Just like the Bloomingdale neighborhood has transitioned from an area of drugs, gangs and prostitutes to farmers markets, hipsters and artists, Big Bear Café, 1700 First St. NW, has transitioned from a coffee shop to a restaurant serving breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Big Bear Cafe has a cobblestone patio surrounded by herb and flower beds and a rustic look inside.
(Photos: Mark Heckathorn/DC on Heels)

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Named for the Jewish-Italian corner store that once filled the building – and more recently a liquor store – Stu Davenport opened Big Bear Café in 2007. Breakfast and lunch were served in a comfortable space with high ceilings, exposed brick walls and rough wood floors with big windows from a counter. There are tables inside for those who want to dine in. Outside, a cobblestone patio is surrounded by flowering fruit and apple trees and herb and flower gardens that blocks city traffic for those who want to dine al fresco.

Later, family meals were served on Sundays and light meals like chili were added in the evening about two years ago.

But earlier this year, Davenport hired James Beard Award semi finalist chef Quentin Frye to take over the kitchen and Robert Elias as the new general manager and beverage manager. The two came most recently from José Andrés’ Oyamel. Prior to Oyamel, Frye, who’s originally from Texas, co-owned Salt Kitchen and Tasting Bar — where he was named the 2012 Hawaii Rising Star Sustainability Chef by Star Chef magazine and in 2013 he was nominated for the James Beard Rising Star Award in 2013 — and Cocina Mexican in Hawaii, which he still owns. Elias managed restaurants including a steakhouse in Rhode Island where he is from.

While counter service continues for breakfast and lunch seven days a week with dishes like Frye’s pressed kimchi reuben sandwich with beef pastrami, house-made kimchi, secret sauce and gruyère on Lyon Bakery rye bread or the portabella melt with mild goat cheese, sprouts and arugula pesto. There’s also French pressed coffee.

But with Frye on board, the dinner menu has evolved into one that uses fresh, local ingredients whenever possible. It was in Hawaii where he really got involved in farm-to-table dining movement, working with local farmers and ranchers, because in the islands if it wasn’t local, it had to be shipped in on a boat. At Big Bear, all the proteins are local except the Prince Edward Island mussels. Pigs, lambs and fish come in whole every week and are butchered in the basement prep kitchen.

Appetizers include pork rillette (clockwise from top left), headcheese croquettes, mussels and roasted beet salad.
(Photos: Mark Heckathorn/DC on Heels)

During a visit last week, we were treated to a sampling of Frye’s dishes. We started with the small plates: spicy pork rillette ($8) with serrano peppers, espellette and spicy mustard on toast; headcheese croquettes ($8) (meat from the head of a pig) with fried egg aioli, grilled onions and piquillo peppers; PEI mussels ($11) charred in lemon broth and vermouth served with rusitco bread; and roasted local beet salad ($9) with baby arugula, fennel pollen yogurt, oranges, granola and citronelle. The rillette – basically a pate made with meat — was spicy, but tasty. The orange and yogurt added brightness to the earthy beets in the salad; the croquettes were crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside; and while I don’t like mussels, my guest managed to slurp down every last one.

Then we moved onto the entrees. We started with the potato gnocchi ($18) with pulled pork rapini, oyster mushrooms, charred tomatoes and huitlacoche – a fungus that grows on corn and is also known as corn truffle – puree. This was a tasty and filling dish and my favorite. Next we had the pan roasted halibut ($21) with asparagus, French fingerling potatoes, tiny carrots and a tomato conserve that was full of flavor. Finally, we tried the simple chicken ($15) with roasted sunchokes, fennel, Brussels sprouts, baby carrots and grapefruit chimichurri.

New entrees and sides at Big Bear Cafe include gnocci (clockwise from top left), pan roasted halibut, simple chicken and skillet macaroni and cheese. (Photos: Mark Heckathorn/DC on Heels)

For a side we had skillet macaroni and cheese ($9) made with Shelburne Farms aged cheddar cheese that was ooey and gooey full of cheese and topped with breadcrumbs.

We finished with cookies and milk ($7) with three huge cookies – espresso chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin and my favorite, snickerdoodle.

