Says Food writer Tim Carman, "Patterned after fast-casual powerhouses such as Sweetgreen and Cava Grill, Rasa will try to fill a gap that the owners identified in the Indian dining market. While there are refined Indian restaurants (think: Rasika, Passage to India and Masala Art, among others) and mom-and-pop joints (Indigo, Bethesda Curry Kitchen, Tiffin, etc.), there are few places to order chicken curry in a hurry (outside such counter-service operations as Merzi in Penn Quarter and Spice 6 in Hyattsville and Fairfax)."

The article says that the restaurant isn't expected to "tone down the spice blends" for non-Indian palates, and that it will "emphasize vegetables as much as meats."

Read the Post piece for more details, including the back story on the two owners, who are the sons of the co-owners of Indique in Cleveland Park and Bombay Bistro in Rockville.

Rasa joins previously announced offerings Taylor Gourmet and Chop't at F1rst, which is the middle building in the above not-quite-so-recently-taken photo. A Residence Inn is being built next door. My F1rst project page has more photos and details.

If you're having a hard time keeping track of what restaurants have been announced, my Food Map page shows them (especially if you scroll down to the "Announced, But Not Yet Open" section). Next year looks to have a lot of new arrivals, including a second outlet of All-Purpose, just named this week by the Post's Tom Sietsema as the #1 restaurant in the area. Also announced as coming to the neighborhood in 2017 and beyond are Shake Shack, Salt Line, Bethesda Bagels, Slipstream, District Winery, Circa/Open Road, and Due South "Dockside." And given how much retail space is in the pipeline, there's probably a lot more announcements to come.

This will be Bethesda Bagels' third location, alongside its shops in Bethesda (duh) and at Dupont Circle.

The Insignia building has approximately 11,000 square feet of ground-floor retail spaces that both face M Street as well as at the corner of New Jersey and L, and this is the first news of a tenant. (I *think* BB will be in one of the spaces along M, but I don't yet have confirmation of that.)

See Insignia's official web site for more details about the building, or check out my project page to be reminded of what this stretch of New Jersey looked like not all that long ago.

I have been out of town, and so apologies for the pre-opening photo accompanying this post, but you can check out Chix's Facebook page (or this photo from JDLand reader @JRogers202) to make up for my failure. (And I hope to make up for it myself before too long.)

Here's the menu for your perusal. Hours have not yet been posted, but I have asked and will update this post whence they arrive. UPDATE: Per this tweet, hours are 11 am to 9 pm daily.

This is now the third restaurant right near the corner of Half and M SE, joining The Big Stick and the aforementioned BWW. The offering expected to arrive next at that central location is Shake Shack, which is targeting a spring 2017 opening in the ground floor of the Homewood Suites on the northeast corner of the intersection.

If you want to catch up with all of the nearby restaurant offerings (like Tom Boswell told you to!), the JDLand Food Map is at your service.

UPDATE, 24 HOURS LATER: For the historical record.

The 2,800-square-foot space will of course be only about two blocks away from the neighborhood's other Shake Shack, but this new one will not require a ticket to a baseball game to get your fix of burgers, crinkle fries, shake-like concretes, and other delicacies.

Slipstream's mission statement says that it aims "to elevate coffee and cocktails from seemingly common to extraordinary through engaging service, a comfortable atmosphere and a relentless focus on quality." Its first DC location is on 14th Street NW south of Rhode Island Avenue, not far from Logan Circle.

The menu for the 14th Street location shows not only coffee at all hours and cocktails, beer, and wine from 8 am to close (wheeee!), but menus of sandwiches, bowls, toasts, and soup served for breakfast/lunch until 3 pm and meats, cheeses, salads, snacks, bowls, and toasts for dinner from 5 pm to closing, plus brunch on weekends. Whether that will be the same configuration at New Jersey and I is not yet clear.

Slipstream joins Orangetheory Fitness in ORE 82's tenant lineup.

All-Purpose is another venture from the folks behind Red Hen an Boundary Stone, with its first location having opened earlier this year at 1250 9th St., NW.

That location is open six days a week for dinner, and the the menu has flights of cheese, cold and hot antipasti in addition to the centerpiece pizzas.

City Paper profiled All-Purpose back in May, describing the process with a 650-degree oven that results in a crust "crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside, and sturdy enough for the 'New York fold hold.'"

*Though, if you are a wise reader of the JDLand comments, you would already know about this, since we discussed passing references to this without any official announcement back in May.

UPDATE: Washingtonian has additional details, including that there will be a separate takeout shop serving square Sicilian-style slices.

The Brig is located on the northwest corner of 8th and L Streets, SE (1007 8th for your GPS). See my project page for photos and links to posts on the long and winding road to this milestone. And see you all there for a JDLand Happy Hour at some point in the relative near future.

UPDATE, 6/17: Yup.

Due South owner Bo Blair tells me that there will be a "streamlined menu of Due South's best items," along with frozen drinks, beers, and wines and a kids menu (presumably not including beers and wines).

An April 2017 opening date is being targeted. But I will note that there is apparently not yet a completed agreement with Forest City, as an inquiry to them about the plans was greeted with the standard statement about the company not commenting on any potential deals until a lease is signed.

The early plans were presented to ANC 6D's ABC committee earlier this week, and my understanding is that the committee voted to support a liquor license for the project.

First, there's Philz Coffee on Tingey Street, which already looks to be a popular addition to the neighborhood. (I'll leave it to folks who actually partake of this particular beverage to speak to the coffee itself.) The Conte's Bike Shop pop-up is next door through this weekend, though its permanent space will be around the corner on 4th Street when it opens in 2017.

Next I pressed my camera up against the windows at Whaley's, in advance of what I hope is a visit that involves actual eating before too much longer. (There's also this shot that better shows the high ceiling of the space.)

The Yards Park Marina is said to be opening in June, and the entrance to the slips is looking pretty close to ready. These three shots are a pseudo-panorama, showing the view from the entrance to the east (with a big hole in the horizon where the Barry should be), straight ahead down the ramp where vessels such as water taxis will be able to dock, and to the west. (The large gates will lock.) There will be 50 slips all told.

I did not take any photos of the other "news" in the Yards today, of some initial site work underway at the Parcel O site on the southeast corner of 4th and Tingey. Don't look for a big hole to open up just yet, though.

I also took what might be a final "before" shot of the lot at 4th and Water where construction is expected to start in coming weeks on the District Winery building.

But, dang it! I forgot to wander over to Spooky Park to check out the final landscaping touches! This mission was a failure!

UPDATED II: And here's a peek inside, from Washingtonian.

Original post:

It was a little circuitous, but this evening on Instagram Whaley's announced that it will be opening its doors on Saturday, May 14th.

(The folks on the Yards Instagram account "got too excited" and announced an earlier date, which the Whaley's Instagram account corrected in the comments, as seen in the screen shot.)

The official web site still says "Opening Soon," but the dinner and drinks menus are now posted and the menus are "coming soon" as well (UPDATED because I'm an idjit). The hours (which I'm guessing are not the permanent ones) are listed as 5 to 10 pm Sunday through Wednesday and 5 to midnight Thursday through Saturday, with the kitchen closing at 11 pm.

The seafood and raw bar is located in the Lumber Shed at the Yards Park, in the ground-floor space between Osteria Morini and Agua 301, facing the park's overlook and the Anacostia River.

The web site's About page gives the lowdown on the Whaley's theme, and that "there was indeed a man named Whaley," who was the commodore of the Maryland Navy early in the Revolutionary War, and then became the first casualty in the Maryland Navy in the Revolutionary War.