicle. The No Parking signs (posted yesterday morning) had been changed overnight or early this morning to read 6a-2p instead of the original 9a-2p. The block was cordoned off by a police van, and when questioned, the officer on the scene was completely unhelpful and said he had no idea who changed the sign nor when the signs were changed. I will obviously contest the ticket. I would urge my neighbors to contest theirs as well.

Image via google street view

Dear PoPville,

Crêpes-A-Go-Go on P Street is gone. Of all things, the space is going full-circle: Shear Artistry (a hair salon) is supposed to be opening there. (It was a Hair Cuttery when I moved here 20 years ago.) I’ll miss CAGG…they had wonderful crêpes and their gelato was awesome.

I also called Crepes a Go Go Wed. afternoon and they’ve confirmed they closed their Dupont location at 2122 P St, NW. They did say they hope to find a new location possibly in the neighborhood in about a month. Stay tuned for more info on that when it becomes available.

Where there any fans of Crepes a go-go? You can see their menu here. Their sister store Crepes on the Walk remains open in Chinatown/Penn Quarter near the movie theater at 701 7th St, NW.

Photo via Google Street View

Sad news from Dupont Circle (via DCist). Melody Record shop is located at 1623 Connecticut Ave, NW next to Comfort One Shoes (formerly Lambda bookstore). Their Web site announces “STORE CLOSING SALE!”:

TO ALL OUR WONDERFUL CUSTOMERS,

Melody Record Shop will be closing its doors in the winter of 2012.
While we wish that we could continue indefinitely, technology, the internet and the economy has taken its toll, and we have concluded, unfortunately, that it is not possible to survive in this environment.

We are a family owned business and it has been our privilege getting to know many of you so well over the past 34 years. We nurtured Melody, in much the same way that we raised our children, with tender loving care. We watched our store mature and grow, from vinyl, to 8 tracks, cassettes, CDs, and back to vinyl! We kept pace as VHS evolved to DVD.

For those of you who have shopped with us forever, we are eternally grateful. We worked so hard to help you locate that hard to find album, special order that specific CD or DVD, choose just that right song and be the first to have the new release from that favorite artist. We hope that our efforts have helped to bring wonderful music into your lives. Over the years, many celebrities and politicians have stopped by our store. As exciting as this was, it was just as important to us to serve the one time customer who needed a quick purchase.

To our devoted employees, we cannot thank you enough! You shared our mission, finding each customer, exceptionally important. We know that your efforts helped us survive the impact of the Internet on music for as long as we did.

We are sad to say goodbye as Melody was not just a store; it was a community where customers shared the joy and magic of great music. We are not merely closing an icon of Dupont Circle; we are saying farewell to so many good friends.

With so much gratitude for your commitment all these years,
Suzy and Jack

December 2011

Many will remember that Banana Leaves, 2020 Florida Ave, NW, suffered a devastating fire back in March ’11. While they had originally hoped to open in December, I’m very happy to see progress. It’s amazing how good new windows can look. Hopefully it won’t be too much longer now.

March 2011