Kanlaya, Burma, Urfa Restaurants All Close

Three adjacent restaurants on 6th Street NW in Chinatown have closed. The restaurants closed ahead of new development that will replace the current structures with offices. Kanlaya (Thai), Burma (Burmese), and Urfa Tomato Kabob (Mediterannean) all closed shop over the course of the last few months, anticipating the closure of their building (740 6th Street NW). 740 and the adjacent 736 are being renovated and rebuilt into office space over the next year. 

The new building will be comprised of class-B offices with about 18,500 square feet of rentable space (including 4,500 sq ft of retail). The building is scheduled to open in 2015. No word if any of the three restaurants will be part of the retail space in the new development. 

Rendering of new construction via Douglass Development

End of the Road for Kanlaya, Urfa Tomato Kabob

The days are apparently numbered for Thai restaurant Kanlaya, Turkish restaurant Urfa Tomato Kabob and several other Chinatown businesses located at 736-740 6th St NW. Douglas Development recently purchased the two adjacent buildings and plans to overhall the structures, including installing new tenants. The most recent District tax assessment for this property was $7.8 million, but I'm betting it sold for a bit less.

The Washington Business Journal is reporting that the current tenants, including Kanlaya, Urfa, and the restaurant Burma, will be out of the space by the end of 2013. Bummer. I'm OK with having some older building stock in this part of town. And appreciating the businesses that call those buildings home (remember Cafe Deli!?). This was one of the quirky corners in the East End. In my opinion, this a bit of a depressing move, wiping away some of the more interesting businesses in what's left of Chinatown.

The new development will join the two buildings into one; 740 6th St NW. It will contain 4,500 sq ft of first floor retail and 13,956 sq ft of office space on floors 2-4. Douglas will rehab the interiors and add brick and glass to the exterior. No exact date on delivery, but I'll estimate mid-late 2015. Sad to see Kanlaya and Urfa go! 

Rendering via Douglas Development

Floor plan via Douglas Development

Finally Falafel in PQ: Urfa Tomato Kabob

Yay! There is falafel in Penn Quarter. Urfa Tomato Kabob opened a week ago and is serving up Turkish food. It replaces one of my all time favorite PQ lunch spots, Café Deli, at 740 6th St NW. Last summer I wrote about the falafel at the D&C Cart over at 8th and H Streets, but those carts disappeared along with the fall weather. Urfa looks to be permanent if they can keep up the business. Not sure what happened to Café Deli.

Visited Urfa last week and I'm most excited about the falafel. The sandwich was huge and just dressed in tahini with tomatoes and lettuce. They call it the Cairo Falafel. The Cairo plus a drink plus fries cost $7.99 after tax. Lunch under $10 = I will be going there often. And they don't skimp on the falafel, there were like six falafel balls in the ginormous pita pocket. That's about it for the vegetarian food though. The other popular items on the menu are doner (like a gyro) and meat kabobs.

The "Tomato" part of the restaurant's name comes from the homemade tomato sauce they use on the kabobs. "Urfa" is short for Şanlıurfa, a city of over a million people in Turkey. Urfa gets an A for effort, and an A for serving good falafel.

It's three blocks from the nearest 42 bus stop, at 740 6th Street NW. And yes, SB I will be there for lunch today, so consider that advanced notice of me being in your hood. ;)