The mussels and beet salad are fixtures on the appetizer menu, while the simple chicken, a half-pound burger and risotto with farro, Le Bocage Farms mushrooms, grana padano, preserved lemon, salad rojo and dinosaur kale are permanent entrees. The rest will change seasonally, sometimes daily, depending on what is available. Frye is making his own sausage, sauerkraut and pickled vegetables and curing his own bacon and fish. Entreés cost $14-$26.

At the bar, Elias has created an artisan cocktail, wine and beer list that perfectly pairs with the menu.

Big Bear is open 7 a.m-9 p.m. Monday through Thrusday, 7 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday, 7:30 a.m.-11 p.m. Satuday and 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday.

Former Hill Country Barbecue pitmaster Rob Sonderman recently opened his own BBQ joint in the Bloomingdale neighborhood. The DCity Smokehouse carryout opened about three weeks ago at 8 Florida Ave. NW, sharing its kitchen with Revive Catering.

Pitmaster Rob Souderman at the DCity Smokehouse smoker. (Photo: Mark Heckathorn/DC on Heels)

The Revive owners used to sell carryout chicken and waffles and fried fish platters there, but closed the take-out more than a year ago because they didn’t have anyone to run the space. Sonderman, who lives in the neighborhood, said he found the space by responding to a help wanted ad.

DCity Smokehouse kept the chicken and red velvet waffles with maple bourbon syrup, crispy catfish sandwich and a few of the other soul food favorites, but added smoked brisket, pork, turkey, ribs and wings. Sandwiches include brisket with crispy fried onions and house made pickles; smoked chopped pork with creamy red chile slaw; the Meaty Palmer with smoked turkey and pork belly, smashed avocado and jalapeno aioli; red chile marinated grilled chicken with smashed avocado, fresh herbs, queso fresco and chipolte aioli; shrimp po’ boys; and burgers. Sandwiches range from $8.50-$12.

House specialties include meat platters with chopped meat and pork ribs, pit-smoked wings and a fried seafood platter. They range from $10-$18. Sides include hush puppies, crispy Brussels sprouts, BBQ pinto beans, green chile cheddar grits, smoky brisket chili, braised greens, red chile coleslaw, potato salad and house-made pickles. All sides are $3 except the pickles, which sell for $1.

A sampling of the dishes at DCity Smokehouse. (Photo: Mark Heckathorn/DC on Heels)

Sonderman says everything is smoked on site with hickory and cherry wood from Virginia. National beef brisket and Smithfield pork shoulder are smoked overnight. Most of the other meats are smoked four to five hours, except the wings that smoke for 2 1/2 hours.

A D.C. native, Sonderman attended the Culinary Institute of America and previously cooked at Craigie on Main in Boston as well as a country club there before cooking 2 1/2 years at Hill County. He also did externships at Bistro Bis and Vidalia here in D.C.

“My experience is mostly fine dining,” Sonderman told DC on Heels. But once he started cooking BBQ, he was in love. His mother’s side of the family is from central Texas and his dad’s side is from the St. Louis area. “My style is a conglomeration of what I tasted around. Wherever I found a barbecue place, I try it,” Sonderman says. “I’ve tried barbecue all over the country.”

Sonderman uses a dry rub. “That’s the only way to cook real barbecue,” he said. “Then sauce on the side.” His meats are dry rubbed with three different rubs — one for the pork, another for the brisket and a completely different one for the wings — then smoked.

The dining room at DCity Smokehouse may be little, but the flavor is big.(Photo: Urban Daddy)

It is only a few doors down from North Capitol Street on Florida Avenue, but only street parking and five seats at the counter, so it is primarily a carryout spot. And there isn’t a lighted sign, so look for the Revive sign. DCity Smokehouse is open noon-8 p.m Tuesday-Saturday.

Restauranteur and Food Network star Bobby Flay will be at the opening of his new Bobby’s Burger Palace in Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda next Tuesday, Oct. 22. It is the 16th location for his burger chain.

Bobby Flay at the opening of one of his Bobby’s Burger Palaces. (Photo: Bobby’s Burger Palace)

Flay will open the doors to his newest restaurant and greet customers at noon. He will sign autographs and be available for photos.

The menu offers six-ounce burgers with 10 topping combinations and any of the patties, which can be “crunchified” with potato chips, or made with ground turkey or chicken breast instead of beef.

The burger chain has two other locations in Maryland — College Park and at the Maryland Live! Casino in Arundal Mills — as well as This is the third Bobby’s Burger Palace for Maryland—as well as one at 2121 K St. NW and another at Potomac Mills. Another is planned for Baltimore’s Towson Square.

