Ah, there’s never a dull moment when it comes to the Downtown restaurant scene. Adour (923 16th Street), the award-winning, French-American restaurant that opened in The St. Regis Hotel five years ago, will close its doors on Friday, May 31, as the hotel makes way for another dining option, Decanter. The Mediterranean-influenced restaurant will still have some of renowned chef Alain Ducasse’s influence as current chef Sebastien Rondier will reportedly stay on. Expect a June 21 opening date. Too bad. Adour just ranked No. 6 on Washingtonian magazine’s list of 100 Very Best Restaurants for 2013 and was a finalist in the RAMMY Awards Wine Program of the Year category in 2012 and 2013. Au revoir, Adour.
Meanwhile, other eateries continue to make their way into available Downtown space: Bolt Burgers just signed a lease to occupy 3,280 square feet (SF) at 1010 Massachusetts Avenue; Jackpot Tavern is coming to the basement of 726 7th Street; Corner Bakery will move into 500 North Capitol Street; FroZen Yo will set up a second DowntownDC BID area location at 712 7th Street; Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak and Stone Crab finalized its lease to occupy 740 15th Street; and Hill Country (410 7th Street), the Texas-style BBQ people, will operate Hill Country Backyard Barbecue on the National Building Museum’s West Lawn (5th and F streets). That’s right, and the grand opening takes place this Friday, May 3, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
The pop-up location will operate from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Wednesdays through Fridays, noon to 11 p.m. on Saturdays, and noon to 9 p.m. on Sundays during the balmy weather. Expect picnic blankets to be laden with the likes of ribs, BBQ chicken, brisket sandwiches, spicy sausage links, potato salad, cornbread, ice-cold Shiner beers, signature cocktail and lemonade. Who’s surprised? Last year, Hill Country began offering special delivery service to various points near major attractions on the National Mall, all summer long. The seasonal service will be reinstated this summer.
As for the other notable mentions, Bolt Burgers, a new, fast casual restaurant concept, will open its first restaurant here. No date yet, but Angus beef, turkey and vegetarian black bean burgers, griddled cheesewiches” and other fare are on the menu. Jackpot Tavern will occupy 1,800-square-feet, and seat 47 patrons—with a total load of 160. Besides serving light cuisine, the neighborhood hangout plans to provide occasional live music when it opens this fall. The Corner Bakery plans a Monday, May 13 opening, and FroZen Yo—the self-serve yogurt chain set to occupy 1,400 SF of the 5,700 SF vacated by Ruby Tuesday, which closed last month—will open in late June. Joe’s Seafood, which will occupy more than 18,000 SF, plans to open in the fall.
In addition, the following restaurants just opened for business: Azur (405 8th Street), the European seafood restaurant and oyster bar, occupying 6,000 SF; Del Campo (777 Eye Street), a South American BBQ concept by Victor Albisu; and Dangerously Delicious Pies (675 I Street), which also owns a mobile food truck.
Caribou, the Minneapolis-based coffee company, is closing several dozen underperforming stores nationwide and converting others to Peet’s Coffee & Tea shops. Its two Downtown locations at 601 13th Street and 1156 15th Street will remain open. The conversions are expected to occur over the next year or so.
[This story was updated on Thursday, May 2]