Yes, But Will There Be Customer-Behavior Videos? Silver Spring's Pacci's Neapolitan Pizzeria will be opening up a sibling restaurant in the old General Store space in Forest Glen where Gillian Clark, her fried chicken, and her video production work once found a home. [Eater D.C.]

Smoothing Things Over: Oh, Spike Mendelsohn. He is clarifying his D.C.-is-a-second-tier-city comments that have gotten him into trouble this week. "There is nothing secondary about DC in my mind," says the cable television reality chef. Eh, there's always the Taste of Arlington! [People's District, The Hill Is Home, Eater D.C., D.C. Füd]

Libations: These desserts will get you drunk if you consume enough of them. [The Feast]

Excitement Buds in Bloomingdale: For those eagerly waiting updates on the development of the future Engine Company 12 restaurant on North Capitol Street: "Be patient, everyone — we will soon (in the not too distant future) have our very own wine & cheese bar (plus retail shop), courtesy of one of our very own Bloomingdale residents." [PoP]

Tips From Tom: You can use bartender tipping strategies at Starbucks! From Tom Sietsema's weekly chat, responding to an inquiry about tipping for carry-out service: "I periodically tip $5 to my favorite baristas at Starbucks and guess who gets his double espresso quickly even when there's a long line of java junkies in front of him? Definitely worth the outlay." [WaPo]

Tips for Your Herbs: "[T]here's nothing convenient about coming home with arms full of groceries, ready to cook your magnificent, herb-laden feast, only to find that your parsley and dill from three days ago have melted into a yellow-brown puddle of slime." So true! Here's a good primer on how to make the most of what you buy in the herb department. [Serious Eats]

Photo by Flickr user uchiuska using an Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic Creative Commons license

Back and Forth: For those keeping score in the battle between Gillian Clark and her landlord over the now-closed General Store near Silver Spring? Tim Carman tracked down Spiro Gioldasis, who said there "was a simple reason for his tax woes: Clark and General Store co-owner Robin Smith owed him back rent dating to April 2010." [WaPo]

A Dive Bar in Condo Land: As Clarendon's redevelopment continues to push into the N. 10th Street corridor, could these be the last days of Jay's Saloon and Grille? [ARLNow]

Historic Nugget: Macaroni and Cheese "is actually English. Well, kind of. It’s apparently been popular in England for the last hundred years or so, but its American heritage wins out because Thomas Jefferson reportedly enjoyed it at the White House in 1802. There you go, Yanks, getting everything good before we do." [Washingtonian]

Lingo: At the new Hill Country BBQ in Penn Quarter, there's new vocabulary to speed service along. "Tommy!" "Dolly!" "Texas black-eyed caviar!" [The Feast]

Photo by Flickr user kalleboo using an Attribution 2.0 Generic Creative Commons license

This afternoon, word trickled out about the sudden closure of The General Store. The following message was posted to The General Store's Facebook page:

It's with heavy hearts we're announcing that The General Store is closed. For the entire 4+ years we've been involved with this building we have been bullied by the landlords. The landlord has not paid his back taxes and the county is taking back the building. We want to take this opportunity to thank all of you for being more than just customers. We consider all of you friends.

Young & Hungry reached out to Clark for more details, and she sent us the following statement:

In 2006 we fell in love with this little blue building in Forest Glen. We knew we were working with landlords that were themselves in the business, so we were confident that they understood what could happen in this little place with us as the management team. Still, they offered to have their chef at Mrs. K’s teach me how to make fried chicken.

Looking at the mess it was inside did not deter us and we were determined to make a restaurant out of it. We were about two years into the renovation—the whole floor needed to be ripped up, although he dug out the basement (without permits) the landlord poured it two inches too short, PEPCO determined the power to be insufficient, and we later learned there was not enough parking to make it a restaurant anyway. Through all of this the landlord sued us. We spent tens of thousands in legal fees, and hundreds of thousands to avoid bankruptcy and finish this project. We knew that it would be great once it opened.

And it was—three times on the Food Network and over a million in sales in 26 short months with less than 40 seats. The landlord with two restaurants of his own nearby, could barely pay his bills and could not keep up with the payments to the lenders or his property taxes. The notice from the county about the back taxes was stapled to our door one morning. And shortly after that, the process server came to insist that we come in to landlord/tenant court to face charges that we were behind in our rent.

