After 10 years, it’s time for a refresh at Bangkok Joe’s on the Georgetown waterfront.
Owners Aulie Bunyarataphan and Mel Oursinsini — who also own the fast-casual Tom Yum District in Rosslyn and T.H.A.I. in Shirlington — will close their Georgetown restaurant June 1 for an overhaul.
They will reopen the space in September as Mama Rouge, a Southeast Asian and French-inspired restaurant, they said in an email to their fans Tuesday evening.
The work will be both cosmetic and practical. The kitchen equipment, also 10 years old, needs to be replaced, Oursinsini said. In addition, the dining room will be redesigned to add a more “hip vibe,” Bunyarataphan said.
“We recognize that over time, the needs of our customers has evolved,” Oursinsini wrote in the email.
It will be the second new restaurant to open in the Washington Harbour development in Georgtown in the past year; Chef Fabio Trabocchi’s seafood restaurant Fiola Mare opened in February, bringing the dining activity all the way to the western edge of the mixed-use development.
