Maison Kayser Opens First Bakery in D.C.
Last Thursday, Paris-based Maison Kayser opened it first bakery and café in Washington, D.C. at 1345 F St. NW. It will open a second location on Feb. 22 at 650 Massachusetts Ave. NW.
The bakeries will bake bread from start to finish on-site throughout the day. Founded by Eric Kayser in Paris in 1996, Maison Kayser is an authentic artisanal French boulangerie and café, where bread and other baked goods are mixed and baked daily. Kayser trains local bakers to source ingredients, such as non-bleached flour made without additives or added sugar, and follow ancestral recipes.
“We are thrilled to bring Maison Kayser to Washington, D.C.,” Kayser said in a press release. “I love spending time in this city and I cannot wait for Washingtonians to get to know us as their neighbors – whether they are coming in for a morning coffee, stopping in for a baguette on their walk home or joining us for a cozy dinner.”
Beginning today, the F Street location and the Massachusetts Avenue location once it opens, will bake an ancient grains bread that will be available exclusively in D.C. stores. It is made with a rare wheat flour derived from ancient grains sourced in very limited quantities from an area in France where, historically, peasants maintained their independence with seed companies. Today, the grains are highly sought after as they represent and embrace traditional bread making processes.
In addition to bread, both locations will feature an array of French pastries and viennoiseries including their baguettes, pain au chocolat and almond croissants, a selection of grab-and-go items, and a French style sit-down café serving seasonal favorites for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The menu includes croque-madame, boeuf bourguinon, French onion soup and poulet sauce suprême aux champignons, along with smaller bites like rillette de canard, niçoise salad and traditional Alsatian quiche; as well as a variety of signature coffees, teas and fresh juices.
Both stores will be open from 7 a.m.–10 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m.-8 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
Restaurant Eve could close in Old Town
Restaurant Eve, 10 S. Pitt St., Alexandria, faces closure will likely close in the next few months and may reopen in D.C.
“It’s at the point where we need to reinvent it [Eve],” owner and chef Cathal Armstrong told Washingtonian magazine last week. “It’s in the cards that something will happen within the next few months, whether closing or relocating or some sugar daddy comes along and gives us a million dollars — but that scenario isn’t likely.”
Armstrong and his wife Meshelle opened Restaurant Eve in 2004 with business partner and barman Todd Thrasher. They are looking at D.C. locations for the restaurant, possibly at D.C.’s new Wharf waterfront development where their company, Eat Good Food Group, is opening Kaliwa, a Filipino/Thai/Korean restaurant that is expected to open later this month, and Potomac Distilling Co., a rum distillery and tiki bar targeted to open this summer.
“I started thinking about reinvention, and it was an exciting conversation for me,” Armstrong told the magazine. “What about the notion of doing something more luxury with Restaurant Eve? Or more casual? That’s very much in the dream state at the moment.”
Restaurant Eve has been evolved since it opened with a hyper-seasonal New American cuisine. The fine dining room tasting room and bistro have been combined into one space with several menu options from price fixe to a la carte. It also now serves some Asian dishes.
The company’s Eamonn’s 20-seat Irish fish and chips restaurant will also be transformed into something entirely different in the near future. However, other Old Town eateries including PX cocktail bar, Society Fair cafe and market, and Hummingbird inside the Indigo Hotel will remain as they are.
DGS Delicatessen closed permanently on Sunday
DGS Delicatessen, 1317 Connecticut Ave. NW, closed on Sunday so that co-owner cousins Nick and David Wiseman so they can focus on their Little Sesame hummus pop-up, which was housed in DGS’ basement.
“It’s been an amazing five years, and we can’t thank you—all 350,000 of you who came through our doors—enough for joining us on this ride,” the two said on the restaurant’s website. “We hope we’ve left a good mark on our street, neighborhood and city. We’ll miss all of you (and our bagels and lox, of course). But the good news is we’re just getting started. We’re turning our focus to grow Little Sesame and will be opening the first stand-alone location very, very soon. Stay tuned!”
DGS opened in 2012. The Wisemans and Israeli chef and partner Ronen Tenne have been looking to expand Little Sesame. Edit Lab by Streetsense is designing the new shop.
The Wisemans also own Whaley’s in the Capital Riverfront and Hill Prince on H Street NE.
Pluma bakery opens near Union Market
Pluma bakery, 391 Morse St. NE, opened Feb. 3 on the ground floor of the new Edison apartment complex near Union Market.
Owners Camila Arango and Tom Wellings are the husband and wife pastry chef team behind the wholesale Bluebird Bakery, which also moved from the Mess Hall incubator to the new store, supplying baked goods to area restaurants such as Dolcezza Gelato, Philz Coffee and Peregrine Espersso. That will continue.
