Georgetown's largest openings since August have been retail. Uniqlo opened a 22,618-square-foot store at 3262 M St. NW on Aug. 28, with Japanese Taiko drummers at the opening. The new restaurants went in other places. Alfie's and Flora Pizzeria are in an alley off 31st Street. Café Tulúm is on Grace Street, below M. Donsak is on Prospect. Bizzeria, which Michael Rafidi still lists as coming this fall, will have its entrance in an alley you reach from Potomac Street.
Most of these spots sit in a few shared compounds, and several of those compounds are run by the same people, who live in Georgetown. If you want to know where to eat in the neighborhood this fall, start with who controls the courtyards.
What M Street got instead
The Georgetowner's September business roundup lists M Street's arrivals and its pipeline. Nearly all of them are national or international brands:
- Uniqlo, 3262 M St. NW, open since Aug. 28.
- Kith, the streetwear label. Plans filed with the Old Georgetown Board put it at 3040 M St. NW, next to Barnes & Noble.
- Edikted is planning a 3,890-square-foot store at 3135 M St. NW, in the former Allbirds space.
- Pop Mart, the Beijing-based designer toy company, is headed to 3221 M St. NW.
- Adriana Hoyos, a Miami-based interior design and furniture house, opened at 3328 M St. NW. It joins the design showrooms on the 3300 block and in Cady's Alley.
Bombas opened its first DC store at 1400 Wisconsin Ave. NW on Aug. 14, in the space Dolce Vita left over the summer. Pizzeria Paradiso had announced July 26 as its last day at 3282 M St. NW. M Street did get one new independent food opening. Flavor Hive, a Northern Virginia food truck, opened a brick-and-mortar shop at 3287½ M St. NW in the former Harmony Café space.
The compound on 31st Street
Hamilton Collective, at 1232 31st St. NW just up from M Street, used to be called Hamilton Court. The Georgetowner reported in June that Jessica and Ezra Glass are behind it, together with David and Marc Duber and other investors. According to the paper, all four live in Georgetown and describe the project as "by locals for locals."
The Georgetowner's profile lists the businesses there now or on the way. They include Ultraviolet florist, Two Nine sushi, Flor coffee and books, the Christian Science Reading Room, Beso Besu, RM Wellness, Outerbridge Horsey, Georgetown Preschool, Georgetown Pilates, Georgetown Auto Spa, Hamilton Health Club, and a few residential units with a parking garage. David Duber put the property at 55,000 square feet. Jessica Glass told the paper the infill buildings date to the 1980s. She explained the tenant mix this way:
"The best part of our retail here is it's necessary retail. No one here is selling tchotchkes, right? You come here to do things you have to do. Your kids have to go to school. You have to work out. You have to get a cup of coffee in the morning. We have all that here."
She also told the Georgetowner that every space on the property is leased, and that the businesses "work better because they support each other." That idea matters for the two restaurants that opened there in September.
Two kitchens in the alley section
Chefs Alex McCoy and Justin Ahn opened Alfie's on Sept. 2 in the alley section of Hamilton Collective, at 1228½ 31st St. NW. It's a northern Thai restaurant and natural wine bar. The Georgetowner's September roundup quotes McCoy telling Washingtonian that the space "wasn't a restaurant before." He said the team worked to make it feel like it had been there for 40 or 50 years. The paper also warns that the food is spicy.
Flora Pizzeria opened next door on Sept. 14. The Georgetowner reports that it makes its dough with natural leaven, organic flour and Sicilian sea salt. Local coverage places both restaurants along Congress Court, the lane that runs through the compound.
The timing is hard to miss. A pizzeria announced its last day on M Street in late July, and less than two months later a new one opened down an alley about a block away. On the same short walk you can now get sushi, coffee and books, flowers, a Pilates class, northern Thai food and pizza, all off a lane most M Street shoppers never turn into.
The same owners, a block over on Grace Street
The Glass family's Thyme Holdings also runs Grace Street Collective. In June the Georgetowner named Ox & Olive steakhouse as its most recent addition. Café Tulúm opened there on Friday, Sept. 4, at 3210 Grace St. NW. Eater DC describes it as a Mexican seafood bar from restaurateur Juan Dracoulis, serving Mexican small plates with Japanese influences.
