It’s all about the neighborhood
The southeast Asian / Thai-inspired restaurant coming to 845 Upshur Street NW is going to be named after a friend of Chef Alex McCoy (well, a friend's nickname, really). It's going to be called Alfie's.
Read MoreANC 4C07 Commissioner John-Paul Hayworth held a public meeting this evening with the three owners of the new southeast Asian restaurant coming to 845 Upshur Street, Marc Dosik, Alex McCoy and Hunter Thompson. The meeting was an opportunity to get resident input on a Community Agreement between the three owners and ANC 4C. Read more about the meeting after the break:
Read MoreI spoke with Alex McCoy, one of the three founders of the new new Southeast Asian restaurant coming to 845 Upshur Street, to talk more about his goals with the restaurant, some menu ideas, the ambiance, and his thoughts on Petworth. Read the interview and see some photos of menu ideas after the break:
Read MoreLocal DC chef and Food Network Star finalist Alex McCoy is opening up a Southeast Asian-themed restaurant with business partners Hunter Campbell (who owns Mason Inn restaurant in Glover Park) and local real estate agent Marc Dosik from Help-U-Sell.
Read MoreMy family decided to check out the new tavern on Upshur St called Slash Run. Owned by Jackie Greenbaum and Gordon Banks (who also own the restaurants El Chucho and Bar Charley), along with their partners Nick Nazdin and Ellen Cox, the new Tavern opened on Thursday to rave reviews from neighbors.
We went in early on a Sunday evening mainly to make sure our 4 year old had dinner at her regular time (don't upset the time schedule of a 4 year old, or you'll pay -- all day long). The atmosphere of the "hair glam/rock" burger joint is dark... Read the full review and see pictures after the break:
Read MoreI was down at Dunkin Donuts this afternoon with a friend when EMS, the Fire Department and MPD roll up and converge on the store. Five patrol cars and even a Segway officer responded to a passed out person, and after a few minutes they rolled a man out on a stretcher.
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If you hadn't heard or seen by now, Dunkin Donuts has opened at the corner of Quincy and Georgia Avenue, at the bottom of the Park Place apartments.
Read MoreTimber Pizza Co. is organizing a community meeting with ANC 4C07 Commissioner John-Paul Hayworth to discuss their plans to open a restaurant at 809 Upshur Street NW. The meeting is Wednesday, June 30th from 7:30-8:30pm in the Petworth Library large meeting room (basement level).
Come by and meet the owners, Andrew Dana and Chris Brady, and discuss the restaurant concept, help shape their ANC / community agreement, discuss any noise concerns (they're planning on outdoor seating), and so on. I think this is a great idea, and kudos to Timber Pizza for being proactive!
No RSVP needed. (h/t JP Hayworth)
Image courtesy of Takeaway
Looks like Upshur Street between 8th & 9th Streets continues its growth as a restaurant row. Word is that a group is looking to open a Thai / Balinese restaurant at 845 Upshur St NW, where the closed China American Inn is now.
They hope to open in Fall 2015. I'll try to get more info.
Timber Pizza Co. had their portable brick oven set up at the Kennedy Street Festival on Saturday, and getting a pizza from them was high on my list of to-do's for the day. By the time I got there, there were only three pizza doughs left -- they clearly had a good day, and I clearly was lucky to get there in time.
I finally got the chance to meet owners Andrew Dana and Chris Brady in person, after doing a phone interview with Andrew a few weeks back. Both are very excited about opening up the restaurant on Upshur Street later in the winter (though with the amount of work 809 Upshur St needs, I'm thinking this might be an early 2016 opening).
Owner Andrew Dana making me a pizza with two kinds of cheese and pepperoni.
Then we got down to the business at hand, and I ordered a half-pepperoni, half-cheese pizza (a small one to split with the family). I watched Andrew stretch the dough, put the sauce on, then the two kinds of cheese (low-moisture mozzarella/provolone, fresh mozzarella), then a couple of thin pepperoni slices.
Into the brick oven it goes...
Into the brick oven it went with the long-handled pizza spatula. Before I knew it, "Pizza coming out!" was shouted and the pizza came back out of the oven, steaming and bubbling. After walking around the festival for a few hours, at this moment my growling stomach and I were both very focused on the pizza.
Over it went to Chris, who offered to put on basil (and they had some very fresh-looking basil waiting) but I declined -- not sure my 4 year old would go for it. Chris then grabs a large "rocker" pizza cutter and quickly cuts the pie up into 4 large slices. The pie went onto a perfectly cut, perfectly sized round piece of cardboard and I think I mumbled a quick "thanks" as my impatient appetite pulled me over to the entryway of a closed business where my family was sitting and waiting.
Even with a bandaged hand, Chris is a master with the rocker.
This was a good pizza. The cheese was thick and melty, and there was good oil on the pizza without making a total mess everywhere. The bottom of the crust had that slight wood-burnt crunch, and the edge soft and thick. It folded up perfectly. The pepperoni was tasty -- cut thin so the flavor was there but it didn't overwhelm the slice. I was really hoping the pizza would be good, and Timber Pizza did not disappoint.
No seriously, it was delicious.
My 4-year old daughter said, chewing around her second piece, "Daddy, when they open, I want to go eat there every night." Yeah, me too.
You can try them out for yourself this upcoming weekend. Timber Pizza Co. will be at the Petworth Jazz Project on Saturday, June 27th at the Petworth Park (6pm - 9pm). I highly recommend you show up to grab a pizza -- before they run out of dough.
