Police, Feds Raid Townhouse Tavern

OK, here's an interesting piece, courtesy of Borderstan:

Seems that MPD and the Feds paid a visit to longtime Dupont bar the Townhouse Tavern on Thursday, arresting one individual and retrieving a weapon. According to Borderstan, MPD PSA 208 head Lt. Scott Dignan stated that the operation involved both MPD officers and federal authorities, but provided no further information.

Nothing this exciting ever happens when *I'm* in a bar...perhaps I'm hanging out in the wrong places.

EFN Lounge/Motley Bar Abruptly Closes

9th Street has lost one of its pioneering businesses.

The EFN Lounge and Motley Bar, two bar concepts under a single roof on 9th Street in Shaw, abruptly closed its doors Monday night after the loss of its manager and months of financial instability.

The Blade has the scoop, which apparently includes some tension between the bar's employees and its owners, Tom McGuire and Adrian Massiah, over the surprise announcement of the closing. From the Blade story:

"Employees were informed of the decision Monday night. Gay bartender Matt Bamford, who’d worked there four months and is Mr. Mid-Atlantic Leather 2010, said the news came as a shock...“Company standard there was always two weeks notice if we wanted to leave,” Bamford said. “What they did to not just the staff but to the community at large is just unconscionable.”

No word on what, if anything, might replace EFN. However, the bar's abrupt closure does not bode well for the immediate future of 9th Street retail and commercial activity. Business owners there and elsewhere clamor for so-called "critical mass" of businesses, which helps drive traffic to the neighborhood. Although several new businesses have opened along 9th Street in recent years, the corridor continues to encounter problems generating that critical mass--and EFN's closure won't aid matters.

EFN was formerly BeBar until being rebranded back in January 2009. BeBar opened in the space back in 2006.

Maggie Moos Leaving U Street?

While perusing the April minutes of the Carodozo-Shaw Neighborhood Association meeting (which will undoubtedly become the title of a chapter in our forthcoming book "So You Want To Write a Blog?"), we uncovered this little nugget of information that had somehow passed us by for the last month:

Maggie Moos presented the idea of changing from ice cream to gelato Italian eatery. They plan to seek a liquor license in order to serve coffee/gelato with alcohol. Once changed to gelato, store would no longer be affiliated with Maggie Moos.

A gelato bar? Is this a new thing? Let me guess: it was all the rage in NYC, and now someone's trying to export the idea to DC, in much the same way that i'm bracing for the forthcoming "donut craze".

If this is indeed the case, put me in the corner of "this sucks", particularly if it means I can't get a Maggie Moos shake anymore. Hey, at least I should be happy that they aren't converting to a "small plate" restaurant...

Antonio Parker at HR-57

Sometimes it's easy to overlook the embarrassment of cultural riches that our city has to offer, and that's no more true than in our very own neighborhood. U Street and Logan are blessed with a tremendous collection of jazz clubs that bring in some phenomenal talent. This was no more evident than it was this Friday evening, as 14th street jazz club HR-57 played host to local saxophonist Antonio Parker and his quartet.

If you've never been to HR, you're missing out on a wonderful neighborhood destination to catch some jazz.  (It's also one of the cities rare BYOB establishments, so you can drink on the cheap.)  The 14thandyous have been enjoying performances there for years, and this Friday decided to head out to catch Antonio, one of our favorite local performers.  Antonio's group is a Friday night staple at HR, having been playing more-or-less consistently in that slot for the past couple of years

This evening, the band--Parker on tenor sax, William Knowles on piano, Kenny Thomas on bass and Jimmy "Junebug" Jackson doing a rather fine Buddy Rich impersonation on drums--were in splendid form.  Parker is a Coltrane devotee, and in addition to the bop standard "Giant Steps", the quartet plowed through an original Coltrane-inspired Parker number that Coltrane himself would certainly have been proud of.

Parker has developed into as exciting a jazz frontman as you are likely to find in this area, and his on-stage energy is palpable.  As a frontman, he deftly led the group through all manner of hardbop, ballads, Latin-tinged and even hip-hop inspired numbers.  In addition, his quartet is both supremely talented and well-suited for playing with each other.  The interplay between Thomas and Jackson was a particular highlight of the set, and the inclusion of pieces penned by Thomas (a ballad) and Knowles (a calypso-tinged Latin number featuring a fabulous syncopated beat from Jackson) served to indicate the depth of talent and musicianship on stage.

In other words, you don't have to head up to NYC to hear top-quality jazz.  It's literally right outside your door.

On a slightly down note, it seems that DC audiences aren't quite familiar with the protocol of attending performances in jazz clubs.  The presence of alcohol and a dimly lit room does not present one with a license to talk as obnoxiously loud as one wants, but try telling that to the several tables behind us, who as far as we could tell were not aware that they were actually taking in a performance.  A chatty neighborhood bar this is not.

Crowd noise issues aside (and that's something we haven't experienced before at the club), HR is a lovely--and relatively cheap--venue to take in a performance. You can visit HR-57's website by clicking here (note that Parker's quartet will be playing next Friday as well).  We certainly encourage you to check them out--but only if you aren't reuniting with your long-lost college roommates.  For that, Stoneys is just around the block.

