Neighborhood Eats: Dremo’s Looks to DC, Charcuterie Galore, Ray's Too Closes

• October 13th 2011

by Rebecca Cooper

Even with so many restaurant openings last week, there's still a bunch of restaurant and bar news to write about this week in Neighborhood Eats.

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Opening…eventually: The folks behind the now defunct Dr. Dremo’s are setting their sites on DC. They have given up on opening a new Arlington location of the the former beer and pool mecca, after searching in vain for more than two years for a new site. Arlington’s loss is the District's gain, however; former Dremo's owner Andrew Stewart tells Neighborhood Eats they are "looking to open a huge bar in DC with an in-house brewery." An investor tells UrbanTurf that the new space will not be called Dr. Dremo’s, and both Stewart and the investor were mum on additional details, such as the location of the new venue. We’re thinking there could be some spaces on H Street or elsewhere in Northeast that would be cavernous enough to house a spacious bar similar to the old Courthouse nightlife favorite.

In charcuterie news, two new shops are planned for DC. First, sausage-making veteran Jamie Stachowski is planning to open a 1,000 square-foot butcher shop in Georgetown, according to WBJ’s Missy Frederick. The former Thirsty Bernie’s chef’s meats are available at restaurants and markets throughout the area, and will soon be available for retail in the former Griffin Market space at 1425 28th St. NW (map).

On the other side of town, Three Little Pigs charcuterie and salumi is under construction at 5111 Georgia Ave NW (map). The sample menu on their website includes a porchetta, caramelized onion, and arugula sandwich, as well as pork rillettes, and house-made sodas in flavors such as yuzu ginger and licorice. The opening date is still up in the air, but they do say they’ll be stocking hams and turkeys for purchase in time for the holidays.

Open: Pho Bar & Grill opened its doors at 1360 H St. NE on Oct. 11, serving the eponymous Vietnamese noodle soup, as well as banh mi and dumplings from 11:30 a.m. until the wee hours (on weekends, at least). The spot is also planning to open a bar upstairs, although H Street Great Street notes they haven’t gotten their liquor license yet.

Maybe Not Opening: Volt chef Bryan Voltaggio’s ambitious Eataly-esque North Market Kitchen in Frederick is on hold for now, due to what was going to be an exorbitantly high up-front cost for water and sewage fees. Voltaggio’s co-owner told WaPo’s Tim Carman that she wanted to avoid making the same mistake as they did with Volt, when they had to lay out $90,000 for similar fees before opening. The fees for North Market Kitchen, which was to be located in a former supermarket in downtown Frederick, are more than $200,000.

Closed: Ray’s Hell Burger Too, the sit-down Hell Burger that served alcoholic beverages and a wider range of game burgers than the original Ray's Hell Burger, has closed, to be replaced with a new “surprise” concept. Ray’s owner Michael Landrum tells ARLNow he doesn’t know exactly what the new restaurant at 1713 Wilson Blvd will be, but says it will not be Ray’s the Catch, the fish restaurant idea he floated last year. The move comes just weeks after Landrum opened Ray’s to the Third on practically the same block as the two burger joints.

Adams Morgan’s Bistro 18 has closed and will turn into a second location for Jamaican Joe’s jerk chicken joint. The store’s existing location is at 928 U St. NW, and the new establishment at 2420 18th St. NW (map) is expecting to open next week.

Tapped out: Sad news for D’Vines and De Vinos patrons: the beer and wine stores in Columbia Heights and Adams Morgan have stopped filling beer growlers. DC’s ABRA (Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration) shut down the growler operations because the filling of the beer jugs for takeout is only allowable with a beer manufacturer's license, not a retail license. Owner George Aguilar tells the City Paper's Young & Hungry column that he hopes to hire an attorney to see if there’s anything he can do to get the growlers OK'ed.

Events: For Asian food lovers in search of the perfect bao -- steamed, filled buns -- H Street NE’s Toki Underground will be the place to be this weekend. The ramen shop will hold a pop-up restaurant Friday and Saturday featuring several types of bao from New York visitor and Baohaus chef Eddie Huang; Huang and Toki chef Erik Bruner-Yang will work the kitchen together starting at 7 p.m. Friday and 5 p.m. Saturday. Get there early if you want that bao.

For a smaller bite, you can hit up this weekend’s Bacon Week at Restaurant 3 at 2950 Clarendon Blvd. in Clarendon. The restaurant will have menu items [PDF], events and even drinks featuring their house-made bacon, starting tonight. Stop in to the bar or restaurant for some bacon on a stick, bacon-wrapped wings, or a bacon martini. (Last year, they went through dozens of gallons of bacon vodka, owner Jon Williams says.)

Rebecca Cooper is a freelance journalist and avid eater that has contributed to TBD, DCist, and Washingtonian. If you have any tips about restaurant or bars openings or closings, email Rebecca at coopscoop@gmail.com.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/neighborhood_eats_dremos_looks_to_dc_charcuterie_galore_pho_bar_grill/4343.