A good friend of ours has a restaurant waiting to open. He secured a spot where Noodles and Company in Crystal City used to be and has transformed it into a beautiful bistro. A wall curves outward onto a front patio with newly varnished wood decking. Windows slide open over the curved wall so that you can enjoy a mild evening from either side while dining. Vines climb up a wide pillar strung with lights, big orbs hang from the ceiling on the patio, waiting to be lit up and shining down on happy people.
Nick, the owner, has put together a menu of just 10 entrees that they will prepare with great care. He gets his coffee from Swing’s Coffee Roasters, who has been on the DC coffee scene for over 100 years, and a top-of-the-line roaster and espresso maker sit, shiny and unused, on the counter.
My favorite part is the mural that adds an arresting splash of color across an entire wall. It features a leopard, coffee plants, mountains, and a young woman. He explained that since the restaurant is all about him (it’s “The Freshman,” which is his last name) he wanted to pay tribute to the cooks who will be working for him – they’re all from El Salvador, and that’s what the mural is all about.
He invited the four of us to grab take-out and meet him, his wife, and their daughter for dinner at the empty restaurant. Maxine and his daughter opened the windows (Maxine already knows her way around the place and fully expects a job there in the future). It was one of the very few pleasant (or bearable) evenings we’ve had lately – warm, but not stifling. We spread out across the length of several tables and enjoyed our Sweet Green and Chipotle, waving at curious people out for a stroll. Many of them stopped and asked when they would open. Nick could only say, “We hope soon.”
As he took us on the tour, I kept dreaming of a post-pandemic future. Here’s where I’ll have a cup of coffee while I read my book. Here’s where Maxine will learn to make the perfect cappuccino. Here’s where we’ll congregate to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, graduations… congregate. What a wild concept. It’s difficult to imagine that will be safe again – laughing, talking, sharing food. If only we knew the magic date when all this will begin again, it wouldn’t feel so much like a dream.
My Corner of the Village 