DCist: 7 Restaurant Openings We’re Excited For This Summer
While summer can be a slower season for dining, eager restaurateurs and owners continue to work on the next wave of openings in D.C. From Korean pub food to a Latin food hall, here are the newcomers to keep an eye on throughout the summer months.
While summer can be a slower season for dining, eager restaurateurs and owners continue to work on the next wave of openings in D.C. From Korean pub food to a Latin food hall, here are the newcomers to keep an eye on throughout the summer months.
After a 2017 fire damaged the interior of what was then Mandu on 18th St., chef and owner Danny Lee vowed to rebuild the popular Korean restaurant. What took shape was a home for Anju, a Korean pub serving food meant to be paired with soju and other drinks. Think grilled meat skewers, bibimbap, and sides. Anju is expected to open in July.
Washington City Paper: What You'll Eat at Anju When the Korean Pub and Restaurant Opens in July
If there's one dish that speaks to the style of cooking at Anju, opening next month, it's yukhoe. Korea's answer to steak tartare is typically made with raw beef, a sesame oil-based dressing, Asian pear, and an egg. "Our thought process is looking at the list of ingredients that go into a dish and then finding some method or technique we can tweak along the way to make it our own and a little more elevated," explains Danny Lee, one of the co-owners of the Korean pub and restaurant.
If there's one dish that speaks to the style of cooking at Anju, opening next month, it's yukhoe. Korea's answer to steak tartare is typically made with raw beef, a sesame oil-based dressing, Asian pear, and an egg. "Our thought process is looking at the list of ingredients that go into a dish and then finding some method or technique we can tweak along the way to make it our own and a little more elevated," explains Danny Lee, one of the co-owners of the Korean pub and restaurant.
The yukhoe diners will try at Anju, which translates to food that goes great with alcohol, has a few twists. Instead of using granulated sugar in the sesame dressing, Executive Chef Angel Barreto uses palm sugar to increase viscosity. He also finely dices and then freezes the Asian pear so that it slowly melts once added to the tartare mixture, keeping it cold as you eat. This strategy mimics the chill of traditional yukhoe, which often utilizes barely-thawed beef. (Some restaurants must freeze their beef because they can't get it in fresh daily.) Barreto will also mix in sweet and spicy basil seeds and finish the dish off with grated egg yolk and crispy lotus root chips for scooping.
Anju replaces the original Mandu, which suffered a fire almost two years ago at 1805 18th St. NW. Mandu served bibimbap, chap-chae, dumplings, and sojutini cocktails for more than a decade. With Anju, Lee and his mom, Yesoon Lee, added to their team by bringing in Danny's partners at Fried Rice Collective—Scott Drewno and Drew Kim. The trio is behind the smash hit CHIKO.
PoPville: Liquor License Placard Posted at Anju Korean Restaurant and Pub
Last week I mentioned that the original Mandu space gutted by fire nears reopening as Anju, Korean Restaurant and Pub. The liquor license placard is calling for longer hours Sunday through Thursday 11:30am – 1:00am, Friday and Saturday 11:30am – 2am. Which is good. But still looks like a bit of a ways to go before opening:
Last week I mentioned that the original Mandu space gutted by fire nears reopening as Anju, Korean Restaurant and Pub. The liquor license placard is calling for longer hours Sunday through Thursday 11:30am – 1:00am, Friday and Saturday 11:30am – 2am. Which is good. But still looks like a bit of a ways to go before opening:
PoPville: Original Mandu space gutted by fire nears reopening as Anju, Korean Restaurant and Pub
Been almost a years since our last Mandu on 18th Street update. Mandu suffered a devastating fire back in July 2017.
The renovated spot is in the “final stages of opening” and has now launched their social media pages:
Been almost a years since our last Mandu on 18th Street update. Mandu suffered a devastating fire back in July 2017.
The renovated spot is in the “final stages of opening” and has now launched their social media pages:
Washingtonian: 5 DC Food Trends to Expect in 2019
Meanwhile, DC will get its first Korean barbecue restaurant with tabletop grills this year from the owner of Duke’s Grocery. (Meokja Meokja is a KBBQ newcomer worth checking out in the burbs.) And Anju, a Korean pub from the Chiko team, will offer groups jeongol (a Korean-style hot pot) bubbling from tabletop burner in its upstairs dining room.
Meanwhile, DC will get its first Korean barbecue restaurant with tabletop grills this year from the owner of Duke’s Grocery. (Meokja Meokja is a KBBQ newcomer worth checking out in the burbs.) And Anju, a Korean pub from the Chiko team, will offer groups jeongol (a Korean-style hot pot) bubbling from tabletop burner in its upstairs dining room.
Washingtonian: The Team Behind Chiko Is Opening Anju, a Korean Pub and Grill in the Original Mandu Space
Days before chefs Danny Lee and Scott Drewno opened Chiko last summer, the Lee family’s 11-year-old Korean restaurant Mandu burned in an electrical fire. The original 18th Street location has remained closed since, as Lee and his mom Yesoon Lee have dealt with the damage and tried to decide whether to shut down or rebuild. (Another K Street branch remains open.)
Days before chefs Danny Lee and Scott Drewno opened Chiko last summer, the Lee family’s 11-year-old Korean restaurant Mandu burned in an electrical fire. The original 18th Street location has remained closed since, as Lee and his mom Yesoon Lee have dealt with the damage and tried to decide whether to shut down or rebuild. (Another K Street branch remains open.)
Ultimately, they decided to stay. Along with Fried Rice Collective (the restaurant group started by Lee, Drewno, and Matchbox co-founder Drew Kim), they’re transforming the space into something new: Anju, a Korean pub with grilled meats, fun snacks, and plenty of soju.
If the name sounds familiar, that’s because the Lees hosted a late-night Anju pop-up series in 2014 with a rotating cast of top chefs serving Korean-fusion drinking snacks. The name literally translates to “food consumed with alcohol,” Lee says. But it also connotes places where you can find fun drinking food in a lively atmosphere. “You’re not held down to being the most traditional restaurant,” he explains.
Eater DC: A Korean Pub Is Setting Up Shop Inside the Shuttered Mandu Space
D.C.’s original Mandu has been dark since its damaging electrical fire last summer, and now it’s getting a second life as a cool Korean bar and grill from Team Chiko, reports Washingtonian.
D.C.’s original Mandu has been dark since its damaging electrical fire last summer, and now it’s getting a second life as a cool Korean bar and grill from Team Chiko, reports Washingtonian.
Danny Lee, who owns the 11-year-old Dupont Circle site (1805 18th Street NW) with his mom Yesoon Lee, is roping in his partners at critically acclaimed Chinese-Korean fusion Chiko on Barracks Row (Fried Rice Collective’s Scott Drewno and Matchbox co-founder Drew Kim) to reopen as Anju.
The new restaurant pays homage to its late-night Anju pop-up series days back in 2014. The name means “food consumed with alcohol,” Lee tells Washingtonian, but it’s also about enjoying drinking food in an upbeat setting. Mandu maintains a second location on 453 K Street NW, which opened in 2011.
Anju’s bar will grow a bit as part of the renovation, serving rice wine-based cocktails, Korean beers, and soju concoctions, alongside an open kitchen with custom wood-fired grills designed for Korean barbecue. Cooked meats will be paired with kimchi and small seasonal sides, and few of Mandu’s greatest hits like bibimbap are expected to make a comeback.
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