Andy Shallal came up short in his effort to reshape the District as its next mayor. But he will change the city’s landscape in his day job. The founder of the Busboys and Poets restaurants, who was out of the running months before the D.C. Democratic primary, recently signed a letter of intent to open a restaurant in a former furniture store on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue Southeast, The Washington Post reports.
This will be more than just another restaurant. The Anacostia property, located at 2004-2010 Martin Luther King, would have a Shallal eatery on the first floor that would be combined with a culinary training program.
The Local Initiatives Support Corporation, which supports community development projects in D.C. neighborhoods, has signed on as an investor in the project.
Shallal may soon have restaurants in all corners of the city. If he opens a Busboys at that location it would likely be his seventh in the region and it would be the first of his popular restaurants to open east of the Anacostia River. He is opening a fifth Busboys in Takoma Park and will open a sixth in Brookland this fall.
