How many restaurants can one storefront hold before the neighborhood stops being surprised by the next one?
At 3226 11th Street NW, the count keeps climbing. The address has been a clothing store, then one of the most talked-about restaurants in the city, then a dive bar, and this fall it becomes a fast-casual Chinese-Korean counter. Anyone who has lived along this stretch for more than a few years has probably watched all four versions come and go without ever moving.
Four Names, One Doorway
Before it was anything with a line out the door, 3226 11th Street was Jeans N Things. Then it became Bad Saint, the Filipino restaurant that turned a 24-seat room into one of the hardest tables to get in Washington. People used to show up as early as 3:30 in the afternoon to stake a spot for a 5:30 opening, lawn chairs and bug spray included. When Bad Saint closed, Johnny's All-American moved into the same footprint as a more casual bar and grill. Johnny's has since closed too.
What comes next is Major Yum, a fast-casual spot from chef Scott Chung, who spent years building Bun'd Up, Sparrow Room, and Rice Crook before stepping away from all three to focus on this one. The signature dish is being billed as "Chung's Chicken," a mashup of General Tso's and Korean fried chicken, alongside banchan and a beer and wine list. PoPville broke the news back in July that the team was hoping for a late fall opening, and as of last week neighbors reported the space had gotten a fresh coat of paint, with a short video of the interior making the rounds. No fixed date yet, but the pace suggests this one is close.
The Corner Two Doors Down Isn't Any Steadier
Walk a few storefronts south and the pattern repeats. Room 11, the wine bar that helped put this stretch on the map and earned a Food & Wine nod for Best New Bar in the U.S. back in its early years, is now listed as closed. It had already been counted among the pandemic-era losses by the time DCist wrote about the block's recovery in 2023, and its old address at 3234 11th Street hasn't reopened under a new name yet.
The corner at 11th and Park Road has its own version of this story. That space was originally Meridian Pint, then became Makan, the Malaysian restaurant that later operated for a stretch as Thirsty Crow. In mid-July, a neighbor spotted chairs being carried into the empty storefront and wondered aloud what was coming. Word since then points to a new beer-focused concept in roughly the same spirit as the original Meridian Pint, though the lease hadn't been finalized when the news first circulated.
Put the three addresses side by side and the shape of this year becomes easier to read:
| Storefront | Known past tenants | Status as of this fall |
|---|---|---|
| 3226 11th St NW | Jeans N Things, Bad Saint, Johnny's All-American | Under renovation for Major Yum, targeting late fall |
| 3234 11th St NW | Room 11 | Closed, no announced successor |
| 11th & Park Rd NW | Meridian Pint, Makan, Thirsty Crow | Being fitted out, new beer concept rumored |
Three storefronts, three separate turnovers, all inside roughly two blocks. It's tempting to read that as the whole strip losing its footing, but that's not quite what's happening.
What Hasn't Changed
Wonderland Ballroom has been on this same stretch since 2004, on the site of a former gay bar called Nob Hill, and its owner has described it as one of the oldest continuously operating bars in the area. Its patio still shows up in write-ups of the block as a go-to spot for a plate of tots and an afternoon that doesn't have anywhere else to be. The Coupe, a few doors down, remains the only cafe actually on 11th Street itself, seasonal lattes and animal crackers included.
Neither of those businesses has changed names, changed owners, or gone dark for a renovation in years. The turnover on this block isn't spread evenly across every address. It's concentrated in a small number of storefronts that keep getting reinvented while the rest of the strip stays exactly where it's been.
A Few Blocks Over, the Same Story With a Happier Ending
The same pattern shows up just west of 11th Street, on Sherman Avenue, where the turnover already landed on its next chapter. Capa Tosta, itself a successor to Napoli Pasta Bar, closed at 2737 Sherman Avenue at the start of this year. In its place, Ulivo opened its doors on February 26 with a menu that keeps everything under $30, from a chicory Caesar salad to beef-and-pork meatballs with whipped ricotta and hot honey.
The restaurant comes from Tim Monaghan, who left a career in banking to open it, and chef Nick Perkins, previously of Petite Cerise and Cece's Roland Park in Baltimore. Monaghan has said he settled on Italian because it was what the neighborhood needed, given the building's history with the cuisine. It's a small detail, but it says something about how these transitions actually work here: a closing doesn't always mean a gap. Sometimes it means six weeks of paper on the windows and then dinner service again.
That's the more useful way to think about what's happening on 11th Street this fall. Three storefronts are mid-transition at the same time, which can make the block feel unsettled if you're walking past boarded windows every day. But the businesses that have been there the longest, the ones with patios full of regulars and a coffee order everyone already knows, haven't moved an inch. The turnover is real. It's just narrower than it looks from the sidewalk.
If you're the kind of person who tracks these things anyway, keep an eye on 3226 this fall. A new coat of paint on a storefront that's already cycled through four identities is usually the last sign before the awning goes up.
Curious what else is changing on your block? Jen Angotti keeps a running list of what's opening, closing, and reopening across Mid City, so let's talk about your next move.