Birch & Barley, ChurchKey Headed to Logan

Before we head off on a week-long excursion across the pond to the great Roman colony of Londinium, we thought we'd leave with a bit of restaurant news to chew on during our absence.

Remember the new restaurants/bars that were to take the place of the not-yet-forgotten Dakota Cowgirl? Well, although beer-centric establishments "Birch & Barley" and "ChurchKey" are a bit behind on their anticipated openings, we caught up with Neighborhood Restaurant Group (NRG) publicist Amber Pfau last week, who gave us a sneak peek of what's to come at the new beer-themed establishments.














That's executive chef Frank Morales pictured above (left right), alongside beer director Greg Engert (you know a place is serious about their beer when they employ a "beer director"). Morales will head up the kitchen at "beer and wine friendly" Birch & Barley on the ground floor of the former Cowgirl building. According to Pfau, B&B will feature a "modern American menu [that] will pay homage to beer in every way." Morales, who will stay on as executive chef at Alexandria's Rustico, is planning a menu that will feature wood-fired artisanal pizzas, as well as more unique dishes such as "duck confit and Kabocha squash crepes with grilled Mandarin orange and roasted red pepper." Altogether now: Mmmmmmm.

Upstairs, Engert will oversee the selection for beer-heavy "ChurchKey", which will serve over 550 beers representing over 100 styles and 30 countries. 50 beers will be on tap, half of which will be American, and 30 of which will rotate out weekly. ChurchKey will also feature something "five authentic hand pumped cask conditioned ales representing rare English and other international styles." With Engert, who serves in the same capacity at Rustico, beer connoisseurs are clearly in good hands.

NRG owner Michael Babin is also pursuing a rooftop deck for ChurchKey, although details about it--or renderings for the establishments--weren't available at this time.

Oh, as to that all-important opening date? While spring was once a "best case" opening scenario, NRG is now gunning for a summer opening, but are prepared for a fall opening as well--presumably if things don't all proceed according to plan. Regardless, the opening of these two establishments further pushes Logan as a culinary destination in the city.

With that, we're signing off for a week to wander about the streets of London and, hopefully, sample some good English ale. Cheers!

Two New Restaurants/Lounges Coming to 14th Street

Big news this week for the 1800 block of 14th Street: it seem that two new establishments are headed to the block, and they both sound pretty exciting.

The first is Blu Restaurant and Lounge, which is set to fill the space between and Pulp and Home Rule formerly occupied by the Latino grocery store. According to the ABRA application posted to the window, Blu is planning to host live bands and a DJ, serve "light food" and will have something called a "summer garden," although we're not entirely certain what that is.

I haven't been able to obtain independent confirmation of this, but it seems that there is a Blu Lounge already in operation in Bethesda. You can check out their website here for a taste of what is (likely) coming to 14th Street.

One potential hang-up for them: they are looking for operating hours extending until 2 AM Sun - Thurs and until 3 AM on Fri-Sat. Now, the 14thandYous don't happen to have a problem with those hours--14th street is a commercial corridor, and in our opinions there could stand to be a bit more late night activity in the area that isn't occurring behind the Mr. Wash--but we know of plenty in the neighborhood who are likely to raise a fuss and voice all manner of concerns over the heathen debauchery that would no doubt take place should Blu be allowed to remain open until that ungodly hour on a school night.

Our prediction: they'll get until midnight Sun-Thurs, and until 2 AM Fri-Sat. Stay tuned...

A few paces down the block, Masa 14 is about to rear its head. Unlike Blu, Masa is shaping up to be more of a full-service restaurant, with cuisine that is--if their ABRA application is to be believed--is severely geographically challenged.

Masa's sign indicates that they will be serving "Mediterranean fusion, with a focus on Latin and Asian tapas". Now, I'm no geography major (help me out here IMGoph) but it seems that any restaurant focusing on Latin and Asian tapas would have a difficult time qualifying their food as remotely "Mediterranean," but perhaps there is an angle to this that I am missing.

Perhaps most importantly, the application takes great pains to note that there will be no nude dancing at this establishment. So, all of you expecting to get "Camelot on 14th," well...I'm sorry. You'll just have to wait.

Masa also seems to afflicted by the same operating hours delusion as Blu, so perhaps they can band together on this one?

Interestingly, assuming both places move forward with their plans, it will mean that every storefront on the east side of the 1800 block is filled. So, cheers to that.

Speakeasy

I was surprised that Old Town Alexandria had a popular speakeasy before the 14th Street corridor. Thanks to Eric Hilton (Thievery Corporation, Marvin, Eighteenth Street Lounge) the Gibson has come to 2009 14th Street to plug the hole. Read the Washington Post's full review here for more information. It sounds like an interesting place; the cocktails are top shelf and imaginative, and the bar is the chilled-out sophisticated scene you would expect from Eric Hilton. Then there's the factor that appeals most to me: there is no standing room in the bar. In true speakeasy style, the Gibson only admits patrons when bar and table seating is available.

After only a few months in business the Gibson received many reviews on Yelp, most of them reactions to the psuedo-speakeasy environment. It seems that people either love it or think it's played-out. You may also want to check out the DCist review (which you probably missed on Christmas Eve) and the cocktail menu.