Grace Street runs below M, toward the canal. That means two of Georgetown's newest fall restaurants, Alfie's and Café Tulúm, opened within days of each other in compounds run by the same local owners. Both sit off the main road.
Prospect Street's back doors
West of Wisconsin Avenue, the pattern continues along Prospect Street.
Donsak opened at 3251 Prospect St. NW in the former Mai Thai space. The Georgetowner had reported a planned opening of Friday, July 24. By Aug. 3, PoPville reported it officially open and in its soft-opening period. The Georgetown Dish describes the menu as southern Thai and Isan-style street food, a tribute to co-owner Boom's home district in Thailand.
Two more openings are planned for one address a few doors down:
- Bizzeria, from Michael Rafidi, who owns Albi, La' Shukran and Yellow. It will take the back of 3246 Prospect St. NW, and the Georgetowner reports its entrance will be in the alley off Potomac Street. Eater DC's fall preview describes wood-fired sourdough pizza, mezze, charcuterie and natural wine, with an opening window of "fall."
- Skillette, a cooking school from Kelly Singer in the same building. Washingtonian reported it as a 1,525-square-foot teaching kitchen. Skillette's own site says it is "Coming to Georgetown this Fall" and takes sign-ups for opening news.
As of mid-October, we found no published opening date for either one. Both are still announced projects. If they open on schedule, Georgetown will have a second pizza spot this fall with an alley entrance.
Up Wisconsin Avenue, the smaller storefronts
On upper Wisconsin Avenue, food is turning over in small corner spaces rather than courtyards. Delhi Belly, owned by Vikas Kakkar and Raj Manroy, opened in August at 1560 Wisconsin Ave. NW, at the corner of Q Street. It serves casual food inspired by India's urban food culture. The Georgetowner notes the corner has had several operators, including La Jolie Bleue, Bharati and Oakberry. It's also where Dolcezza Gelato started.
Dolcezza is coming back. Robb Duncan and Violeta Edelman founded it in Georgetown in 2004, and the shop is slated to open in late fall or early winter at 1300 Wisconsin Ave. NW, in the former Pressed Juicery space. It will be their seventh location. East Fork, an Asheville pottery company, has announced a store a few doors up at 1313 Wisconsin Ave. NW for fall 2026, though PoPville's announcement did not give an opening date.
A route for Fall Market weekend
Georgetown Main Street's Fall Market runs Saturday, Oct. 17 and Sunday, Oct. 18. It covers Book Hill and Wisconsin Avenue from N Street to Reservoir Road, with small-business promotions, fall menus and seasonal activities. RSVP is free. The market stays on Wisconsin, but the weekend works well for a loop past the new openings set back from the main streets:
- Start on Grace Street for lunch at Café Tulúm, 3210 Grace St. NW.
- Cross M Street and walk up 31st Street to Hamilton Collective. Have coffee at Flor, then come back for dinner at Alfie's or Flora Pizzeria.
- Head west to Prospect Street to see Donsak at 3251 and check whether the alley door off Potomac Street has opened for Bizzeria.
- Walk up Wisconsin past 1300, where Dolcezza is coming, and Bombas at 1400, to the market's southern end at N Street.
- Continue up toward Q Street and Delhi Belly at 1560 Wisconsin, then on to Book Hill.
The O Street Collection art boutique at 3213 O St. NW is a short detour from Wisconsin. It soft-opened for Art All Night and carries 50-plus original works from more than 10 artists, priced from $50 to over $10,000. Two weeks after the market, the Wisconsin Avenue Woof Walk is listed for Saturday, Oct. 31, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., with dogs and their owners visiting participating businesses.
If you'd like to talk about how the new openings on 31st Street, Prospect Street and upper Wisconsin Avenue affect the blocks around your home, Sarro Georgatsos Group follows Georgetown block by block and is happy to share what we're seeing. Contact us anytime.
