The Passenger bar is located in the former Warehouse space at 1021 7th St. NW near the Convention Center. I was able to attend a media preview Tuesday evening. The bar opens to the public on Wed. at 5pm. This venture is from Tom and Derek Brown, Tom was most recently in charge of the bar at Cork and Derek oversaw the bar program at the Gibson. Paul Ruppert from Room 11 is also a partner. The space has maintained the warehouse feel:

Though there are more exciting things to come after tomorrow’s grand opening. Over the weekend they hope to open up the “train room” which will be able to host overflow and private parties:

And in January they will be opening up an additional room, The Columbia Room, which will be reservation only and will feature a mixologist who can make drinks for up to 20 people. I spoke to owners Tom and Derek:

Derek left, Tom right hand side

Tom said that he envisions the space as a neighborhood bar. They were less interested in a gimmick and more interested in focusing on the fundamentals of a good bar. As such they will have 25 wines by the glass, 15 different cans of beer, and four beers on tap, in addition to specialty cocktails including gin punch which I may or may not have sampled between one and six…

While there is not a big kitchen there will be some food options. There will be Spanish Olives ($3), Marcona Almonds ($3), Chili Half Smoke ($7), Kimchi Hot Dog ($7) and Paninis ($10).

One other question I had was how did they come up with their tag-line, “God Save the District”. Tom told me “that is our Don’t Mess With Texas. We wanted to create a DC place not import a NY place to DC”. And the name The Passenger was inspired by an Iggy Pop song. I definitely feel like this place has very little pretension. I’m excited to see it when all the extra rooms open up and I’m equally excited to see what type of crowd it attracts. For sure it will fill the gap of neighborhood-type bar on 7th Street.

More photos after the jump. Read Full Post

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When I walked by this weekend the space was looking pretty nice but I didn’t know if the Deli was reopening or a new spot was coming in. Yesterday afternoon The Triangle posted the scoop:

“G & J Deli at 317 K Street NW is closing and will reopen in several weeks as Henry’s Soul Cafe.”

Also interesting to note is that Henry’s Soul Cafe is currently located at 1704 U St., NW. I’ll have to check to see if they are moving or just opening up a second location.

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Photo courtesy of The Triangle Blog

“Dear PoP,

Has anyone tried these guys out? – http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/656541

The rig is pretty impressive, but more importantly what about the food? Would love to know who has the best BBQ here in the city. I live in the Bloomingdale neighborhood and it would rock to have a BBQ place close by. There is a BBQ place on RI Ave by the Getty Station but really doesn’t look like it does any business…nor does it look sanitary. Would love to hear what people have to say.”

Wow, this looks pretty cool. Mt. Vernon Triangle blog wrote about it here. It is located on the corner of 6th 4th and New York Ave, NW. DC Pit BBQ is Georgia based but features Kansas City Style BBQ. Anyone give them a try yet?

Ed. Note: We’ve previously discussed BBQ spots here, and here and here and here.

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Back in June I mentioned that Taylor’s was opening up a second location in the Mt. Vernon Triangle neighborhood (485 K St., NW in the City Vista building). Tuesday evening they had a pre-opening for bloggers/media etc. This spot opens to the public on Friday at 11am. I asked about their delivery radius but they weren’t 100% certain yet. They may deliver as far as Logan Circle and areas of Dupont. More on the delivery radius when it becomes finalized. As I said before, the folks who live nearby are supremely lucky to get this addition.

I am happy to report that the sandwiches were as delicious as they are at their original H Street, NE location. I always get one of the prosciutto sandwiches. This one had prosciutto, provolone, roasted red peppers and lettuce:

The store looks great too, it had a very similar feel and look to the original store. I thought the lights were the coolest part:

More photos after the jump. Read Full Post

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Speaking of Japanese restaurants, Kushi Izakaya will be located at 465 K Street, NW near the Bus Boys & Poets in the City Vista building. It looks like it’s going to be a pretty big space. I’m looking forward to checking it out. It looks like work hasn’t yet begun constructing the space so I’m not sure what the time frame on the opening is but I’ll be sure to update when it does.

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A new tavern called “Wired” is coming to 1015 1/2 7th Street, NW. The liquor application says, “New tavern offering snacks such as chips and cheese, live jazz music, DJ, karaoke and dancing. Occupancy load is 350″. Sounds pretty interesting.

And a bit further south at 406 7th Street, NW, Apartment Zero furniture store is moving. Their Web site says:

“Going forward, Apartment Zero will focus its resources on residential and commercial interior design, plus a dedicated office for contract sales to the trade (architects and interior designers). Apartment Zero will also be launching its e-commerce site offering a much larger and more exclusive range of products to a national audience in addition to the Washington DC area.

It has been our pleasure to serve you! We look forward to expanding our relationship with you now and in the future …. and who knows, perhaps you’ll see another retail concept pop up very soon.”

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Marrakesh is located at 617 New York Ave, NW. Well, this place looks pretty cool. You can see the menu here. So what’s the word here? Is it a regular restaurant or only a place for special occasions? Does it look as cool on the inside as it does on the outside?

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I am happy to report that I have confirmed that the hugely successful (and delicious) Taylor’s Deli is opening up a second location in Mt. Vernon Triangle at City Vista (5th and L, NW). Taylor’s of course is the Philly style sandwich shop that opened up in Nov. at 1116 H St. NE. Well mad props to the folks at City Vista because now they can add to their hugely successful list of retail spots which already includes the “Sexy Safeway”, 5th Street Hardware, Busboys & Poets, and who knows what else is in the works.

The new Taylor’s hopes to open around October. Great score for Mt. Vernon Triangle.

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