NEIGHBORHOOD
Shaw Streets by Pleasant Mann (1539 Seventh Street NW) is holding its first commemoration of Festivus, the festival for the rest of us, marked by the airing of grievances and other traditional activities.
Mayor Marks Black Restaurant Week in Shaw
Mayor Muriel Bowser came to Shaw on November 8 to kick off this year’s DMV Black Restaurant Week and to announce an important initiative to support food equity in the DC. The mayor’s press conference was set up in front of FishScale (637 Florida AvFishScale co-owner Brandon Williams and Mayor Muriel Bowser kick-off DMV Black Restaurant Week. Photo: Pleasant Mann enue NW), one of the neighborhood’s notable Black-owned establishments. Brandon Williams, co-owner of FishScale, welcomed the crowd to the event. He was folShaw started off the holiday season this year with its lowed by Mayor Bowser and a number of economic celebration of Shaw Business Saturday on November development and hospitality professionals, including 27, the neighborhood version of the national Small the venerable owner of Ben’s Chili Bowl, Virginia Ali, Business Saturday event that gives prominence to outlining how important it is to strengthen the Black local small businesses during the shopping season. restaurant industry in the District. This year, Shaw Main Streets offered its ever-popular The major announcement made at the event was Shawbucks, five dollar-denominated coupons that the inauguration of the Food Access Fund. The fund could be used at 17 neighborhood businesses durwill provide $9 million in grants to eight recipients ing the day. The Shawbucks seemed to do the trick to provide new restaurants and fresh food groceries to generate business right after Thanksgiving, with in Wards 7 and 8. HalfSmoke (651 Florida Avenue businesses reporting the redemption of thousands NW), the Shaw restaurant on the opposite end of the of dollars’ worth of Shawbucks for purchases. Small block from FishScale, will get a grant to open estabBusiness Saturday also got national attention when lishments at Skyland Town Center and Downtown the administrator of the U.S. Small Business AdMinnesota Avenue in Ward 7. HalfSmoke’s owner ministration, Isabel Guzman, visited Lee’s Flower Andre McCain spoke about how he had started on and Card Shop to promote the effort. Wall Street but wanted to do something else. He said Shaw’s Small Business Saturday also saw the inthat he would not be able to open the East of the auguration of a Shaw Art Market at the Cornerstone River locations of his popular restaurant without the at 625 T Street NW. Each of the plastic bubbles pregrant from the new fund. viously used by the HalfSmoke restaurant to serve Mayor Bowser also used the occasion to introduce outdoor diners will feature a local artist, offering artthe new director of the Mayor’s Office of Nightlife work for holiday gift giving. The Shaw Art Market and Culture, Solander Vander Nat. Ms. Vander Nat will be open weekends in December through Sunhas had 11 years of experience managing nightlife day, December 19. and event planning programs, most recently directing There were other holidays being celebrated durHook Hall’s pandemic meal kit program for workers ing the season. Shaw’s famous dive bar Ivy and Coin the hospitality industry. ney (1537 Seventh Street NW) is bringing back its The event was closed by FishScale co-owner annual Hanukkah Bar decorations, in a year when Kristal Williams, who invited attendees to sample the Hanukkah starts early. Next door, The Passenger fish burgers and other items their restaurant offered.
Shaw Gears Up for the Holidays
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Oyster Oyster, Shaw Restaurants Get Respect
Oyster Oyster (1440 Eighth Street NW), Shaw’s hot plant-based restaurant, received a notable honor recently when it joined Esquire magazine’s prestigious list of the Best New Restaurants in America, 2021. Esquire describes the restaurant as “one of experimental exuberance, where chef Rob Rubba serves watermelon with peanuts and oysters (it just works) and a dish of mushroom, corn truffle, and potato that tastes like the forest floor in the best way possible.” Oyster Oyster also topped the new Washingtonian magazine Reader’s Poll as Best New Restaurant. Ghostburger, the Shaw pandemic pop-up at Espita Mezcaleria (1250 Ninth Street NW) that has gone permanent, took the No. 1 spot for Best Pop-Up. The Dabney (122 Blagden Alley NW) was the best restaurant for a Special Occasion in the poll (Vice President Harris and First Gentleman Emhoff celebrated his birthday there in October), while Unconventional Diner (1207 Ninth Street NW) took the title for best Family-Style Carryout. Columbia Room (124 Blagden Alley NW) had the Best Cocktails, with Shaw establishment Oohh’s and Aahh’s (1005 U Street NW) winning Best Soul Food, Capo Italian Deli (715A Florida Avenue NW) taking Best Sandwiches, All Purpose (1250 Ninth Street NW) for Best Pizza, and Beau Thai (1550 Seventh Street NW) for Best Thai. Other Shaw establish-
DeAndre Green of Stop Smack’n Restaurant collects Shawbucks during Shaw Business Saturday. Photo: Alexander Padro
