Andy Shallal to Announce Opening of Busboys and Poets in Anacostia

• November 14, 2014

by UrbanTurf Staff

Back in 2012, UrbanTurf attended a meeting in which River East Emerging Leaders (r.e.e.l.) brought together a panel of DC restaurateurs to Historic Anacostia to discuss the restaurant business.

But all eyes that night were on Busboys and Poets owner Andy Shallal.

“So, are you going to do it? Are you opening a Busboys in Anacostia?” asked the moderator.

“I am going to open a Busboys and Poets east of the river,” said Shallal, to an eruption of cheers. “When is the question.”

Two years later, that question appears to have an answer. The City Paper reports that Shallal told a group attending a dinner on Thursday night that he will formally announce the location this coming Tuesday.

The Washington Post reported back in May that Shallal had signed a letter of intent for a location at a former furniture store at 2004-2010 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE (map). The plan was for a restaurant on the first floor, and a training program for culinary students on the second. The location and the layout don’t appear to have changed.

Busboys, like Whole Foods, has been known as a harbinger of development and gentrification, though Shallal has told UrbanTurf over the years that he believes it is “short-sighted” to initiate development without respecting the history of a neighborhood. In 2012, he assured the forum’s audience that when he expanded into Anacostia, he would do so in a respectful way.

No details on when the location will open, but we will likely know more on Tuesday.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/andy_shallal_to_formally_announce_opening_of_busboys_and_poets_in_anacostia/9222