In other burger news, Smashburger, which opened a restaurant at 1739 Connecticut Ave. NW in Dupont in September and another at 10160 Fairfax Blvd. in Fairfax, will open additional locations. One at the Shops at Seneca Meadows, 20640 Seneca Meadows Parkway, Suite D1 in Germantown is set to open next Wednesday, Oct. 23. Two Virginia locations — Washington and Annandale Roads in Falls Church, and Leesburg Pike and Westwood Center Drive in Vienna — along with another at 4903 Cordell Ave., Bethesda, are slated to open in December.

City Tap House to replace 901 Restaurant

City Tap House will move into the former 901 Restaurant. (Photos: PoPville.com)

Philadelphia-based City Tap House is opening mid-November at 901 I St. NW, where 901 Restaurant and Bar had been.

The D.C. location will be similar to the Philadelphia restaurant with “an elevated American pub fare and gourmet brick oven pizza menu,” according to the eatery’s website. The online menu includes blue crab mac and cheese, charred octopus, mussels, seven brick oven pizzas and daily supper specials. It will have a rustic, comfortable dining and bar setting adjacent to an open kitchen.

The craft-beer focused bar and restaurant will serve microbrews from around the country and the world with 60 rotating craft beers on tap plus a lengthy bottle list. There will also be seasonal outdoor dining on a patio.

The group behind City Tap House has Public House and Harrington’s Pub and Kitchen in National Harbor.

Sandoval names new corporate pastry chef

Chef Jose Luis Flores (Photo: Alma de Cuba Restaurant)

Chef Richard Sandoval has hired Jose Luis Flores as the new corporate pastry chef of Richard Sandoval Restaurants. Flores will oversee the dessert menus for all of Sandoval’s Washington restaurants including Zengo, Masa 14 and both El Centro D.F. locations, plus the upcoming Toro Toro.

In 2010, Flores joined Richard Sandoval Restaurants to serve as the executive chef at Zengo New York. His role was expanded to oversee the kitchen at Toro Toro, Sandoval’s Pan-Latin steakhouse in Miami.

Born in 1973 in a small town outside of Mexico City, Flores’s grandmother was a cook for wealthy families and would often bring home ingredients that were exotic to the Mexican pantry, piquing Flores’s culinary curiosity. After losing his father at the age of eight, he took over cooking for his family under the tutelage of his mother. When he turned 16, Flores decided to make cooking his career and found a job as a dishwasher in a local restaurant. Eventually he moved his family to New York City and began working at the China Grill in Manhattan where he eventually became head pastry chef.

He later partnered with Chef Douglas Rodriguez, taking on the responsibility of corporate executive chef & pastry chef at the award-winning restaurants Patria in New York, Alma de Cuba in Philadelphia, Deseo in Scottsdale, Ola Miami and D Rodriguez Cuba in Miami.

Prior to joining Sandoval, Flores worked for Emilio and Gloria Estefan under the restaurant group cb5. Together they opened Bongos Cuban Café at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood. Flores is the author of the cookbook Dulce: Desserts in the Latin American Tradition. It is one of the first cookbooks to be devoted to Latin-America sweets.

Flores trained at the Edwal Notter Confectionary School, as well as Canainpa, the National Industry of Bread in Mexico City.

New desserts will include Coconut Profiteroles, cream puffs, toasted coconut ice cream, Manjar Blanco and chocolate sauce at Zengo; Chocolate Terrine Masa 14, triple-layered deep chocolate brownie cake, dark, milk and white chocolate and black plum sauce at Masa 14, as well as the Banana Tres Leches, passion fruit sauce and toasted soft meringue at El Centro D.F. and El Centro D.F. Georgetown.

The Heights will close to remodel Oct. 28-Nov. 1. (Photo: PoPville.com)

The Heights to Close for Remodel

The Heights in Columbia Heights will close after Oct. 27 for a five-day makeover before opening with a new chef.

EatWell DC, which owns The Heights along with others including The Pig, Logan Tavern, Grillfish and Commissary said it will temporarily close The Heights to remodel it.

