Toki Underground's Erik Bruner-Yang to Open Maketto, a 'Next Generation Eastern Market'

Here is an incredibly delightful Friday surprise: Erik Bruner-Yang is working on a "next generation Eastern Market" project named Maketto just down the street from his year-old restaurant Toki Underground on H Street NE. In a piece today about the Popularise real estate crowdsourcing website, the Washington Post revealed a little about Bruner-Yang's plans to collaborate with Durkl's Will Sharp, writing that H Street's Popularise storefront would be split between Durkl and "an Asian-inspired eatery by Erik Bruner-Yang." Which is kind of only half the story.

Details are scarce — Bruner-Yang is traveling and thus unavailable for comment — but a rep explains to Eater that what will be going into the space is "a next generation Eastern market that offers a unique retail shopping and food experience in the H Street NE neighborhood." So not exactly a restaurant from Bruner-Yang — although there will be "restaurant elements" — but more of a shared marketplace space. The Popularise website provides the following description of Maketto:

The concept will be based around an inviting market place environment spearheaded by collaboration between the creators of DURKL and Toki Underground; combining both fashion and food, while at the same time giving local vendors an opportunity to market and sell their products.

We believe that H Street is ready for something new and different. A space that will operate both day and night, during the week and on weekends, providing an offering as diverse as the neighborhood itself. We think of it like a new age Eastern Market. We are excited about the potential possibilities for this project, and look forward to further developing the concept with the input and support of our future customers.

So now, just a year after Toki Underground came into the lives of Washingtonians and proceeded to do gangbusters business, its owner has not only the previously reported Suna collaboration to look forward to, but also an ambitious market planned for the neighborhood. Stay tuned for more details next week.

· How Popularise Brought Crowdsourcing to D.C.’s Commercial Real Estate Market [WaPo]
· All Previous Erik Bruner-Yang Coverage [-EDC-]