Arrango and Wellings met in the pastry kitchen at the Tysons’ Ritz-Carlton. She went on to be the pastry chef at the Mandarin Oriental, while he was executive pastry chef for Fiola, Fiola Mare and Casa Luca.
Pluma will offer Bluebird’s staple baked goods and Stumptown coffee, as well as dishes like roasted carrots with hazelnuts and parmesan, Roman-style pizzas with prosciutto and pork belly served on a piece of house-made sourdough with salsa verde and a fried egg. Beer and wine are also available.
All the baked goods are in season and as locally sourced as possible, so don’t expect to see blueberries or strawberries on the menu in the winter.
The Royal celebrates Carnival tonight
The Royal, 501 Florida Ave. NW in LeDroit Park, will host guest bartender Duane Sylvestre from Compari, formerly of Bourbon Steak, for its monthly Royal Knights industry night tonight from 9 p.m.-1 a.m. The theme will be Carnival traditions from New Orleans to Trinidad.
In addition to beads, there will be eight special cocktails priced at $8 each highlighting Caribbean rums, absinthe and Trinidad-made bitters, and riffing on classics such as the hurricane, sazerac, Ramos gin fizz and Trinidad sour. There will also be $6 rum boilermakers and $3 canned beer from Atlas Brew Works.
The special one-night only cocktails include the Sugar Wray, a rum punch made with Wray & Nephew overproof rum, J. Wray gold rum, Aperol, pineapple, strawberry and lemon lime; Stiggin’s Fancy, a tropical old fashioned combining Appleton 12-year rum, pineapple gomme and Angostura bitters; Two Degrees of Separation with Appleton reserve rum, Espolon reposado, lime, grapefruit and Cinnamon and Sting Wray, a tiki-inspired tipple made with Wray & Nephew overproof rum, J. Wray silver rum, grapefruit and soda. Also, Andazzo Gin Fizz, a King Cake-inspired Ramos gin fizz made with Fords gin, heavy cream, egg white, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, citrus and a king cake baby; Ango Bango, a bitters-heavy Trinidad sour riff made with Appleton 12-year rum, house-made bitters, Orgeat and lime; Hurricane Sazerac, a mashup of the two classic cocktails made with Appleton 12-year rum, passion fruit, sugar and lime; and the Pecan Harvest, another sazerac-inspired tipple using pecan-washed rye whiskey, Sfumato Rabarbaro, sugar and absinthe.
The kitchen will offer hand-made roasted chicken and vegetarian tamales for $10 each all night.
Brookland’s Finest hosts Mardi Gras dinner on Tuesday
Brookland’s Finest, 3126 12th St. NE, will celebrate Mardi Gras on Tuesday with a special menu featuring local spirits from One Eight Distilling.
Louisiana cuisine will be the focus. The first course features crispy frog legs with remoulade sauce paired with a rosemary infused Gin Rickey. Etouffée with Gulf shrimp, crawfish and andouille sausage is the second course, which will be paired with a play on a French 75 made with verbena-infused District Made vodka. For dessert, guests will enjoy bananas foster beignets with chocolate ganache and fresh fruit served alongside a Sazerac made with Rock Creek rye.
The full menu is priced at $35 per person.
Bayou Bakery celebrates Mardi Gras before Clarendon parade
Bayou Bakery, 1515 N. Courthouse Road, Arlington, will celebrate Mardi Gras from 5-8 p.m. on Tuesday before the annual Clarendon Mardi Gras Parade kicks off just one block up.
The restaurant will offer $5 NOLA-style specials with N’awlins cocktails, Abita beer drafts and Creole and Cajun dishes like red beans and rice, and jambalaya. There will also be beignets and king cake slices for $2 each. Musician Nick Adde will perform live.
The parade steps off at 7 p.m. at Wilson Boulevard and N. Barton Street and proceeds up Wilson Boulevard to N. Irving Street. There will be floats, bands, decorated vehicles and marchers. The chain also has a location in Bethesda.
Luke’s Lobster opens in Farragut Square on Friday
Luke’s Lobster will open its third restaurant in D.C. at 800 17th St. NW on Friday.
The New York-based chain will offer samples of its lobster mac and cheese, and will give customers who visit the restaurant during opening weekend a chance to win free food for a year.
The eatery, which opened its first D.C. in early 2011, also has locations in Penn Quarter and Georgetown. The chain, which reaches from Maine to Florida and as far west as Las Vegas, sells lobster rolls, as well as other lobster and shrimp dishes. It also has six restaurants in Japan.