Considering our difficulty opening, and debt load associated with it; we made arrangements to pay a weekly rent that has been in effect for over a year. We were paying as agreed (the landlord even giving us a thumbs up to a creditor just weeks ago). He suddenly declared us in default and he wanted us to pay him an unfounded and ridiculous amount of money and he wanted it now. We fear he’s just not able to pay the debt and tax bills associated with the place and suing us and gaining possession of the property will make a much neater end for him. Nonetheless, he presented false documents in court and perjured himself to get the judge to see his side.

I am attaching before and after pictures so you can see what it is we did to this place and if he is able to run this restaurant after he takes possession of it (if you can’t make a restaurant of your own successful why not steal one) it will be because of our hard work and vision.

We are grateful and proud of having the opportunity to be The General Store and to serve this community as best as we were able. We took this eyesore of a building and made it something great.

So many others drove by it and crossed it off of their list (other chefs, architects, business people). We were undaunted and stubborn. At times we came close to giving up and sometimes I think maybe we should have turned away. But I’m proud of what we did here. We were plumb out of money but there was a knife to our backs to finish and open—attorneys, landlord, judges were folding their arms and tapping their feet. We tiled the floors, we painted, we got that walk-in together—8 feet tall walk in cooler in a 7 foot 11 inch high space. But it has been too much bullying from the landlord and we are just too old to keep fighting. I’m sure you noticed that Robin and I are IT. We are here 16 hours a day. We’ll get some rest now and concentrate on our other projects.

I hope the New General Store or whatever takes its place when the landlord gets someone else to lease the space, I hope it thrives for the sake of this community that has always been so generous and supportive.

Young & Hungry tried to contact the landlord in question, Spiro Gioldasis, without success. Montgomery County records show a lien on Gioldasis' property at 6 Post Office Road.

Photo of Gillian Clark at her former restaurant, Colorado Kitchen, by Darrow Montgomery

Some nuggets from Carman's profile:

"...Clark and her four older siblings were not allowed to call anyone 'stupid' or tell them to 'shut up.' 'My mother didn't raise me to be rude, and she'd be horrified at the notion that I was anything but gracious to somebody,' she tells me."

Says Ann Cashion of Cashion's Eat Place: "She doesn't feel any need to sort of disguise how she feels if somebody is being ridiculous. That is sort of how she deals with everybody in the world. ... She's always dishing it out."

"In April 2003, she wrote a long note to The Post's Tom Sietsema defending her rule for no-dish substitutions or customizations at Colorado Kitchen. 'Personally, I prefer the way Herbert von Karajan conducts Beethoven's Third Symphony,' she wrote. 'But I would never ask Zubin Mehta to finish the Adagio with the hesitant 3/8 that Herb finishes with.'

[WaPo]

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

Those words have stuck with me ever since. Granted, Mr. Lin was joking in part, but he knew some customers could be nasty and very unreasonable. And he wanted me to be prepared for when the worst ones would come through. Mr. Lin would not hesitate to tell unreasonable customers—like the ones who were shocked by his usually dark brown fried rice and demanded he make a more traditional slightly brown fried rice for them—that they could leave. He had a loyal following and could afford to lose customers who just weren't worth bending over backwards for. (That being said, he would be happy make substitutions and honor most special requests in entreés. You just had to be civil about it and not make a fuss.)

So, when I watch chef Gillian Clark's YouTube videos where her General Store crew did some re-enactments of the stupid, impolite, and otherwise inane things customers can do, I'm not all that fazed. Some folks are, obviously.

First, the videos are clearly trying to be funny (even if they fall flat). Second, it's somewhat refreshing to see restaurant staff blow off some steam when they regularly have to deal with their more dense customers. So when I read the commenter from Todd Kliman's food chat earlier this week who said "this public mocking of the people who want to give her money seems to be beyond the pale," I have to laugh a bit.

Think about all the pent-up frustration that exists in the food-service industry. It's better to channel that energy on a stupid YouTube video than have a pissed-off waiter spit in your food, right?

