A couple of pieces of fast-casual restaurant news and a new location for Dino make up this edition of the new restaurant roundup.
Bread Furst: This bakery from longtime D.C. baker Mark Furstenburg opened Monday in Van Ness, offering a range of baked goods and breakfast, lunch and dinner options in Northwest D.C. The location, at 4434 Connecticut Ave. NW — next to a car wash — has been in the works for the past few months as Furstenburg got the project off the ground with the help of several participants in an apprenticeship program. Furstenburg founded the Marvelous Market chain before selling it to Thompson Hospitality; more recently, he ran BreadLine in D.C.
ShopHouse: ShopHouse, the Southeast Asian, fast-casual restaurant from the team behind Chipotle, will open its Chinatown location May 6 at 710 Seventh St. NW. It’s the fourth Washington-area location of the restaurant, which also has spots in Georgetown, Dupont Circle and Bethesda. Look for wok-fried kale with chili vinegar, a new item that will be a seasonal replacement for the restaurant’s traditional broccoli topping.
Dino’s Grotto: The next generation of Cleveland Park favorite Dino, which closed in February, will open in D.C.’s Shaw neighborhood May 15. The two-level restaurant will include a 14-seat bar along with a communal table on the lower level and a 40-seat dining room and 10-seat wine bar upstairs.
The menu brings more casual Italian fare to the new neighborhood of owners Dean Gold. and Kay Zimmerman. There are deviled eggs with roe and anchovy/sriracha aioli, panini sandwiches served with house-made pickles, and the decadent Dino burgers — in beef, veggie or lamb. Holdovers from Dino include pork meatballs and “East Coast Cioppino,” among other items.
Paul Bakery: This one’s further down the line, but count Paul Bakery among the restaurants that have signed on to the new Lot 31 development in downtown Bethesda. Paul, a French bakery concept whose local expansion is directed by Capital Restaurant Concepts, will join Silver, a higher-end concept from the owners of Silver Diner, and PassionFish from the Passion Food Hospitality group, at the development at the corner of Woodmont and Bethesda avenues.
