Neighborhood Eats: Drafting Table, Satellite Room Open, Tragara Closes

• October 11th 2012

by Rebecca Cooper

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Two of UrbanTurf’s fall restaurant openings to watch have already happened — Drafting Table and Fuego Cocina and Tequileria are now open for business — but those openings don’t distract from the slew of other restaurant news this week.

Open: The team behind the growing Cava empire opened another Cava Grill in Tenleytown last week, offering up their Mediterranean pita sandwiches and rice bowls at 4237 Wisconsin Avenue NW. They’re making some changes, says managing partner Brett Schulman, including menus posted on chalkboards that will allow the company’s chef, Dimitri Moshovitis, to easily make seasonal changes. They’re open daily from 11am to 10pm.

Döner Bistro is now open, and survived its first Adams Morgan late night on October 5, according to staff. The casual eatery features the traditional döner kebab sandwich popular in Germany and other parts of Europe, as well as currywurst, falafel and more than 30 German beers. Bonus: for dessert, you can get your hands on some German Kinder bars and Haribo gummy bears. Döner Bistro is located at 1654 Columbia Road NW and is open from 11am to 11pm Sunday to Thursday, and until 3am on Friday and Saturday.

Satellite Room, the newest venture from the masterminds behind the Gibson, the Brixton, American Ice Company and others is now open next to the 9:30 Club at 2047 9th Street NW. The “1960s style diner” will serve comfort food including chicken fried steak, patty melts and meat loaf, as well as four varieties of tacos, Best Bites Blog reports. There is also a heated patio and alcoholic milkshakes, which should make it a clutch stop for before and after 9:30 shows.

Maddy’s Tap Room soft-opened Monday at 1100 13th Street NW in Logan Circle, serving up what it calls “Texican” cuisine incluing a chorizo burger, yucca fries and “guacamole on a half shell.” They’re pouring 40 beers on tap and also offer a selection of whiskies, scotches and bourbons, according to their Facebook page.

Opening Soon: Seemingly always in the news lately, Heritage India confirmed to Eater this week that they are opening a new Dupont Circle location at 1633 P Street NW in addition to their existing Georgetown spot and planned Pennsylvania Ave NW location. They’re hoping to open up by this weekend, a staff member tells Eater, although the Pennsylvania Avenue location won’t open for another few weeks.

Opening eventually: Tough-talking chef R.J. Cooper has released more details about his planned new restaurant in the Mosaic District in Merrifield, Va. It will be called Gypsy Soul, feature “interactive, farm-to-table” cuisine that’s “not cheap but not expensive either,” and include a rooftop with three wood burning grills, according to what the chef posted on DonRockwell.com. The projected opening is vague — sometime in 2013, Cooper writes.

Rose’s Luxury, a new price-fixed restaurant melding Japanese, Korean, French, Italian and Southern cuisines, will open on Barracks Row in the spring of 2013, Young & Hungry reports. For $46, diners will get a choice of items in four courses plus a family-style meat course. The chef, Aaron Silverman, has a resume that includes time at 2941 in Falls Church and Momofuku Noodle Bar in New York. The two-story space at 717 8th Street SE will have an enclosed garden, open kitchen and bars on both levels.

Closing: Tragara, a quarter-century veteran of the Bethesda dining scene, will close at the end of the month due to the owner’s health problems, Bethesda Magazine reports. The Italian restaurant at 4935 Cordell Avenue in Bethesda will make way for 4935 Bar & Kitchen, a restaurant owned and operated by chef Ashish Alfred, a Maryland native and graduate of New York’s French Culinary Institute. Alfred plans to continue to use the spacious second floor as a special event space, but also operate it as a gastropub when it’s not reserved, Bethesda Magazine reports. Opening is projected for December of January.

Events: The beer event of all beer events is scheduled for this weekend at Yards Park, as the folks from Neighborhood Restaurant Group get ready to put on the Snallygaster Beer Jamboree. The festival will include more than 100 beers, including several rare cask ales, as well as food and live music. Advance tickets are available for $25 (or $50 if you want early access to all that beery deliciousness) or admission will be $5 at the door with the option to pay $1 per ticket for beer and food tastings.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/neighborhood_eats_drafting_table_satellite_room_open_tragara_closes/6145.