Call Your Mother Hopes to Open Its Georgetown Bagel Shop Before February

Georgetown is getting a Call Your Mother after all.

The nationally celebrated “Jew-ish” deli and bagel shop in Park View cleared a major legislative hurdle today that allows it to proceed with opening a second location inside a former flower shop (3428 O Street NW) anchored in one of the city’s richest neighborhoods.

Owner Andrew Dana says the Board of Zoning Adjustment voted unanimously today to grant Call Your Mother a critical variance that bypasses the pink-painted location’s designation as a retail space and allows it to run a prepared food shop. Although the shop won’t be equipped to do any serious cooking, staff will be allowed to toast bagels for customers on-site.

Dana says with the variance in-hand, the Georgetown shop needs to obtain a certificate of occupancy and a health inspection before opening. The goal is to open the shop by the end of January.

“I feel amazing,” Dana says, “but it’s just one type of anxiety replaced with another, because now we’re anxious to open and make sure that everything is perfect.”

The menu at the Georgetown outpost will initially be limited to bagels and bagel sandwiches, so don’t expect to find latkes or challah roll hoagies there.

Some residents in the exclusive enclave protested Call Your Mother’s plans to move in. Jack Evans, who was the longest-serving member of the D.C. Council before resigning amid an ethics violation scandal last week, wrote a letter to the zoning board arguing it should deny the variance for the bagel shop because its famously long lines would block sidewalks, lead to traffic congestion, and accumulate trash that would attract rats.

• Georgetown NIMBYs Claim Call Your Mother Bagels Will Bring Rats to Their Backyard [EDC]
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• D.C.’s Call Your Mother Deli Is One of Eater’s Best New Restaurants in America [EDC]