Find them online at TimberPizza.com.
What do you do when you and your friend don’t enjoy working at a tech start-up, but love pizza? Start a pizza company, naturally.
That’s exactly what Andrew Dana and Chris Brady did a year ago. After working at a local education tech start-up and not feeling very inspired by the job, but sharing a passion for all things pizza, the two created an original food truck: a wood-fired oven pizza truck. And they’re bringing that passion and their unique pizza stylings to Petworth.
“We just passed our first anniversary as a company on May 28th,” Andrew Dana said when I spoke to him this week. “Things have happened pretty quick this year, and we knew we wanted to expand,” Andrew said.
He and his partner Chris have spent the past year taking their 1967 baby blue pickup and mobile brick oven to farmer’s markets and other events around the DC area, selling their original pizza creations, as well as doing catering for special events.
Andrew Dana, Chris Brady and the 1967 pickup
Both Andrew and Chris are local and knew they wanted to open a restaurant somewhere in this area. Andrew grew up in Mt. Pleasant and is looking for an apartment in Petworth (“Yeah, I definitely want to move to Petworth, close by,”) and Chris lives near 15th and New Hampshire Ave.
“I’ve been falling in love with Upshur and Petworth for awhile,” Andrew said. “We were looking for a location that would work for us, and when we saw the building on Upshur Street, we got ‘that feeling’ and knew it was the place.”
The new restaurant, to be located at 809 Upshur St NW, will be called the Timber Pizza Co. Andrew said their plan is to keep the restaurant simple in design, matching their overall theme of “Vermont / campy” wood minimalist, and matching with their 1967 baby blue pickup truck.
Inside, they plan to seat 49 at small tables and larger communal tables, and hope to offer outdoor seating as well. Inside there will be a large brick oven, placed where customers can watch the pizzas being made and then fired. They plan on installing bay windows on the front of the building so that the brick oven can be seen from the street. They also plan on offering craft beer from around the city, as well as wine and cocktails.
The menu looks great (see below), and they take a lot of pride in what they offer. “We’re really into collaborating with other DC restaurants and trucks,” Andrew said. “We want to showcase other local flavors on our pizzas.”
For example, Andrew told me how they thought a BBQ chicken pizza would taste great. “But it’s hard to make a great pizza AND make a great BBQ chicken — so we found a great partner who excels at BBQ, put their chicken on the pizza and it was amazing."
Andrew and Chris decided that they will rotate their menu as they partner with restaurants like DCity Smokehouse, Indigo (Indian cuisine) and DGS Delicatessen in Dupont (Andrew’s thinking a breakfast pizza with smoked salmon and capers).
And they know the area has seen an increase in little ones: “We are definitely planning on offering items on the menu perfect for kids,” Andrew said.
Andrew said they want to connect with the Petworth Community Market to set up their pizza truck at the market a few times over the season while they work on renovating the building.
“The landlord has some work to do inside before we can take possession, and then we’re hoping to open by early winter,” he said.
I asked Andrew to let me know if they do book a spot at the Petworth Market so I can let everyone know. I’m already looking forward to a pizza place on Upshur St.
Here’s a sample of their menu:
CHEESE, PLEASE
San Marzano tomatoes, low-moisture mozzarella/provolone, fresh mozzarella, fresh basil
PRETTY IN PEPPERONI
"CHEESE, PLEASE" + pepperoni
GREEN MONSTER
Pesto, fresh mozzarella, feta, kale, zucchini
NORTH SHORE
"CHEESE, PLEASE" + fresh jalapeño, pineapple, and prosciutto
809 Upshur St NW, the red brick building that used to be a small church and is now vacant, will be a restaurant focusing on pizza, Timber Pizza Co.
According to a neighbor who saw them out taking pictures of the building and confirmed later by Popville, Timber Pizza will open a local restaurant featuring their wood-fired pizzas. I've reached out to one of the property owners as well as Timber Pizza and will update as I hear more.
Update: I spoke with Andrew Dana, one of the owners of Timber Pizza, and he confirmed they're planning on opening in late fall or early winter, later this year. "It's true! We are incredible excited to become a part of the Petworth family!"
According to their website, I think this would be their first location besides a food truck:
Courtesy of TimberPizza.com
"A few years back at a local tech company, Washington native Andrew Dana and Annapolis local Chris Brady met and became buddies who shared two primary passions in life: pizza and basketball.
The Timber guys serve authentic wood fired pizza using only the freshest local ingredients and incorporating new twists on traditional favorites. They can be found anywhere from local farmers markets to wineries/breweries and are available to cater your next private event." (Timber Pizza About page)
It'll be nice to see this location cleaned up and offering services to the community. While many were hoping for a retail business (I heard a masseuse was looking at this spot), a local pizza joint is pretty good. Maybe give Red Rocks a challenge?
6/11/15 Update: Read my interview with Andrew Dana, owner of Timber Pizza Co.
Come celebrate Petworth News reaching a milestone of 1,000 Facebook Likes, a new website (this one!), and neighbors connecting with neighbors.
If I've ever committed to buying you a beer for reading to the bottom of a long post, here's your chance to try to collect.
I look forward to meeting you at the event and putting faces to the names!
Petworth News, a neighborhood blog on local news, information & events about the Petworth area in Washington DC.
Petworth News is a news site about Petworth area neighborhoods in Washington DC, written by Drew Schneider and other amazing contributing writers. It features facts and objective reporting, as well as an occasional subjective point of view and opinion.
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