When it reopens, Chef Kerry Tate, formerly of Slate Wine Bar, will be at the helm with a focus on local dishes and ingredients sourced from the restaurant group’s farm in La Plata, Md. New dishes will include maple-brined pork tenderloin with cider-Dijon pan sauce and fried oysters with jicama kimchee. The beverage program will also be overhauled with “unique beers” and handmade cocktails.

In advance of the closure, the restaurant is throwing a sale on its closing day with 50 percent off all food and drinks. Also look for all-night happy hour in the lounge when it reopens, set for Nov. 1, and a garden party with half-price beer that weekend.

100 Montaditos opens in Bethesda

100 Montaditos opened Oct. 12 in Bethesda. (Photo: Patch)

Spanish chain restaurant 100 Montaditos opened Saturday, Oct. 12, in the former Green Papaya space at 4922 Elm St., Bethesda.

A montadito is tapa-sized roll filled with the ingredients such as Spanish ham, chicken, cheese or vegetables. Montaditos are essentially charming bite-sized finger food and can be served hot or cold. About half of the restaurant’s ingredients will come from Spain.

The space has been completely remodeled with dark salmon-colored walls covered with old-time photographs of Spanish buildings, street scenes and monuments in antique frames. A white marble-topped bar rings the right side of the restaurant and there is a 100 Montaditos sign made with Spanish tile at the entrance. The tables and chair were imported from Spain. It seats 83 people inside and 12 outside.

There are 100 montaditos, including dessert montaditos, that range from $1-$2.50; entrees of French fries or brava fries (potato wedges) are $1.50 for a small or $3 for a large; tapas including iberico ham, iberico ham and manchego cheese, herb chicken wings, fried clam strips and calamari are $5; and Ceasar, Mediteranean, arugala goat cheese and Asain salads are $5. Every Wednesday is Dollarmania with $1 montaditos, appetizers and soft drinks. Spanish mixers, beer, wine, larger appetizers and salads are $2. You can also order three samplers that include six different montaditos for $8 or two for $14.

While some of the international chain’s restaurants have counter-service, this location will have wait staff. This is the international chain’s first U.S. restaurant outside Florida, but there are plans to open several more U.S. locations Arlington and New York City.

TruckerBOO coming Oct. 25

The D.C. Food Truck Association is holding one last food truck festival at the Fairgrounds near National’s stadium this year with the return the Halloween-themed TruckerBOO on Oct. 25. In 2011, the last time TruckerBOO was held, participating trucks were decorated for Halloween.

More details to come!

Sophie’s Cuban Cuisine opens in Dupont

Sophie’s Cuban Cuisine opened in Dupont recently. (Photo: Shannon Morgan)

Sophie’s Cuban Cuisine opened this month at 1134 19th St. NW in the former Singapore Bistro space next to Science Club.

Sophie’s offers the experience of a bustling, fast-paced Cuban neighborhood restaurant with authentic tasty food made fresh all day from the highest quality ingredients, according to the restaurant’s website. Dishes include Cuban sandwiches, ropa vieja, ox tail stew, rice and beans, fried sweet and green plantains, beef patties, yuca and picadillo.

Owner James Lambert, a Reston native, hired general manager Carlos DiLaudo of Bethesda and head chef Ed Reynoso of Beltsville, Md., to help run the fast-casual dining eatery. The restaurant was started in Manhattan by the Luna family. They currently have eight restaurants in New York City. This is the first franchise.

The restaurant offers dine in, take out, pick up, delivery and catering. It is open Monday-Friday 10 a.m.-8 p.m.

Pub and the People coming to Bloomingdale

Pub and the People will open in this vacant building the Bloomingdale neighborhood by the end of the year. (Photo: Google Street View)

Construction is slated to begin at the end of the year with opening set for next summer of Pub and the People at 1648 N. Capitol St. NW in the Bloomingdale neighborhood. The building is currently vacant.

The pub/restaurant will be a neighborhood restaurant and bar with 70 seats inside and a potential for up to 100 outside. The largest patio in the area will also provide a view of the U.S. Capitol Building. Indoors, the space will resemble the city’s early pubs and restaurants with exposed brick and wood, one of the owners, who is also one of the owners of D.C. Reynolds told the the PoPville blog.

Chef Dan Dalcin, currently the sous chef at Black Salt in Palisades, will be the new restaurant’s chef. His menu will offer traditional American cuisine with influence from Southern, Southwestern, seafood, Asian and vegetarian cuisine. The restaurant will serve generous portions — no small plates here — using local ingredients when possible and some interesting new twists on old favorites. Drinks will include craft beers and cocktails with an emphasis on D.C,-based breweries and distilleries.

