Le Diplomate Reopens for Takeout This Week After a Month of Eerie Silence on 14th Street

Bonjour, old friend

Gabe Hiatt/Eater D.C.

Le Diplomate, the meticulously appointed French cafe in Logan Circle that has been one of D.C.’s marquee dining draws since the moment it opened seven years ago, will reopen for takeout and delivery Wednesday after a month of uncharacteristic inactivity on 14th Street NW. For the past four weeks, the white paper covering the windows of the venue served as a jarring reminder of the new normal while the novel coronavirus has forced the city to enact a dine-in ban that will go on through at least May 15. On Sunday, the restaurant announced in an Instagram post that a limited menu featuring favorites like steak frites, roast chicken, and its Big Mac-inspired burger Américain would soon become available for curbside pickup (via call-in orders) and delivery (Caviar; Doordash). As of Monday morning, a takeout beverage menu hadn’t yet been filled out.

In other news ...

• Makan, the Malaysian restaurant from Maketto alum James Wozniuk that debuted in Columbia Heights weeks before the pandemic arrived in Washington, reopened for takeout and Uber Eats delivery this weekend. The ground-floor venue is serving a short menu that includes char kway teow noodles, beef rendang, nasi lemak (jasmine coconut rice with sambal, dried anchovies, and chicken confit) for dinner from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
• A new, women-owned coffee roasting company called Rako just launched, Washingtonian reports. D.C. area customers get free shipping on bags of single-origin beans from Sumatra, Burundi, Ethiopia, and Guatemala. The company, which roasts its beans in Lorton, Virginia, is donating 10 percent of sales to Erik Bruner-Yang’s Power of 10 initiative.
• Hill East neighborhood bar Trusty’s has started opening on Sundays (2 p.m. to 6 p.m.) for takeout and local bike delivery orders of craft beers and bar food like chips and queso or buffalo chicken cheesesteaks.

• Founding Farmers, the local chain that serves farm-to-table fare for swaths of tourists and regulars, shared on its blog that it is using a “food-safe fogging agent” called MAPS-1 RTU to disinfect its restaurants.