Petworth’s newest Mexican cuisine restaurant uses heart to overcome the odds

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Petworth’s newest Mexican cuisine restaurant uses heart to overcome the odds

DC Corazon is a labor of love — emphasis on the labor, and emphasis on the love.

Love, because corazon means “heart” in Spanish. Owner Josefina A. Darui has adored the shape since she was little, and the small, warm restaurant is covered in them. But love is used also because of what she’s hoping to bring to the area.

“I love DC; that’s one of the reasons that I named my business ‘DC Corazon,’” says Darui. “I want people to know that in DC Corazon everything we make comes from our heart.”

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"Hen and Fin" shares their family-oriented, Southern cuisine with Petworth

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"Hen and Fin" shares their family-oriented, Southern cuisine with Petworth

Hen & Fin, McDonald’s newly established southern chicken and fish fry eatery, opened its first location in Waldorf, Maryland, this last January and that neighborhood welcomed McDonald with open arms. Hen and Fin’s customers lined up past the door to grab some smothered turkey wings and sides. Even in the midst of the pandemic, customers have been steadily streaming to the cuisine.

And coming later this January, she’s opening a location in Petworth — in the prior Flip It Bakery location — at 4532 Georgia Avenue NW.

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Local restaurants offer you some great NYE deals!

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Local restaurants offer you some great NYE deals!

Even though we can't go out for New Year's Eve celebrations, local restaurants are making sure you can still have amazing good food to celebrate with joy the end of this Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Year.

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Mita Cafe on Kennedy Street brings Ethiopian and Japanese to delight your taste buds

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Mita Cafe on Kennedy Street brings Ethiopian and Japanese to delight your taste buds

The seven-hundred block of Kennedy Street NW has become a culinary destination. Opened late November, Mita Cafe is the newest addition to this strip and Brightwood Park is lucky to have them. Sharing space with the florist Roots and Blooms, the dynamic team of Chef Takehiko Inoue, Misrak Gebrhiwot, and Misrak’s Cousin Z, bring Ethiopian and Japanese cuisine to this block. This is not a fusion experiment but almost like two separate cafes within one cozy space teeming with plants.

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Anafre changes into a pizza pop-up, delivers pies with a Mexican twist

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Anafre changes into a pizza pop-up, delivers pies with a Mexican twist

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced restaurants across the country to adapt, and Anafre by Chef Alfredo Solis is no exception.

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Make your Hanukkah shine a bit brighter with these special offers from local businesses

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Make your Hanukkah shine a bit brighter with these special offers from local businesses

Oy vey… this year has been weird. Let’s not let that stop us from celebrating a fun Hanukkah though! Here’s some festive holiday treats from a few of our Petworth favorites that you can order to make your holiday of lights a little bit brighter (cheesy puns included).

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DC’s Winter Ready grant program helps Petworth restaurants prepare for colder months

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DC’s Winter Ready grant program helps Petworth restaurants prepare for colder months

In colder temperatures, folks may increasingly have to choose between dining indoors, at higher risk to Covid, or give up restaurants altogether.

So Mayor Muriel Bowser and Shawn Townsend, the Director of the DC Office of Nightlife and Culture, came up with a plan: they opened a $4 million grant to provide funds to restaurants seeking to winterize their space. The Streatery Winter Ready Grant Program provides up to $6,000 per restaurant for sidewalk cafes, summer gardens, and streaterys, located in DC. The grants can be used for tents, heating, lighting, furniture, and marketing – all in hopes of sustaining outdoor dining during the chillier months.

Here’s what some local restaurants are doing.

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La Coop Coffee Shop in struggle with landlord who tried to force them out of their property

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La Coop Coffee Shop in struggle with landlord who tried to force them out of their property

An ongoing feud between a new small business and their landlord spilled out onto the sidewalk as the landlord tried to board up the building in the evening of November 3rd. There has been a strong outpouring of support for La Coop Coffee Shop by the community, and questions remain about what will happen next.

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Fungus among us: ANXO creates a club for mushroom aficionados

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Fungus among us: ANXO creates a club for mushroom aficionados

I used to dream about secret places in DC… dirt roads in the clouds over Georgetown that ended somewhere Mount Olympus-like, unmarked art galleries down dark alleys, houses utterly hidden from view. Turns out I was on to something — except I should have been looking down, not up, for the forests here are teeming with edible mushrooms.

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Black-owned restaurants share impacts of Covid and racial justice advocacy on business

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Black-owned restaurants share impacts of Covid and racial justice advocacy on business

Every restaurant I talked to had a different story. Fish in the Hood was concerned by neighborhood changes long before Covid arrived. Backyard Smoke Spot evaded closures because of its in-house convenience store. Mr. Braxton took a hit in sales due to Covid but has since largely recovered. Tsehay is still struggling and never saw tangible support from the promotion of Black-owned restaurants.

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Soup Up on Kennedy Street brings more than healthy soups to your table, they bring a passion for great flavor

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Soup Up on Kennedy Street brings more than healthy soups to your table, they bring a passion for great flavor

Healthy, delicious soup is probably not the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Kennedy Street. That’s one reason why Donna Henry chose to locate Soup Up on this transforming corridor with few healthy options.

Opened in 2016, Soup Up has allowed Donna to establish strong ties to the neighborhood, and her customers are intensely loyal.

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Sneak peek of Menya Hosaki, set to open on Wednesday 9/9

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Sneak peek of Menya Hosaki, set to open on Wednesday 9/9

Menya Hosaki, the new ramen restaurant at 845 Upshur St NW, is getting ready to open their doors to the neighborhood on Wednesday, September 9th. They’re doing a few practice nights with friends and family this week, getting ready for next week.

Here’s a sneak peak inside…

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Menya Hosaki is the passionate exploration of Eric Yoo’s love for ramen, family and community

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Menya Hosaki is the passionate exploration of Eric Yoo’s love for ramen, family and community

We first met up with Eric Yoo in March 2019, back when the world didn’t know about Covid-19, and the idea of opening a new restaurant was nerve-wracking for completely different reasons. Now, over a year later Eric is getting ready to open his new ramen restaurant, Menya Hosaki, on Upshur Street. His passion for ramen, his description of the menu and his deep-seated reasons for upending his life to open a ramen restaurant sounds like Petworth’s latest Asian restaurant is going to be amazing.

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El Torogoz gets a makeover, and gets ready to open patio service

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El Torogoz gets a makeover, and gets ready to open patio service

The El Salvadoran restaurant opened as a take-out kitchen in 2000, when the location was originally a used furniture store. In April of 2005, owner David Ventura was able to get the full space and renovated it to become a sit-down restaurant. Fifteen years later and the restaurant is still doing well, but the interior was old and needed a makeover. Now they’re ready to welcome customer back.

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