After almost 20 years in Union Station, B. Smith’s restaurant announced Friday it will close. Located in ornate East Hall, the restaurant was originally the presidential suite and hosted the king and queen of England in 1939. No reason was given for the closing and no closing date was announced, although phone calls were unanswered Friday night.

B. Smith’s Union Station main dining room. (Photo: B. Smith’s Restaurants)

The restaurant’s founder, Barbara “B.” Smith, plans to open more casual bistros in D.C. and other cities that will still serve Smith’s signature Southern fare along with more healthy options. “We are looking forward to new and exciting things that we can’t wait to announce!” said Smith in a press release. The restaurant was once a place to see and be seen. But the company acknowledged that the D.C. location had not kept up with the District’s rapidly evolving restaurant scene.

“These new locations will feature the same delicious southern cuisine that the restaurants have served for over 25 years in a more contemporary, high energy ‘bistro’ setting,” the company said. “The restaurants will also feature more options for the health conscious consumer.”

Smith built her empire on her Southern-themed cuisine and is also a former model, author, actress and host of radio and TV shows. B. Smith’s will keep its restaurants on West 46th Street in New York and a summer restaurant in Sag Harbor, Long Island.

Union Station is undergoing many changes as well, including addition of several quick food options in West Hall in addition to the basement food court, remodeling of the main hall due to the 2011 earthquake, the revamping of Columbus Plaza in front, remodeling of the main hall due to the 2011 earthquake, creation of a new bus terminal and a new H&M that opened Friday in the former Border’s bookstore location.

Isabella opening Ballston restaurant next summer

Top Chef All-Stars runner-up Mike Isabella will open a new Greek restaurant in the 4,700-square foot space at 4000 Wilson Blvd. in Ballston. Kapnos Taverna will open in summer 2014 as a sister restaurant to Kapnos, Isabella’s Northern Greek-inspired restaurant, which opened on the 14th Street Corridor in early July.

Chef Mike Isabella’s Kapnos Greek restaurant on 14th St. NW. (Photo: Mark Heckathorn/DC on Heels)

“Guests have been asking me to build a restaurant in Virginia or Maryland since we opened Graffiato in 2011. Kapnos has been wildly popular in its first few months, and we think this sister concept will be a great addition to the booming neighborhoods in Arlington,” Isabella said. “Next spring, our team will travel to Greece, and we plan to build the menu around reinterpretations of regional cuisine.”

The new restaurant will showcase dishes from the Cyclades, Peloponnese, Thessaloniki, Ionian Islands and Crete. While the Kapnos Taverna menu will include some dishes from Kapnos, there will be some noticeable differences including a weekday lunch, weekend brunch and a happy hour menu. Kapnos Taverna will have one rotating spit instead of two to roast whole chickens, lamb and pork shoulders.

The bar will include up to 10 cocktails on tap and the largest wine selection at any of Isabella’s restaurants. More than 200 bottles will be displayed in a two-story glass enclosed case built to stretch from the first floor to the mezzanine. The 185-seat restaurant will also feature a 40-seat seasonal outdoor patio.

Brothers George and Nick Pagonis – business partners and respective chef de cuisine and general manager at Kapnos – will help Isabella open and oversee Kapnos Taverna. Kapnos and Graffiato beverage director Taha Ismail will helm the bar program.

Ben’s Chili Bowl opening in Rosslyn

Ben’s Chili Bowl, which recently celebrated its 55th anniversary, has signed a lease to take over the original Ray’s Hell Burger location at 1725 Wilson Blvd. in Rosslyn.

The original Ben’s Chili Bowl on U Street NW. (Photo: Ben’s Chili Bowl)

According to a post on the restaurant’s blog, the new location will open in early 2014. It will open before another planned location at 1001 H St. NE because the H Street building did not previously house a restaurant and will take more work to open late spring or early summer. The H Street location was previously George’s Place Men’s Wear.

“With all of the love and support that D.C. residents have shown us spanning the decades, we are very conscious and thankful for those customers that drive in from Maryland and those that cross the bridges from Virginia to come to Ben’s,” the post said. “In our efforts to bring the food and experience that you come to U St for closer to you, we have decided to cross the bridge ourselves and bring a Ben’s Chili Bowl to you in Rosslyn.”

