Astro Doughnuts & Fried Chicken Joins a New Takeout Collective in Shaw

Astro Doughnuts & Fried Chicken, the downtown D.C.-based brand known for thick, yeasty confections in rotating flavors and signatures like a torched creme brulee, just added a new outpost for pickup and third-party delivery in Shaw. Astro, which also has an outpost in Northern Virginia, is sharing kitchen space and operating expenses with Prescription Chicken and Saya Salteña in the storefront at 1819 Seventh Street NW. Prescription Chicken, which started out as a soup delivery business and has expanded into grocery stores, added its first carryout location last fall when it saw an opportunity to move into the restaurant vacated by Mason Dixie Biscuit Co. Bringing in Astro and Saya Salteña, which sells Bolivian pastries with a sweet dough and fillings like spicy beef or butternut squash and pumpkin, allows all three companies to shrink their overhead costs. Astro’s menu for the takeout and delivery spot brings breakfast sandwiches (8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.) back to the space, offering fried chicken and/or eggs served on brioche, biscuits, or doughnuts. There are also lunchtime sandwiches and cookies from its Satellite Sandwiches ghost kitchen.

In other news ...

• Following President Joe Biden’s pit stop at Call Your Mother’s bagel shop in Georgetown, several news outlets offered follow-up coverage exploring the business bump a visit from the executive branch of government can provide. Co-owner Andrew Dana told the Washington Post that the shop that received the visit posted a 100 percent increase in sales on the day after the visit, and two other locations were up by 33 percent. Washingtonian reported on how D.C. restaurants desperate to add clout from such a visit were reaching out to every fringe contact they had to lobby for a visit from the Biden or VP Kamala Harris. Some people were just upset Biden’s party ordered their bagels toasted.
• Brightwood Park newcomer Mita Cafe offers up an interesting mix: Japanese sushi alongside Ethiopian kifto sandwiches. [DCist]
• Sofitel DC and Riggs DC are two local examples of luxury hotels that are offering short rental blocks to turn rooms into private dining venues. [W]