The X2

V Street, the vegan street food concept from Philadelphia, is tuning it pitch just a bit. The owners have secured a spot in the Apollo Apartment building at 6th and H NE; the same building as Whole Foods and Wydown Coffee. They are currently building out, but it looks like the concept may be changing even before they open. The Washington Post is reporting that V Street is switching from a casual street food concept to a more traditional upscale restaurant -- complete with a name change to Fancy Radish . The name is a play on a dish served at Vedge, one of their high end restaurants in Phila. I was really loving the idea of the causal street food vibe they presented with V Street , but I can appreciate a little diversity in the scene. There are definitely places to get both the counter-service-casual and table-service-sit-down all vegan experience. On the casual side you have places like NuVegan (aka Woodlands), Sticky Fingers, Khepra's, Shouk, Hip City Veg, Fruitive, an...

Khepra's Raw Food Juice Bar looks poised to move, but not far. The all-vegan raw foods restaurant opened at 402 H Street NE in 2011. Signage indicating a new storefront recently went up at 408 H Street NE. This is between Fare Well and Hot Yoga Capitol Hill. A recent Facebook post mentioned the move would happen in 2018. Good luck Khepra's! Bar Elena, the new venture replacing shuttered Boundary Road, has moved forward to the point of hiring staff. The New American style ( I had to look it up ) restaurant looks to distinguish itself by including a cache of video games and pinball machines, an idea I love. Bar Elena  has posted job listings as recently as Oct 29, including a note saying they were "opening VERY soon." Stay tuned! 414 H Street NE. Read more:  Boundary Road has Closed to be Replaced by Bar Elena (Frozen Tropics)  Replacement H Street Bar Aims to Double Its Drinking Space (Eater) New Restaurant With Arcade Games Will Replace Bounda...

We now know the locations of the bike shop and restaurant coming to the Apollo building at 600 H Street NE.  The Daily Rider is a bicycle shop currently open and operating at 1108 H Street NE. Their new space will be located just east of The Wydown coffee shop, which in turn is just east of the main building entrance. I've never been to Daily Rider, but they always have a cute bikes in the window.   V Street is an all vegan restaurant from Philadelphia and one of the new businesses I'm most excited about for H Street. They self-describe as purveyors of street food and I can't believe H Street NE is getting even more vegan friendly ( Khepra's , Fare Well , and Turning Natural among others). V Street will be adjacent to Daily Rider. Good luck to each of these businesses as they start new adventures on H. y start a new chapter!

The Apollo Apartment Building; H Street NE. Eater DC is reporting some pretty cool news . We've known for a while that Philadelphia based vegan street food restaurant V Street was coming to the Apollo apartment building at 6th and H Sts NE. The new "news" is that the owners of that restaurant are now considering bring a second all vegan restaurant called Wiz Kid with, too. Amazing. Wiz Kid features a vegan take on the famous/infamous Philly Cheesesteak.  The idea is not new. For years Moms/Gianna's in Philadelphia served up meatless versions of the cheesesteak. Hip City Veg has a version, too. Hopefully this all comes to pass. Good luck V Street & Wiz Kid! Read more:  Vegan Sandwich Shop Wiz Kid Could Join V Street in D.C.  (Eater DC)

V Street will reportedly open in the Apollo building at 6th and H NE. In more great food news for H Street, the owners of Philadelphia's V Street & Vedge  plan to open their first DC restaurant this  year.  The Washington Post and other outlets are reporting that all-vegan "street food bar" V Street will open later this year in the Apollo apartment building at 600 H Street NE. V Street in Philadelphia serves dishes such as harissa glazed tofu, chilled kung pao noodles, and Korean fried tempeh tacos. The drink menu includes beers from around the U.S., wine, and a cocktail list. They could replicate this 1-to-1 in the DC location and I think they'd be successful.  DC already has an all vegan Philadelphia-based restaurant in Hip City Veg . We certainly welcome another, especially to Northeast. Very, very cool news.  And  H Street is currently home to all-vegan Fare Well; and vegan-friendly restaurants &pizza, Bab Korean, Pow Pow, Sticky...

523 H St NE - Future home to Cava. A lot has happened since my last string of posts in February. I transitioned into a new job and I'm trying to figure out how to balance out-of-work time so I can post more often. Otherwise I'm still sharing neighborhood news, observances, and other thoughts on Twitter at  @TheX2BusDC , so follow along there for real time updates and photos. OK, lots of updates! Cava Washington City Paper is reporting that Cava, the Mediterranean fast-casual style restaurant, is coming to 523 H Street. I love this place. They are vegan friendly, the staff is A+, and the meals are consistently high quality. They typically feature alternating seasonal vegetables as a main ingredient, which is a definite plus. The location at the corner of 6th and H puts it right across the street from... Whole Foods on H Street Whole Foods opened a store at 600 H Street NE. It's gotten busier each week since the March 15 debut, but I have to say ...

