RĀKO Coffee Roasters Opens a Clarendon Cafe This Weekend

Virginia’s women-owned RĀKO Coffee Roasters will open their first brick-and-mortar location on Saturday, August 28, in Clarendon. The day-to-night cafe (2016 Wilson Boulevard) will serve the hand-roasted, single-origin specialty coffees that RĀKO’s known for, as well as fun coffee drinks like lavender lattes, ginger rosemary lattes, and a “Coco Spritz.”

The outpost’s decor includes floral wallpaper and plush velvet booths, and sisters Lisa and Melissa Gerben plan to serve natural wines, cocktails like espresso martinis and coffee Negronis, and seasonal dishes as well as morning brews.

“Stop in and stay awhile while you work during the day or bring friends (or a date) and converse over wine flights and cheese boards on our outdoor patio at night,” the sisters wrote in an Instagram post about the new location. Another RĀKO outpost is already in the works for 14th Street, with a cafe at Logan Circle’s soon-to-be-renovated Studio Theatre.

Stop by during the Clarendon opening this weekend and get a deal on drinks: RĀKO will offer $1 coffees from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, while specially priced natural wines will be available all day until 9 p.m. On Sunday, coffee drinks will be just $1 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Photo:  Drago Tomianovic

In other news...

• British celeb chef Gordon Ramsay is bringing his fish and chips chain to downtown D.C. The Washington Business Journal reports that Gordon Ramsey Fish and Chips is incoming at 501 Seventh St. NW in Penn Quarter, and the exterior will be dressed up like one of London’s iconic red phone booths.
• Little Sesame will start serving hummus bowls in Bethesda, according to Washingtonian. The local fast-casual chain’s third store is slated to open this year at Bethesda Row.
• The Washington Business Journal interviews the owner of Luna Hall, a new food hall headed to Chinatown. Zong Chen’s seven-stall market will offer Shanghai-style soup dumplings, Taiwanese fried chicken, poke, ramen, and more.
• Anthropologie’s Terrain Café will reopen Friday after a pandemic hiatus, according to Bethesda Beat.
• PoPville spots an Argentinian restaurant incoming in the Union Market neighborhood: Lunas de Buenos Aires plans to serve empanadas and vermouth.