Columbia Room’s Hoagie Pop-Up Adds Garden Seats and More Bottled Cocktails

Columbia Room beverage manager Paul Taylor’s new pop-up Get A Hero Be A Hero will expand into a summertime sit-down fixture that pairs subs with bottled cocktails, Washingtonian reports. Now called Your Only Friend, pandemic-era subs — like the best-selling Italian-style “Mort & Mootz” with mortadella and mozzarella — can be paired with a strawberry frosé and a slushie spin on the Spanish wine-cola Kalimotxo. Upscale drinking snacks like miso party mix and a cookie ice cream sandwich can also be enjoyed on Columbia Room’s garden patio and Blagden Alley. Lunch and dinner reservations go live Thursday, June 25 on Tock (pickup and delivery are also available).

Captain Cookie [official]

New cookie shop in Eastern Market

Captain Cookie, the D.C. food truck and food hall vendor, has announced it will open a new brick-and-mortar location in Eastern Market on Thursday, July 2 (660 Pennsylvania Avenue SE). Daily hours will be 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. to start. Along with its eponymous cookies, Captain Cookie is known for its local milk and ice cream sandwiches. Owners Juliann and Kirk Francis also maintain two locations in Foggy Bottom and Brookland. Their latest digs in Eastern Market replace a former Pitango Gelato space. Sorrell Design gave the space a comic book-themed transformation.

Pretty Penny close to opening

Pennyroyal Station, a long-awaited comfort food spot in Mount Rainier, Maryland, is getting closer to its big reveal. Executive chef Jesse Miller posted a photo of new flower murals splashed around the V-shaped property that’s expected to welcome its first diners soon. Miller exited Bar Pilar last year with Erin Edwards, going all in on the all-day cafe and bar just across the D.C. border. Passion Food Hospitality alum Garrick Lumsden is also a partner. The refurbished 1920s-era property (3310 Rhode Island Avenue), which involved a time-intensive overhaul of an historic property, has been teasing diners with a “coming soon” status since 2017.

BYO people at People’s Drug

The retro cocktail bar in Old Town has found a creative way to ease guests’ minds during an ongoing pandemic. Instead of opening to the public, the bar lets groups of friends (six to 10) rent the entire space for their own small get-togethers. There’s two dinner seatings from Monday to Sunday, and two blocks for brunch on weekends (with deep cleanings between each). The price ($50 plus $10 gratuity) include food and two cocktails. Reserve at 571-251-8851. Party platters include charcuterie and cheese boards, burger sliders, chicken sliders, truffle fries, and Brussels sprouts.

Remembering a pastry legend

The Washington Post has an obituary on Dieter Schorner, an accomplished pastry chef who cooked for Jaqueline Kennedy and Nancy Reagan, spearheaded an ’80s revival for creme brulee at Manhattan restaurant Le Cirque, and operated Patisserie-Cafe Didier in Georgetown. [WaPo]

Former Trump aide flouts mask rules

Twitter user Justin Peligri shared a post last night that alleged Sebastian Gorka, a right-wing radio host and former aide to President Donald Trump, was flouting D.C.’s Phase 2 Reopening protocol during dinner at Sette Osteria on 14th Street NW. The tweet says Gorka did not wear a mask, demanded to see a print menu, got into “an altercation” with another customer, and “was by all accounts rude.” Peligri confirms he took the photo he tweeted of Gorka, who is reportedly being considered for a leadership role in the government agency that oversees Voice of America despite a long track record of espousing Islamophobic and anti-Semitic rhetoric, on a busy patio. D.C. requires restaurant customers to wear masks when they’re not eating or drinking.