Neighborhood Eats: DC Reynolds Opens, Toki/Acqua al 2 Chefs Team Up

• March 22nd 2012

by Rebecca Cooper

Despite the fact that it technically begins today, spring has already been gracing the DC area for the past couple of weeks, which has us thinking two things: patios and new restaurants.

Open: DC Reynolds, the much-anticipated Petworth tavern at 3628 Georgia Avenue NW, soft-opened last night and hopes to have its 75-person patio fully functional by this weekend. The bar is pouring 10 beers on tap, many of them local, and serving comfort food such as DC Brau-soaked bratwurst, meatloaf, and buttermilk biscuit fried chicken, according to Thrillist. If you’re dying for some outdoor refreshment, be sure to grab a spot at one of the picnic tables on Friday, though this weekend’s rainy forecast doesn’t look too conducive to imbibing al fresco.

Today also marks opening day for Sugar Emporium, the sweets-and-sandwich counter in the front of Cleveland Park farm-to-table neighborhood spot Ripple. The sweets shop at 3417 Connecticut Avenue NW will offer meringues, brownies, and other confections, as well as a variety of house-made ice creams. There are also some inventive ice cream sandwich options, such as maple bacon ice cream on waffles, or Valrohna chocolate ice cream in between peanut butter cookies. The counter will also offer artisanal sandwiches and snacks featuring some of Ripple’s popular locally-sourced ingredients, including pork terrines, prosciutto and smoked Mackerel.

New York tapas favorite Boqueria made its DC debut at 1837 M Street NW last week, launching dinner service with its menu of Spanish favorites such as Catalan spinach, croquetas de jamon, tomato bread, and the always satisfying patatas bravas. The patio at the Dupont Circle restaurant isn’t ready just yet, but a glass of sangria and a snack can be enjoyed inside.

Hungry diners looking for a fix from the other side of Europe will be pleased to hear that Czech cuisine joint Bistro Bohem opened to the public last weekend in Shaw. With Bohemian-inspired dishes such as garlic soup, goulash, and pierogi — not to mention a fondness for absinthe in its cocktails — the newest addition to Florida Avenue is sure to become a neighborhood favorite.

Opening…Eventually: Details are slowly emerging about SŪNA, the exciting collaboration between Toki Underground chefs Erik Bruner-Yang and Johnny Spero and Acqua Al 2’s Ari Gejdenson. SŪNA will be located in Eastern Market, Bruner-Yang tells Eater DC and the kitchen, which will be headed up by Spero, will highlight the chef’s take on modern, progressive cuisine, and will focus on local, sustainable ingredients. The three are hoping to have the restaurant open by Winter 2012.

Looks like 14th Street NW patrons will have two concepts from the Matchbox family to choose from by early next year. The group behind the successful local pizza restaurants officially announced that they’ll open a second location of their other concept, Ted’s Bulletin at the apartment complex The District on 14th Street. (It’ll actually be just down the street from the Matchbox that should be opening in a few months’ time.) This Ted’s will have a similar homestyle menu of comfort food and soda fountain favorites, but also a lot more seating than the original Barrack’s Row location, as well as an expanded bakery.

Expanding: Fresh off the expansion of its Dupont Circle location, Hank’s Oyster Bar in Alexandria will begin an expansion into its neighboring storefront at 1024 King Street in Old Town. The bar’s size will increase by about 30 seats, and the restaurant seating will increase by about 20, Hank’s owner Jamie Leeds tells the Washington Post. The chef hopes to offer some additional menu items, including oyster stew and steamed clams and shrimp. The new space should be ready this fall.

Kitchen Reopens: Good news for Bar Pilar bar flies — food is back after the kitchen renovation, at least at the downstairs bar, according to Washington City Paper’s Young & Hungry blog. It’ll still be a few more weeks until the 14th Street bar (map) starts serving up full meals in the new upstairs dining room, but the kitchen has started turning out the same kind of seasonal noshes it featured before the renovation.

Events: Chances are you’re already shut out of the Living Social pop-up preview of SUNA that runs through Sunday, so here’s an alternative: the next installment of food truck phenomenon UnCurbed DC is this weekend, and this time it’s featuring a five-course dinner and arts venue-dance party at a vacant building in Dupont Circle: 1134 19th Street NW to be exact. Many of the $47 tickets for the dinner — which will feature courses from five DC food trucks along with beer pairings — have sold, but there are still $10 tickets available for the “after dark” portion of the evening featuring a DJ, art, and light show. There are also brunch tickets still available for $30.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/neighborhood_eats_dc_reynolds_opens_toki_team_members_to_open_suna/5316.