U Street Margarita Stop Bar Lorea Closes After Just Six Months

Lights out for Bar Lorea

Six months after bringing the U Street corridor a new option for guacamole, tacos made with Oaxacan corn tortillas, and more than 20 cocktails, Bar Lorea has already gone kaput. An opening partner confirmed the news to Eater. The 2,200-square-foot Mexican restaurant (2005 14th Street NW) replaced failed cocktail/retail combo Diet Starts Monday, which closed at the end of 2018. A wild weekday happy hour included $6 cocktails and $4 beers, with a taco Tuesday special that included two hours of bottomless tacos and two drinks for $28. The strip will soon get a new Mexican option with the expected summer arrival of Boston’s lauded Lolita Cocina & Tequila Bar, sliding into the corner space that formerly housed Greek darling Kapnos.

More hotel hotspots for D.C.

West Hollywood, California’s scene-y Viceroy Hotels & Resorts just unveiled details and renderings of its $8 million flip of Kimpton-managed Mason & Rook Hotel, reports WBJ. Refreshed dining options inside the new 178-room Viceroy Washington D.C. (1430 Rhode Island Avenue NW), expected to open this summer, include a glass-enclosed outdoor patio restaurant and bar and a breezy, French-themed coffee parlor. In the hotel’s previous life, lobby-level restaurant Radiator served global bites like lamb belly tacos and bacon fat fries. There’s also a postage stamp-sized pool upstairs, which Viceroy plans to revive. Dining area decor by EDG Interior Architecture + Design plans to “pay homage to Logan Circle’s jazz heritage,” adds WBJ. The Viceroy flag will also fly at the nearby ex-Donovan Hotel, reemerging this spring as female-themed Hotel Zena following a $25 million top-to-bottom redo.

Lazy Dog expands its paw print to NoVa

A massive, dog-friendly eatery out of California is en route to Northern Virginia. Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar posted two “coming soon” locations on its site. The first will arrive in Chantilly next month (14333 Newbrook Drive), followed by a spring debut inside Fair Oaks Mall in Fairfax. Along with plenty of cocktails and draft beers, its seasonal American menu includes crispy deviled eggs, spaghetti squash and “beetballs,” apple-sage pork chops, and barbecue bison meatloaf. Lazy Dog already operates three dozen outposts, mostly in California with a handful more across Texas, Colorado, Nevada, Illinois, and Georgia, where four-legged friends get their own menus. Each location is decked out in the brand’s Rocky Mountain lodge aesthetic, complete with cozy fireplaces and stone accents.

José Andrés goes to college

John’s Hopkins University in Baltimore just got a fast-casual offshoot of José Andrés’s Mexico City-influenced Oyamel in Chinatown. ThinkFoodGroup’s Butterfly Tacos y Tortas debuted for lunch service on Monday, January 27, serving grilled mushroom tacos, chicken Milanese tortas, salads, and to-go items. The new fuel option inside the revered school’s Levering Hall operates from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Top D.C. bartenders stir for a cause tonight

Ivy City’s One Eight Distillery will host a fundraiser for relief efforts in Puerto Rico and Australia from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. tonight (1135 Okie Street NE). Star D.C.bartenders will be mixing drinks, including Linda Jockers from the highly anticipated Silver Lyan cocktail bar, opening next month inside Penn Quarter’s Riggs Washington DC hotel. Organized by Jessie Marrero of Duffy’s Irish Pub, other mixologists at the event include Colin Cushman (Jack Rose) and Ryan Aston (DCBRAW). A donation of $20 at the door will get guests four drinks.