FOOD: Brookland's Restaurant Boom — Where to Eat and Drink [DC]

[The newly opened Brookland's Finest; photo by Carrie Epps]

As I wrote last week, Washington, D.C., is in the midst of a food renaissance. What had started in Northwest, the movement has been gradually spreading to the other quadrants of the city, and now, to my Northeast neighborhood of Brookland. The neighborhood has seen a dizzying number of restaurant openings with three in the last month, a remarkable amount for a neighborhood which had its last notable opening was in 2012. Here’s where to eat and drink from one end of 12th St drag to the other:

Menomale
2711 12th Street NE
The oldest restaurant on this list (it opened in early 2012), this cozy (read: tiny) pizzeria offers excellent authentic Neapolitan pizzas -- one of the owners has a “master pizzaiolo” certification from Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (True Neapolitan Pizza Association), so you know it’s legit -- craft beers and cocktails, and, for a neighborhood that (currently!) lacks a great coffee shop, a mean cup of espresso. Vegan and gluten-free(!) options make Menomale a total crowd pleaser.

Brookland’s Finest
3126 12th St NE
From the respective owners of H St’s The Pug and U St favorite Solly’s, Brookland’s Finest features industrial decor, an incredible patio with an outdoor bar (with tables being added in the coming weeks), and a menu that leans southern and gastropub-y. Expect crab cake sliders, shrimp and grits, a “Georgia style” salad with bacon croutons and, for those of us who don’t eat the meat, oven-roasted butter beans, a seasonal pasta offering (currently with sweet peas, cherry tomatoes, and morel mushrooms) and a fried green tomato “B”LT with portobello mushroom instead of cured pork. They’ve also launched a brunch seating on weeke, making Brookland’s Finest the first of the new restos to offer the popular weekend meal.

Smith Public Trust
3514 12th St. NE
Revolutionary stuff seems to be on tap at Smith Public Trust. With industrial decor and large-scale paintings of founding father Benjamin Franklin, avant-garde jazz musician Sun-Ra, and -- perhaps in a nod to the neighboring Catholic University -- the martyred Saint Maurice (and rapper Meek Mill?), this light-filled spot from the owner of H St’s Smith Commons has been open for less than two weeks. Food runs the gamut from ramen and tacos to scratch-made pancakes and red velvet waffles. The beer is mostly American, with the one imported option being an ale from Belgian brewery Brasserie d'Achouffe; locals include pours from Atlas Brew Works and Delaware's Dogfish Head and cans from DC Brau and Baltimore’s Stillwater. Among the cocktails: a mojito named for the Lorraine Motel.

A piano and fairly large stage near the entrance will be used for jazz performances starting next month. There’s also a small outdoor patio and a room for private events.

Steel Plate
3523 12th St NE
Opened this past week, this gastropub from the owners of Bloomingdale favorite Rustik Tavern has been open, serves elevated versions of pub favorites: think wings with Ethiopian spices, fried pork chops in the form of pork cheek tonkatsu and catfish served with Congolese sauce. For veg-heads, there's black-eyed peas succotash, mushrooms with vadouvan (an Indian spice blend) and lemon, broccoli rabe with garlic and aleppo pepper, and mustard green salad (if you order it sans bacon). A decent beer list and a selection of $10 cocktails round out the menu. The two-level watering hole offers seating and a smaller bar upstairs; a rooftop patio should open in September.

Little Ricky’s
3522 12th St NE
Formerly specializing in Cuban cuisine, this restaurant had a recent menu change and now serves food from the American south: think shrimp and grits, pork rinds and pickles, po’boys and all manners of barbecue. Vegetarians are covered with a few salads and fried green tomatoes. Update: Little Ricky's announced today on Facebook that they're closing for the summer. The other restaurants on this list are open for business so go check them out!