Connecticut Ave: Red Meat Row

written by Amanda on 09/07/2010


For all our culinary strides, DC may have shaken its steakhouse town reputation, but we're still clinging to the red meat with juices dripping down to our elbows.

The steakhouse has just been replaced by boutique burger joints.

The recent hotbed of ground beef activity is Connecticut Avenue around Dupont Circle. Last fall, The Burger Joint, aka BGR, joined Five Guys north of the circle, followed by Rogue States a few blocks south. BLT Restaurants' Go Burger is set to start slinging burgers sometime this fall, right across the street from Rogue States.

And piling it on Connecticut Avenue like special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a Big Mac sesame seed bun, Danny Meyer announced last month that his restaurant group's famed New York Shake Shack will open at 1216 18th St., which may as well be on Connecticut Avenue. “Washingtonians are burger experts," Meyer said in the press release, "and we are thrilled to have the opportunity to open a Shake Shack in this city — especially the dynamic Dupont Circle community."

It's worth noting that if you head north a couple of miles, Connecticut Avenue is also home to the city's beef standard bearer, chef Frank Ruta's incredible $12 cheeseburger at Palena's cafe.

And whether they land on Red Meat Row or not, there are plenty more competitors about to enter DC's burger blitz:

• DC's own Jeff Tunks (DC Coast, TenPenh, Acadiana, etc) is planning to open Burger Tap and Shake at 2200 Pennsylvania Ave., Tom Sietsema tweeted Friday.

• Spike Mendelsohn has indicated he'd like to open more Good Stuff Eaterys around town.

• Fellow Top Chef alum Richard Blais promises DC a Flip Burger Boutique.

• Bobby Flay is shopping for space for a DC branch of Bobby's Burger Palace.

And I am suddenly craving a salad.