Dupont Circle’s Pansaari Is Closing, But Not Without One Last Bollywood Dance Party

Four years after providing Dupont Circle with live entertainment and paneer, Indian restaurant Pansaari plans to close at the end of the month.

“With one very heavy heart and a million memories, we announce that this is the end of the journey for #pansaari. We will be closing our doors on July 31st,” the restaurant posted on Instagram on Wednesday, July 25.

Pansaari opened back in 2014 as a combination Indian cafe, grocery store, and cooking school. Recently, it tried to get the stacking metal containers known in India as tiffins to catch on with D.C. takeout customers. “I couldn’t sleep with my conscience at night, knowing that all that plastic would be thrown away,” chef Rano Singh told Washingtonian, an idea that was ahead of the curve. Ridding of single-use plastic at restaurants has emerged as this summer’s cause célèbre.

As for why Pansaari is closing, Singh wrote on the restaurant’s Facebook page that he’d recently had “a series of major injuries - broken collarbone, broken foot, made it physically impossible to continue.”

The restaurant is going out with a Bollywood-themed bang.

“For one last time, join us in saying goodbye to Pansaari by taking the dance floor to Bollywood dance music,” according to a newly posted Facebook event. The going away party is slated to kick off at 7 p.m. on Sunday, July 29 with a $15 cash cover. There’s also a current sale on spices, utensils, serving ware, clothing, and furniture from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. during Pansaari’s last week, according to Facebook.

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• Pansaari [Facebook]