Food Stuff

Last week saw the opening of a new coffee kiosk downtown. In itself, that might not seem too remarkable—but this coffee place, The Park To Go, occupies one corner of a dizzyingly ambitious new restaurant complex, The Park Downtown, which gives new meaning to the phrase “downtown revitalization.” It offers a hip but casual Asian restaurant, a fancy-schmancy modern American place called Mason’s, and a swank lounge to boot. All these shiny new places enclose a gorgeous courtyard with what appear to be beds in the middle of it. I’ll return to try out the food (if not the beds) when the restaurants have had time to get up and running, but for the moment I just had coffee. Not surprisingly, operations on opening day weren’t quite as slick as the design, but the coffee was good, and the location across from Capitol Park can’t be beat for a fast break for nearby office workers or (in my case) a leisurely stroll with a cappuccino. 1431 L Street; http://theparkdowntown.com