La Casa Update and More: Keeping Tabs

** The Washington City Paper has followed up on the La Casa/Highland Park situation. Over two posts, they've revealed more about the plans to to add an addition to Highland Park Apartments and build a new facility serving the District's homeless. 

The timing of the demolition of the existing La Casa and the rebuilding of the new facility is key. The developers want to build the Highland Park addition as soon they can. But questions remain regarding closing an emergency shelter just before winter and of course, the other elephant in the room, money. The new community based residential facility will cost $10 million to construct and only $6 million is secure at this point. Stay tuned for more updates and thanks to Ms. DePillis for digging a little deeper.

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**I'm fascinated by this trend of large corporations pitting non profits against each other in the quest for decent, but one time monetary prizes via online voting. The Pepsi Refresh project comes to mind. And here's another; one that could potentially benefit a great DC organization, Miriam's Kitchen. 

The Sears Chef Challenge will award up to $20,000 to Miriam's Kitchen if chef John Murphy wins the whole contest. But, first he must be voted the best of DC, then go on to face other chefs from across the country. 

So, hit up the website and vote accordingly. The other two DC area charities who could win are Capital Area Food Bank and Maryland Food Bank. Either way, a great cause will benefit, so let's try and steer that money to the DC area.

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**Just a reminder, the DC Asian Pacific American film festival starts this Thursday. This is is a ten day film fest screening films by and about Asian Americans. After the opening night film is screened at E Street Cinema at 7:00pm, there will be a festival reception at nearby Asia Nine restaurant. It's free if you attend the film and $10 otherwise. I just found out they're offering various discounts for groups, seniors and more, which is cool. They're a fairly small organization, so if you're at all interested, check out a film or two and support the arts in DC. 

Commonwealth's Patio

If there is a god, this place will open before summer let's out. Close to 50 beers on the menu.

Pete's Apizza

I still don't know what New Haven style pizza is! Ha, but Pete's was great, so it doesn't matter. We rather liked this place.

The new pizza kid on the block delivered (no pun intended) exactly what we needed on a lovely Friday evening. We heard that Pete's was serving vegan pizzas. It's true! Some people prefer the vegan cheese, which Pete's now carries; I'd rather get a pie with no cheese and lots of veggies accompanied by a great sauce. Pete's provided that, all within a friendly, unique atmosphere.

Pete's New Haven Style Pizza is close to Mt Pleasant, directly atop the Columbia Heights Metro Stop at the SW corner of 14th and Irving Streets NW. Its in the Highland Park Apartment Building between Potbelly and Five Guys. The restaurant is tiny. They do pack the seats in, including multiple community tables (à la The Heights) and limited outside seating. There is no traditional table service. You order in line, as if you were in a to-go pizza place, but the staff will bring your drinks and entrees to your table. No need to listen up for a number or stand around waiting for your order. Seemed fairly efficient.

The pie was pretty good as well. We split the pizza, one side with vegan cheese, the other without. Again, I don't like the fake stuff, but the others in our group (also vegans) gave the thumbs up. I thought the regular no-cheese portion was very satisfying. The toppings were peppers (grilled fresh in the kitchen) and onions, pretty simple. We did pay extra for the vegan cheese ($4.00 per pizza/$2.00 for half) and the the toppings, at $2.00 a piece, put the total for the pizza at $24.00. That's a little more than I wanted to pay for an 18" pizza pie, but again, the quality and service were there, so my wallet took one for the team. Not sure if Pete's could be an every day pizza place for me; my local favorites are Mount Peasant's own Radius, and Red Rocks, in Columbia Heights. Next time I'd like to try some of the other foods, namely the pasta. Seems they should have some vegan friendly pasta options, seeing that I lived off the stuff for nearly 10 years. Make sure to go this this summer, they have one of my favorite beers on tap, Victory Prima Pils. And until July 31, get a happy hour pint of Pils and a slice for only $5.00. Goodness, doesn't really get any better than a tall glass of Pils and a good pizza pie on the patio, watching the buzz of the CH streets on a warm summer evening.

Five Guys, Yay

Open at Highland Park as of today. Fun times, meat, potatoes. By the way, half an order of Five Guys fries has more calories than anything else on the menu. Yes, only half an order of fries. Fattening. I mean frightening.

Potbelly Open... Yawn

Potbelly Sandwich Works is open at Highland Park. The sandwich and soup purveyor is the first of six restaurants to open in the new apartment high-rise located at the corner of 14th and Irving Streets NW. Not the most exciting news. Last night the place was very busy and I imagine it will be from now on. People love this restaurant for some reason. I guess I missed the boat. I mean, sandwiches. Great. Soup. Salad. Sounds good. "Fast casual" has hit Columbia Heights.

Next to open looks to be Pete's Appiza, adjacent to Potbelly. Supposedly appiza (or New Haven style pizza) is distinct from regular pizza, but I can't tell the difference by sight. Looks like a regular pie with a very thin crust. I'm very curious about this place though. I like Red Rocks on 11th Street and Radius on Mt Pleasant, but can appreciate another quality pizza restaurant in the area. Maybe I'll actually finish the No Cheese Thin Crust Pizza Wars series I started months ago. Yay for food! But not sandwiches...

Highland Park Sidewalk Reopens; Sort Of

Mt Pleasant residents walking to and from the Columbia Heights Metro have been used to walking the unlit, narrow path that had been carved out of the roadway for some time now. For months the builders completing the Highland Park Apartments, née condos, have occupied the sidewalk area. They provided a jersey barrier for pedestrians to walk against, taking up the bus bay-lane of Irving Street. No longer. Pedestrians can now walk directly up against the building. For a while at least. The brick and concrete work aren't quite done on the sidewalk. It looks as if its a temporary move while the curb and some street work are completed. Not really all that exciting news, but it means the project is moving along, as the bulk of the work on the complex will be concentrated on finishing the interior of the building and finalizing the streetscape and landscape around the building. The project broke ground in 2005 as condominium, but was just recently "converted" into apartments.

I have two questions: What happened to the buyers of the condos who put down payments and secured financing expecting a place to live in 2008? And second, the condo project was to have up to 20% of the units available as affordable housing, with staggered Area Medium Income requirements. Will the promise of affordable housing availability be transferred to the apartment project? Rentometer estimates the median rent for a one bedroom apartment on or near that intersection to be $1450.00 per month. Since these units will be "luxury," bet on rents in the $1800-2000 range.

The retail options have been solidified in the last month as well. There will be seven total retail spaces on the first floor of Highland Park. Five are eateries: Five Guys, Potbelly, Pete's Apizza, CommomWealth (pub-like) and Zinnia (Caribbean). Of course there is a planned bank, Signal Financial Credit Union, and a new Boundless Yoga location. [OK, the bank situation is getting a little out of hand. I know having a place to deposit and borrow money is good for a community, but there are now SIX located at the Columbia Heights Metro; PNC, Wachovia, Lafayette Credit Union, CitiBank, BB&T, and now Signal. That's not including the SunTrust which was included in the preliminary DC USA plans. Doesn't add up...] All that remains is for the book store and cafe abutting the Metro entrance featured in all the promotional renderings to actually become reality. Anything can happen right?!