Redesigned Bombay Club Introduces a Fresh Look With a Dozen New Dishes

Bombay Club, a power dining staple downtown for over three decades, reopened Monday, August 2, with a completely revamped design and a dozen new dishes to go along with best-sellers like tandoori salmon, chicken tikka, and thali combos served on silver platters. New starters from chef Nilesh Singhvi include crab kori roti, fish in a banana leaf, and dahi puri chaat. Other additions include a whole goat leg for two and halibut green korma with coconut and green pepper. “I want to keep Bombay what it has been for 30-plus years, then put new energy in here and do it right,” says owner Ashok Bajaj of his original D.C. restaurant. Aside from a massive bronze chandelier hovering over the 94-seat dining room, “everything you’re looking at is all new,” he says. London-based ARA Design spruced up the space with original art depicting traditional Indian dance moves, jewel-toned seating at the bar, and one-of-a-kind wallpaper in the private dining room.

In other news...

• Neapolitan pizza shop Pupatella just raised $7.5 million to open as many as 15 more locations over the next few years across the DMV and beyond. Up next: West Springfield and Fairfax (Mosaic) and its first locale in Maryland.
• The Mendelsohn family’s We, the Pizza is planting 50-seat “express” outpost at the ground floor of the Ellington apartment building at 1301 U Street NW, per an ABRA filing.
• CitiOpen’s first-time food truck tour is rolling around town to drop off dishes prepared by some prominent D.C. chefs. The mobile kitchen is at Union Market today for lunch from John Mooney (Bidwell) and Mexican popsicle shop Paletas. It parks at the Citi Open site at Rock Creek Park Tennis Center with Jassi Bindra (Punjab Grill) and Paletas on Wednesday, August 4.
• And Rafael Nadal of Spain — the international tennis star set to play in the tournament on Wednesday, August 4 — was spotted at Georgetown’s Fiola Mare and Levain Bakery over the weekend, per social media posts.
• In other celebrity sightings news, comedian Dave Chappelle tore up D.C. after his Anthem performance on Friday, July 30, boozing with former D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty at West End’s Casta’s Rum Bar, singing at Heist’s Kennedy Center pop-up, and shopping at Maketto.

• Tuesday happy hour alert: find $5 cans from Boulevard Brewing at The Game (6 p.m. to 9 p.m.) and rum tastings from Filipino brand Kasama at Barkada (5 p.m. to 7 p.m.) and Purple Patch (7 p.m. to 9 p.m.).