Neighborhood Eats: A Dupont Grocery, A Gelato Factory and A Red Hen

• April 18th 2013

by Jamie Liu

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The theme of this week’s Neighborhood Eats is expansion. One chef opens a second restaurant, while another opens his first of two. And three local chains eye new locations.

Open: The second restaurant from Chef Frederick de Pue, Azur, opens today at 405 8th Street NW (map) in the old Cafe Atlantico/minibar space. The seafood-focused restaurant will feature items like moules frites, clams, and lobsters prepared in a broth of your choice. The minibar space is now a raw bar with caviar, oysters and an assortment of shellfish.

Pie lovers can now head to the Penn Quarter for their fix of Dangerously Delicious Pies, which opened Monday at 675 I Street NW (map). The outpost will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. to start, and will eventually expand its hours. Try the Baltimore Bomb made with Berger cookies, or savory chili and bbq pies.

Former Proof chef de cuisine Michael Friedman and wine director Sebastian Zutant joined forces with Mike O’Malley on The Red Hen, which opened Tuesday at 1822 1st Street NW (map). Serving Italian-influenced cuisine, the menu is centered around items cooked in the custom wood-fired grill — think grilled and smoked meats and vegetables, as well as roasted vanilla beans and smoked cheese. Leaning on Zutant’s sommelier background, it offers an affordable wine list (most bottles are under $60) and a menu of wine-driven cocktails under $10.

Open…Soon: If you’re a grocery-starved Dupont Circle resident looking for alternatives to the Soviet Safeway, Glen’s Garden Market will be your savior. Opening on April 21, it replaces the Secret Safeway at 2001 S Street NW (map). The store will source products from DC, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. In-house chef, Sean Sullivan, will be making sausages, soups, stew, sauces, pickles, sandwiches, salad, and pizzas if you don’t feel like cooking yourself.

Chef Victor Albisu opens the first of his new restaurants, Del Campo, at 777 Eye Street NW (map) on April 22. The menu is a nod to his Peruvian roots, and also incorporates other traditional dishes and street foods from South and Latin American cuisine. Expect to find ceviches, empanadas, albondigas, and chivitos. The nine-seat Asado Bar will let diners interact with Chef Albisu as he roasts meats over an open flame. Whet your thirst with South American wines, traditional South American liquors including pisco, cachaca and aguardiente as well as the non-alcoholic tea, yerba mate.

Opening Eventually: A second location of taqueria El Centro D.F. will open in Georgetown at 1218 Wisconsin Avenue NW (map), according to Eater. Owners hope to open the two floor restaurant by June, with an outdoor patio for enjoying margaritas. The menu will include some new additions to what is available at the original Logan Circle location.

Rapidly expanding gelato bar Dolcezza is opening a gelato factory and coffee lab at 550 Penn Street NE (map) near Union Market. The factory will help to produce the gelato and sorbetto for its retail shops. Gelato lovers can watch the icy treat being produced, and there will be a room for tasting gelato and coffee, as well as place to purchase flavors by the ounce.

Events: The Fourth Annual sweetlife Music + Food Festival hosted by sweetgreen will be held at Merriweather Post Pavilion on May 11. Slated to play the festival are Phoenix, Passion Pit, Kendrick Lamar, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Gary Clark Jr., Solange and Lindsey Stirling. Local chefs RJ Cooper (Rogue 24, Gypsy Soul), Eric Bruner-Yang (Toki Underground), and Spike Gjerde (Woodberry Kitchen) as well as numerous food trucks will be on hand to feed hungry concertgoers. General admission lawn seat tickets are $75, general admission pavilion/pit access tickets are $95, and VIP tickets are $150.

After a game of mini golf at the National Building Museum this summer you can visit Hill Country’s Backyard Barbecue pop up on the West Lawn, Wednesdays through Sundays, starting on May 3. The menu features many of the restaurant’s popular barbecue items, including the barbecue chicken and beef sandwiches, hot links, and assorted sides. Wash it all down with lemonade, iced tea, a variety of Shiner Bock beers, sangria, or a Porch Swing cocktail (gin, strawberry simple syrup and lemon juice).

Jamie R. Liu is a freelance writer, food nerd, and former DCist food and drink editor. She has contributed to Eater, Washington City Paper, the Express, and AskMen.com.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.production.logicbrush.com/articles/blog/neighborhood_eats_the_expansion_edition/6952.