The Farragut Square store will be open from 11 a.m.-9 p.m. daily.
Red’s Table introduces new winter brunch menu
Red’s Table, 11150 South Lakes Drive, Reston, recently introduced a new seasonal brunch menu, which is available Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m.-4 p.m.
The new a la carte brunch features dishes with ingredients from growers and producers throughout the Mid-Atlantic.
Highlights include soba and shrimp salad with fried shrimp, Japanese soba noodles, sesame-soy vinaigrette, cabbage, mandarin oranges and cashews; roasted cauliflower soup with shallots and EVOO; a mushroom and rolled oat “burger” with whole-grain mustard aioli, Swiss cheese and caramelized onion; Red’s fried chicken sandwich with white cheddar cheese, chipotle ranch, bacon, B&B pickles and greens; and a grilled steak salad with blue cheese, balsamic vinaigrette, roasted sweet potato and radishes.
Other new additions include ricotta beignets, lemon and poppy seed donut holes with caramel; griddle cakes with a choice of house-made sausage or Applewood smoked bacon; a frittata, open-faced omelet with spinach, potatoes, mushrooms, cheddar cheese and green onions topped with dressed greens and hollandaise; chicken and waffles, a house-made Belgian waffle with southern fried chicken tenders and local honey; steak and eggs any style with toast and home fries; fried shrimp and grits with poached egg, stone ground grits, linquiça sausage and onion jus; corned beef or crab cake benedict with two poached eggs served on buttermilk biscuits with spicy hollandaise and home fries; and biscuits and gravy with house-made biscuits, two poached eggs and maple-sage sausage gravy served in a cast iron skillet.
Kid-friendly dishes include the kid scramble with bacon or sausage; kid Belgian waffle or griddlecakes with bacon or sausage; kid’s cheesy pasta; chicken tenders; grilled cheese; and cheese burger. Children ages 12 and younger dine free with the purchase of an adult brunch entrée.
Diners can also order the restaurant’s Make Your Own Mimosa and Bloody Mary Bar with six kinds of fresh juice, three varieties of bloody Mary mix, an assortment of sauces and garnishes for $6 per drink.
Brunch items range from $4-$17, and kids’ menu items range from $7-$8. Brunch is served Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m.-4 p.m.
Cat Cora, Alex McCoy to open eateries in Captial One Arena
Iron Chef Cat Cora and Alex McCoy, who owns Duke’s Grocery, Alfie’s and Lucky Bun, will bring new concepts Capital One Arena, formerly the Verizon Center, when it undergoes a $40 million renovation this fall.
Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns the arena, announced the renovations last weekend, but did not provide details on the new eateries.
The arena’s upgrade will include all new padded seats with cup holders throughout the stadium, revamped concessions and concourses and other changes including a state-of-the-art sound system, new digital displays and two new premium lounges. The existing PwC Club will also get an upgrade and will be open to everyone
The renovation is expected to begin at the end of the current NBA and NHL seasons, and be finished in the fall.
Alexandria Restaurant Partners buys majority of Theismann’s
Alexandria Restaurant Partners, which owns several restaurants in Alexandria and Arlington including The Majestic, Virtue Feed & Grain, Vola’s Dockside Grille, Lena’s and Palette 22, is acquiring an equity interest in Theismann’s Restaurant and Bar, 1800 Diagonal Road, Alexandria, near the King Street Metro. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Current owners Joe Theismann, the former NFL MVP and Super Bowl-winning quarterback, and Vern Grandgeorge said the deal is a transition plan for the restaurant, which has opened in Old Town in 1986.
“It’s just like football,” Theismann said in a statement. “Focus on winning today, but always look towards the future too. What are the right moves to strengthen the team nextt year and beyond?”
Grandgeorge will remain an equity partner and ARP will keep the staff and general manager Jordan Willis. The name will also remain on the 8,000 square-foot restaurant that seats 288.
“This is a very successful restaurant, so we want to keep the team and the momentum they’ve built,” said ARP partner Scott Shaw in a statement. “We all agree there are some exciting ways to evolve the concept, but we will do it together, and thoughtfully.”
The deal comes as ARP is also working to open Mia’s Italian Kitchen at 100 King St., the former site of Carluccio’s, near the Old Town waterfront.
This post was updated Feb. 14 to reflect Feb. 22 as the updated opening date of Maison Keyser’s Massachusetts Avenue location.
Editor-in-Chief Mark Heckathorn is a journalist, movie buff and foodie. He oversees DC on Heels editorial operations as well as strategic planning and staff development. Reach him with story ideas or suggestions at dcoheditor (at) gmail (dot) com.