Distrikt Bistro, which has been serving meals in the lobby of the Washington DC Jewish Community Center for more than three years, has officially closed.
The kosher restaurant, an upscale Mediterranean and Sephardi restaurant with a heavy dose of Spanish cuisine, first shut its doors in May to undertake major kitchen repairs. However, on Monday, owner Michael Medina said the bistro was closed for good.
“We are not renewing [the contract] based upon the limited-service proposal we received from Michael Medina. We are committed to providing a full-service kosher restaurant, which we will be announcing in the coming weeks,” said Michael Baumstein, chief operating officer at the JCC.
Medina is considering opening a similar restaurant in a different location.
Meanwhile, the Char Bar, a kosher restaurant specializing in meat cooked over an open grill, will be opening “any day now,” said owner Sina Soumekhian.
Soumekhian, along with partner Marc Zweben, decided to open a new restaurant once they learned that Eli’s, their current restaurant, had lost its lease, and its building was scheduled for demolition.
Construction is complete at Char Bar, which will be located at 2142 L St., N.W., in the District, and the proper permits have been obtained, Soumekhian said. Once Char Bar opens, Eli’s will be closed, he said of the eatery which has been the go-to restaurant for kosher dinners in Washington, D.C., since 2004.
The two men also operate Blue Star Kosher in North Bethesda.
