José Andrés Sells the Old Café Atlantico/Minibar Building (Updated)

Looks like the address that has housed a number of José Andrés concepts over the years will soon be occupied by a new chef. Young & Hungry reports that chef Frederik De Pue of 42? Catering and the upcoming Table in Shaw, has bought the building at 405 8th St. NW (with help from investors) for an undisclosed price. The Belgian chef says the new restaurant "will be something new for Penn Quarter that doesn't currently exist."

The building was previously the home to Cafe Atlantico, the pop-up restaurant America Eats Tavern and minibar, which recently started taking reservations at its new home over in the former Zola Wine & Kitchen space. No response yet from ThinkFoodGroup on why they decided to sell the building rather than outfit it with a new Andrés concept (or even move minibar back there eventually as Andrés has hinted in the past).

UPDATE: ThinkFoodGroup's Rob Wilder weighed in via email on the company's decision to sell.

"As our plans evolved for minibar by josé andrés and our ThinkFoodTank for Research & Development, we realized that the space at 405 8th Street was not ideal for us. That building has been a very special place for Jose and myself and all of us at ThinkFoodGroup - a place of innovation for much of two decades. It was not an easy decision, but we were very intrigued and excited by the plans of Frederik and his partners, and we knew the home we had there for many years was going into very talented hands. We are excited to see what he has in store, and as neighbors we know we will be guests and fans."

·Frederik De Pue Opening a Restaurant in Former Café Atlántico Building  [WCP]
·Jose Andres Moves Minibar While He Mulls Its Ultimate Future [ -EDC- ]

[Photo: Nicole O./Yelp]