Co-owner Nizam Ali told the Washington Business Journal that Ben’s was looking for a location in Clarendon, but it wasn’t panning out.

It’s good news for those in Rosslyn who are looking for some late-night food from the iconic eatery that has served President Obama and Bill Cosby. (Obama ate at Ray’s, too.) The Rosslyn location is in a plaza with Pho 75 and others, and has parking. Like the other Ben’s locations at FedEx Field and Nationals Park, it may not have the history of the U Street original, but it will definitely have the chili fries. But will people be willing to pay $5.50 for a half smoke without the ambience?

Sona Creamery and Wine Bar to open in Eastern Market

Conan and Genevieve O’Sullivan will open Sona Creamery and Wine Bar, the District’s only onsite creamery, at 660 Pennsylvania Ave. SE, in the former MotoFoto and Sprint storefronts this fall.

Sona Creamery and Wine Bar will open in Eastern Market where Sprint and MotoFoto stores were. (Photo: The Georgetowner)

The new cheese and wine shop will offer customers the opportunities to taste and learn about cheese and wine in a cafe and through classes. It will also ship cheese nationwide. The pair have been working five years to open a shop. They have been making cheese for seven years. Conan completed the dairy program at Cal Poly University in San Luis Obispo, Calif. His wife has been a “master” baker and cook since age 11.

When it opens, passersby will be able to peer into the front windows and see cheeses being made, while other cheeses age in the creamery’s two aging caves. On the other side of the space will be the wine bar, which will offer cheese and wine flights and specialty grilled cheeses, along with mac-and-cheese dishes.

Sticky Rice owners plan Mexican restaurant

Tony Lucca and Phil Rodriguez, who own Sticky Rice and 1905, plan to open an unnamed Mexican restaurant at 108 Rhode Island Ave. NW in the Bloomingdale neighborhood. The sit-down restaurant will serve Mexican food and Latin cocktails.

Rodriguez reportedly lives a block from the new location. There aren’t many details yet, but the goal is to open by next summer.

TruOrleans shuttered by city for tax problems

The troubled TruOrleans restaurant at 400 H St. NE was closed down by the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue last Tuesday because it owes more than $101,000 in sales and use taxes, penalties and interest since it opened in July 2011, according to a tax lien field with the city’s Recorder of Deeds office on July 12.

The cajun restaurant’s website says: “Attention: TruOrleans is no longer open. The building will go under construction and open as a new restaurant.” However, it isn’t clear if the message is from the restaurant or building owner.

But the restaurant’s tax problems are just one of its many troubles. In mid-July, a brawl erupted between employees and patrons over whether a party was overcharged on a nearly $1,000 tab. After the guests refused to pay and tried to leave without paying, a fight began then spilled out onto 4th Street NE and into the alleyway. Kitchen employees attacked a man, allegedly beat him with a broom and punched him. At least five police cars responded, and three restaurant employees were arrested — two were charged with simple assault and one with assault with a dangerous weapon.

Earlier this year, TruOrleans faced eviction and a liquor license protest. Landlord Darryl Pounds filed a lawsuit seeking to evict the restaurant last spring because it owned $40,773 in rent, taxes, late fees and more from September 2011 to March 2013. A hearing is scheduled for Sept. 18, according to court records. When TruOrleans’ liquor license came up for renewal in the spring, the Advisory Neighborhood Commission voted unanimously to protest it based on resident’s complaints and hired a lawyer to represent it at a Sept. 18 hearing.

The Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration cited TruOrleans for 18 violations over the last two years, including 10 this year. The violations include multiple noise complaints, operating beyond approved hours and not having an Alcoholic Beverage Control manager on duty. A March ABRA hearing focused on the restaurant’s failure to provide parking services (a violation of its agreement with neighbors).

Owner James “Tru” Redding has his own problems. The local developer, who also owns the Langdon strip joint/steakhouse Stadium Club, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on July 18. His company has been sued more than 20 times in the past year for breaches of contract. And he faces extradition to Nevada on charges of fraud — a felony. A warrant was issued in Clark County Courts for Redding’s arrest in May 2011 after he allegedly wrote three bad checks at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino totaling more than $75,000. D.C. police arrested Redding in March and a preliminary hearing is scheduled in Las Vegas for Nov. 20.