From (quite) a variety store to new Ethiopian fusion restaurant at 818 H St NE. ABRA placards are up for a new Ethiopian restaurant at 818 H Street NE. The trade name listed is Quara Ethiopian Fusion Restaurant. They are seeking a seating capacity of 52, a total occupancy load of 60, and an endorsement for live entertainment. For what it's worth, this appears to be related to Quara Ethiopian Restaurant in Adams Morgan. If and when the H Street NE restaurant opens, that will make three Ethiopian restaurants in close proximity, including Addis and Ethiopic , both of which I recommend. Bring on more veggie sambusas and vegan friendly meals!

1380 H St NE; future home of Turning Natural juice bar. Earlier this year, I visited Turning Natural , a vegan friendly juice bar on Martin Luther King Jr Ave SE. I remember thinking how great the staff was and how good the food (well, juice) was and that I wanted to visit again. Luckily, I won't have to go far next time. Turning Natural is bringing a similar concept store to 1380 H St NE in the former Ohio Restaurant space. Permits are up on site and the build-out is happening as we speak. No word on the opening date or exact format, but Turning Natural did say that the H Street concept would be dope, which has me pretty excited: @TheX2BusDC we love you too! This one will be an even doper concept! 😜 can't wait for you all to see! — Turning Natural (@TurningNatural) November 19, 2016 Here's a look at the current menu . I would love to see the vegan food menu at the new location, and of course the juices and smoothies, too. Good luck Turning Natural!  Read m...

Fare Well, the all-vegan bakery, diner, and bar opens today at 406 H St NE. The much anticipated project from the owner of Columbia Heights' Sticky Fingers has been percolating for quite a while and is finally ready for its close-up. Fare Well joins the "vegan summer" along the X2 route, with openings of Shouk and HipCity Veg in recent months. Shouk, HipCity, and Fare Well serve only plant-based meals; no meat, no dairy, no eggs. City Paper and Washington Post offered great previews of Fare Well and the official menu can be found here . Highlights for me are breakfast-all-day, southern fried seitan, and the caramelized onion & garlic potato knish. Sounds awesome! This is just a 20 minute walk or so from Carver Langston, so I could see a few weekend brunches or dinner-on-the-way-home-from work visits at some point. Fare Well will initially be open Wednesday through Sunday, but has plans to operate seven days a week. It opens today at 8:00 AM.

If there was a flagship HipCity sandwich, it would be the Crispy Chick'n Ranch Phila-based HipCity Veg opens in Penn Quarter/Chinatown today. The all-vegan, fast casual restaurant is located at 712 7th St NW between G and H Streets. HipCity comes just months after the demise of another all-vegan, fast casual style restaurant, Native Foods Cafe. They are alike on the surface, but not really. Native Foods may be becoming a cautionary tale of expanding too fast, and too vast. HipCity has just three stores, with two in Philadelphia and, now, one in DC. Their approach appears to be a bit more focused and measured. 712 7th Street NW was most recently a FroZenYo shop. The menu is simple and that's a plus. The dishes are distinctive enough to provide variety, but the limited nature --just nine "main" dishes, mostly sandwiches-- means the focus can be on execution, consistency, and moving customers through the line during the busy Penn Quarter lunch block. That...

BAB is closed on Sunday, like the Streetcar. Hopefully, they both flip that policy sooner than later. On a recent trip to BAB Korean Fusion , I was pleasantly surprised that the staff and menu were quite vegan friendly. At many a DC restaurant, I make educated guesses about menu items, especially when the staff is not helpful or the menu doesn't specifically mark vegetarian items. A lot of the times that means I don't order anything for settle for basic, obviously vegetarian items. But, BAB staff was awesomely knowledgeable and fortunately they have plenty of options. I'm not a Korean food master by any stretch, but a dozen years of eating at Adam Express in Mount Pleasant made me love dishes like vegetarian bibimbap or japchae. BAB lets you order from a menu of special house dishes, but I chose the make-you-own, customizable option, with choice of protein, vegetable mix, and rice/quinoa. The tofu was excellent and I went with the backyard veggies (carrots, sp...

The construction of Fare Well , a new restaurant from the owners of Sticky Fingers , has progressed steadily over the last year. Recently, signage was installed atop the storefront at 406 H St NE. Not too much happening inside when I walked by, but the interior looks finished (construction wise), if not yet fully furnished. No word on an exact opening date, but the restaurant put out several calls for job applicants in early March. I'm really excited for this new, all-vegan option for H St, so stay tuned for more updates!