Those of you who tried to eat at the new Dupont Circle location of BGR: The Burger Joint yesterday or today, please accept Y&H’s apologies. I reported earlier this week that Mark Bucher’s latest burger emporium would open one of those two days. It didn’t.

I haven’t been able to reach Bucher yet for an explanation, but I’m sure there’s a half-way decent excuse, like he dropped dead in the street. (Just kidding, Bucher!) I did get a BGR press release, though, late this afternoon. The location is now set, officially, to open on Monday.

Though two weeks later than expected, BGR: The Burger Joint will open this week on Dupont Circle, giving that high-trafficked area another hamburger option in a neighborhood thick with them. Founder and co-owner Mark Bucher says the third location of his mini-chain should debut on Thursday, unless there are complications with the city zoning inspection, which would then push the opening to Friday.

The restaurant at 1514 Connecticut Ave. NW is about the same size as the Bethesda location, at least on the first level, but because the Dupont store has a basement for food prep, it can squeeze more seats into the space. There are 60 seats at the new spot, which is good, because interest is high in BGR Dupont, despite the fact that locals can already grab burgers at Fuddruckers, Five Guys, Johnny Rockets, and Darlington House.

“Man oh man,” says Bucher, “People are going crazy, and we haven’t even opened yet.” The founder said he put 1, 000 paper menus by the front door today. By this afternoon, they were gone.

Read More “Dupont BGR: The Burger Joint Set to Open Thursday or Friday” »

The blueprints for what will become Dupont’s best burger joint.

Mark Bucher, founder and co-owner of BGR: The Burger Joint, gave Y&H a walk-through preview of the forthcoming shop in the PNC Bank building on Dupont Circle. A preview may be something of a stretch. The site is still a construction zone.

Still, the construction site offers an interesting snapshot of the changing nature of Dupont Circle. The BGR location was, many decades ago, a residential townhouse. It’ll become a burger shop in about three weeks, Bucher promises.

Take a look at the photos after the jump.

Read More “A Really Early Look at BGR: The Burger Joint on Dupont Circle” »

This blog has gone to Hell, and readers are taking Select 55 with it. For Christ’s sake, people, can we get over this Budweiser post, which tops the list for the third straight week?

The most-read items for the week:

1. Budweiser Launches Select 55, Light Beer Arms Race Gets Absurd
2. Not So Fast: There’s No Deal for a Ray’s Hell Burger in Adams Morgan
3. No Hell Burger for Adams Morgan, but a Ray’s the Steaks for NE
4. Did Vidalia Use “Inferior” Ingredients During Restaurant Week?
5. Drool List: Pizzeria Paradiso at Dupont Circle
   

If you live in the District and suddenly get a case of the Pho-king Shakes — that weak-in-the-knees condition that will be cured only with a bowl of rice noodles, fatty brisket, raw round steak, and veggies drowning in beef broth — your remedy requires a long Metro ride to some gray strip-mall outpost in the ‘burbs. It’s like the coke addict who has to brave the projects for a fix.

Fortunately, some noodles houses have now popped up in the District to satisfy our cravings for pho, including Saigon Bistro off Dupont Circle, which features not one but two chefs who recently emigrated from Vietnam. Huong T. Van handles soup duties here, and her offerings include not only pho but also hu tieu (a rice noodle soup with seafood or pork stock) and mi (an egg noodle soup with seafood or pork stock).

Read More “Is It Now Possible to Get Good Pho in the District? Well, Sometimes.” »

Don’t look now, but BGR: The Burger Joint is about to become the next hamburger chain in the metro area.

Mark Bucher, founder and co-owner of BGR, told Y&H this afternoon that he has agreed in principle to open his third Burger Joint on Dupont Circle. After a long negotiation period, Bucher expects to sign a lease soon with PNC Bank, the landlord of the space right on the circle, where the burger man will peddle the same beef-heavy menu that earned the Bethesda BGR location a spot on Y&H’s Dining Guide.

Last month, Don Rockwell reported that Bucher was going to open a second BGR in Old Town, in the former Timberman’s Pharmacy spot at 106 N. Washington. The 55-seat Alexandria store is expected to open in early August, Bucher says. The smaller, 40-seat Dupont location, which will likely adopt an edgier tone than the original Bethesda store, should open its doors in the fall, possibly as early as September, he adds.

Hmm, three stores. That’s starting to sound an awful lot like a burger chain.

“I hate that word,” Bucher spits. Yet he doesn’t hate it enough to halt his movement in that direction.

Read More “BGR: The Burger Joint Set to Open Third Store in Dupont Circle” »

Joints along this busy stretch in long-since-gentrified Dupont Circle have long struggled to overcome the rap that they live off of happy hour revenues at their spacious patios. And Trio Restaurant, a classic diner both in layout (throwback booths and an art-deco feel) and pay modality (you bring your check to the cashier) is doing little to change things. Stop by on any temperate afternoon, and the afterwork-drink crowds are bursting out of the place’s sidewalk space. Indeed, it takes beer goggles to make Trio’s menu palatable: The burgers are limp—especially the turkey burger, which doesn’t hold together too well—the fries are hit-or-miss, the seafood tastes like it came straight from the 17th Street Safeway (i.e., not terribly fresh), and the specials don’t deserve the appellation. The smart shopper skips both the booze and the fare and heads straight to the milkshakes, which are Trio’s grand contribution to the city’s diner fare. As if conscious of the menu’s shortcomings, the servers are generally friendly and particularly so to small children.