More 19th Street, NW news. Thanks to @caitdouglas for sending word. Jonathan’s Gourmet closed back in Aug. 2011 at 1120 19th Street, NW. I spoke with some workers a few weeks ago who said G Street Foods would be a buffet and deli style lunch spot. We’ll revisit when they open.

Update: A commenter believes it could be the same folks behind this G Street Food:

“The restaurant offers foods from around the globe: breakfasts, lunches, desserts and breads inspired by the food found at carts, stands and stalls lining the streets and tucked into the corners of cities and towns worldwide. Montreal-style bagels, Vietnamese Banh Mi sandwiches, noodle soups from Southeast Asia and flat breads and salads from the Middle East are just some examples of the world’s street fare that are featured on the G Street Food menu.”

You can see their menus here.

If these are the same folks, this sounds great!

Some very tasty scuttlebutt has come my way from a reliable source. I hear that Taylor’s (nee Taylor Gourmet Deli) is looking to open more new locations in the former Mixt Greens spaces. Mixt Greens closed their remaining two DC locations in Dec. 2011 at 1200 19th Street, NW and 1700 K Street, NW. Taylor’s recently opened a Logan Circle location at 1908 14th St, NW. You can find their other locations here. I’ll update as more info becomes available.

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.

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.

Given the whirlwind of changes to so many neighborhoods in DC, it’s notable that Dupont pretty much looked about the same a decade ago, (well, less Sweet Green and other recent businesses.) That said, it’s also notable that in 2001, this home sold for just shy of a million dollars less than it did last month. In all of 2001, within a quarter mile radius of the subject property, there were 32 sales of fee simple homes. The average net sale price at that time was $985,353. Looking at the same radius for all of 2011, there were only 19 transfers of fee simple homes, with an average net sale price of $1,894,200. That’s some pretty healthy appreciation over a ten year period, even with a housing bubble thrown in the middle of it.

The decrease in the number of homes in this location available for sale currently is also significant, as it reflects the scarcity of supply of active inventory seen in other parts of the city, which may drive prices even further this Spring.

Per tax records, the recent seller purchased the home in 2004 for $1,900,000.

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?

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.