Anonymous
Post 10/14/2013 19:52     Subject: Re:So, how long until all those fancy new restaurants shutter their doors?
Admittedly, I didn't see the article on foreclosures that you refer to. I suspect, though, that the neighborhoods seeing the foreclosures aren't the ones whose residents frequented these restaurants.
Anonymous
Post 10/14/2013 19:35     Subject: So, how long until all those fancy new restaurants shutter their doors?
Anonymous wrote:Hi, I just saw the article about the spike in foreclosures in the DC area... suspect restaurants are next in line


Do you know how long it takes to foreclose on a property in DC? Hint: it's not two weeks.
Anonymous
Post 10/14/2013 16:47     Subject: So, how long until all those fancy new restaurants shutter their doors?
I eat often at fancy places from dupont to downtown and i never pay the bill. I"m a lobbyist with a corp card.
Anonymous
Post 10/14/2013 16:23     Subject: So, how long until all those fancy new restaurants shutter their doors?
Anonymous wrote:OP, with all due respect, saying that people will flee 14th street when its lost is magic makes you sound like an old fogey. U Street and Logan Circle are now completely developed neighborhoods. Did you think DuPont would turn into a slum when it "lost its magic?" It hasn't been the "it" place to live in decades and its not exactly in ruins. I share some of your skepticism about what a fully developed H Street will look like, mostly because the commercial development is much lower density than anticipated by the original development plan. But it's hardly unstable (and hasn't Granvile Moore already been open for more than five years?). The only way these two areas collapse is if MLK somehow gets assassinated a second time.

Regarding Le Diplomate specifically, I agree it will probably eventually need to change its business model somewhat. I don't think they can sell French sidewalk cafe food at anniversary dinner prices forever. But it's always been true that the DC restaurant scene revolves around creating a few hot new restaurants each year and then moving on.


Logan still isn't considered an established or particularly safe area, so it's economy and reputation are very much dependent on continued discretionary spending by people who are highly mobile and don't have strong ties to the area. Same for U Street.
Anonymous
Post 10/14/2013 16:18     Subject: So, how long until all those fancy new restaurants shutter their doors?
Hi, I just saw the article about the spike in foreclosures in the DC area... suspect restaurants are next in line
Anonymous
Post 10/14/2013 09:11     Subject: Re:So, how long until all those fancy new restaurants shutter their doors?
Judging by the lack of reservation availability for these restaurants in the last couple of weeks, I don't think that any of the "fancy" new restaurants will have any problems. They don't rely on feds to fill their tables.
Anonymous
Post 10/14/2013 07:57     Subject: So, how long until all those fancy new restaurants shutter their doors?
Anonymous wrote:OP here, I disagree. I think there are too many restaurants at the expense of other traditional retail. And neighborhoods like H Street NE and 14th will pay the price. The model is just not sustainable, in my opinion. A better example of how these neighborhoods should have played out would be Newbury Street in Boston. Plenty of fancy and hip restaurants, but also tons of other retail. Once Le Diplomate and Granville Moore's have lost their "magic" folks won't have any other reason to visit those neighborhoods, or t live in them


I can't decide is OP is one of those "everything is better in Boston" transplants that longs for the "charm" of New England or a suburbanite so befuddled by the fact that some people like to live in the city, she believes that people choose neighborhoods because of one particular restaurant. Perhaps she's both. Regardless, she's pretty clueless.
Anonymous
Post 10/13/2013 10:13     Subject: Re:So, how long until all those fancy new restaurants shutter their doors?
Fed here. We have not been going out to eat since the first of the year with the fiscal cliff. We have been foregoing birthday dinners and anniversaries dinners out since last Christmas. This has saved thousands. I would bet the restaurant industry is taking a huge hit. Sure not Komi, but there are hundreds of restaurants between Komi and 5 Guys that feds would usually frequent. Komi. Talk about living in the bubble.
Anonymous
Post 10/12/2013 20:55     Subject: So, how long until all those fancy new restaurants shutter their doors?
OP, with all due respect, saying that people will flee 14th street when its lost is magic makes you sound like an old fogey. U Street and Logan Circle are now completely developed neighborhoods. Did you think DuPont would turn into a slum when it "lost its magic?" It hasn't been the "it" place to live in decades and its not exactly in ruins. I share some of your skepticism about what a fully developed H Street will look like, mostly because the commercial development is much lower density than anticipated by the original development plan. But it's hardly unstable (and hasn't Granvile Moore already been open for more than five years?). The only way these two areas collapse is if MLK somehow gets assassinated a second time.

Regarding Le Diplomate specifically, I agree it will probably eventually need to change its business model somewhat. I don't think they can sell French sidewalk cafe food at anniversary dinner prices forever. But it's always been true that the DC restaurant scene revolves around creating a few hot new restaurants each year and then moving on.
Anonymous
Post 10/12/2013 17:12     Subject: So, how long until all those fancy new restaurants shutter their doors?
The people hit the hardest are the little delis in the office building
Anonymous
Post 10/12/2013 16:57     Subject: So, how long until all those fancy new restaurants shutter their doors?
OP here, I disagree. I think there are too many restaurants at the expense of other traditional retail. And neighborhoods like H Street NE and 14th will pay the price. The model is just not sustainable, in my opinion. A better example of how these neighborhoods should have played out would be Newbury Street in Boston. Plenty of fancy and hip restaurants, but also tons of other retail. Once Le Diplomate and Granville Moore's have lost their "magic" folks won't have any other reason to visit those neighborhoods, or t live in them
Anonymous
Post 10/12/2013 16:19     Subject: So, how long until all those fancy new restaurants shutter their doors?
The business models for all those new places on 14th street do not require constant patronage by the GS-12s of the world. The people who run lunch counters by large fed offices are taking it in the teeth. The fancy new restaurants won't even feel it.
Anonymous
Post 10/12/2013 16:17     Subject: So, how long until all those fancy new restaurants shutter their doors?
I think the people who make good money and have saved good money will continue to go out in the coming months, or at least many of them will. The secretaries making $38K weren't going to Komi anyway. My friends making $110K as gov't employees are still going to dinner, albeit a bit less.

Anonymous
Post 10/12/2013 16:15     Subject: So, how long until all those fancy new restaurants shutter their doors?
I think the mid-price restaurant industry in DC relies heavily on the fact that the city has an extraordinarily high number of younger citizens making in the low six figures, and that has not changed. So I think it will be fine.

(I agree that a ton of new restaurants will fail because tons of new restaurants always fail)
Anonymous
Post 10/12/2013 15:58     Subject: So, how long until all those fancy new restaurants shutter their doors?
Between the government shutdowns/furloughs and overall stagnating wages, I think a lot of restaurants are going to close their doors soon and never return