At least Gillian Clark is no Bon Qui Qui. "Security!" Clark and business partner Robyn Smith are focused on their cooking. As Tim Carman wrote last year:

Maybe the pair is trying to redefine the hospitality business. I don’t know. I don’t care all that much, either. Clark and Smith appear to channel all their energies toward the kitchen, not their customers. If that imbalance leaves a bad taste in your mouth, you’re likely not General Store material. I’ve learned after multiple visits just to accept that Clark’s warmth is hidden inside her dishes, whether her lightly dressed tarragon chicken salad sandwich or her chef-driven take on a Philly cheesesteak. Hell, her buttermilk fried chicken, all crunch and salty savor, is proof that a big, generous heart beats behind Gillian Clark’s moody public persona.

But I really hope that the gaggle of geese from Russia House last week pays the General Store a visit very soon. And I hope Clark records what would sure to be a spectacle.

Photo of Gillian Clark by Darrow Montgomery

Coming Soon:

• People's Bao, a bao food truck will be hitting the streets sometime around February, serving up Asian specialty steamed buns with a variety of fillings. (Metrocurean)
• Three-level neighborhood bistro Smith Commons, which will feature a globally inspired menu, is scheduled to open on Tuesday at 1245 H St. NE. (Y&H)
• Tim Carman got the scoop on Gillian Clark's grand plans for a new Colorado Kitchen near Union Station. (WaPo)
• Big things are happening in Crystal City. Only a few days short of the grand opening of its first Buffalo Wild Wings, Fairfax-based Paisano's Pizza has also announced it will be adding a location at Market Square at Potomac Yard. (ARLnow)
• Crystal City isn't the only place getting a new pizza joint: Angelico's Pizza is on its way to 1421 H St. NE. (Prince of Petworth)
• And the next NYC restaurant heading to D.C. is...Hill Country BBQ! A Penn Quarter location at 406 7th St. NW is slated to open in March and will feature all sorts of barbecued goodness. (PQ Living)
• After nearly three years of speculation, multiple sources are claiming that U.K.-based noodle shop Wagamama may finally be on the path to opening in Chinatown sometime next year. (DCist)
• The D.C. Alcoholic Beverage Control Board has granted the Dupont location of Hank's Oyster Bar permission to expand into its neighboring retail space at 1622 Q St. NW. (Borderstan)

Openings:

• The Big Cheese truck
• Tegeste in Columbia Heights
• Pho DC in Chinatown
• Yola in Dupont Circle

Photo of some nice looking Xiaolong bao from Shanghai by Flickr user Gary Soup using an Attribution 2.0 Generic Creative Commons license

Photo of a grilled cheese sandwich by Flickr user pirateyjoe via a Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic Creative Commons license

In case you missed it last month, as Y&H did, chef Gillian Clark made an appearance on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, during which the General Store owner spilled the secrets to several of her best dishes, as if helpless against the spiky haired, bro-centric charms of Guy Fieri. She even gave the dude a demo on how to make her famous fried chicken, for which she received, in return, lots of air time and a vague sense that the host was trying to one-up her with his culinary knowledge.

The videos are finally available. Check 'em out.

Part two is after the jump. Clark reveals how she makes her mammoth Wagyu corn dogs.

It's been nearly two years since Y&H first reported about Gillian Clark's Petworth project, the Georgia Avenue Meeting House, and since that time the chef's other planned eatery, Avenue Oven in Takoma Park, has gone the way of the Adventists.

Given the lack of news about the Georgia Avenue Meeting House, I'd begun to fear that it, too, may have suffered a premature death. Not so, Clark told me today.

"The ball is rolling," Clark says, "but very slowly."

She and her business partner, Robin Smith, lost almost a year to arranging the financing. Apparently the partners' funding source kept dragging out the process until one day, via e-mail, Clark and Smith learned that the source had dried up.

Clark says they now have the money, which will start rolling in once D.C. issues a building permit. Assuming she gets her permits in a timely manner, Clark thinks construction will not take long and fully expects a March 2011 opening date.

The restaurant will serve genuine soul food, Clark tells me with no small amount of irony. Everyone thinks the General Store, her American-oriented eatery in Silver Spring, already serves soul food, but now she finally will. Look for turtle soup, catfish, and frog legs, among other specialties, on Clark's menu.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

6 Post Office Road, Silver Spring (301) 562-8787

Photo by Darrow Montgomery