"Whether you're grabbing breakfast before work, picking up a handmade dinner on your way home, or bringing the whole family out for pizza, we want this to be your spot."
Chef Colin Graham said that in June, when Tenley Provisions opened at 4700 Wisconsin Avenue NW. The promise covered every hour of the day, from breakfast through dinner. By the last day of September, the part of the building built for dinner had a "Closed Until Further Notice" sign on it.
That sign is the clearest marker of how Tenleytown's stretch of Wisconsin Avenue changed in 2026. Most of the year's openings in the middle blocks serve coffee, bowls, crêpes, hot dogs, and pizza. The new places built around an evening out are opening at the far ends of the strip. The only dinner plan for the middle has a 2028 date attached.
Four months at the old diner corner
The corner at 4700 Wisconsin has served diner food for a very long time. Steak 'n Egg had been there since 1993, and before it a Toddle House operated on the site going back to 1931. In May 2026, dinner service under the name Bistro Metzger began inside the diner space. On Wednesday, June 24, the whole room reopened as Tenley Provisions, three concepts sharing one roof, one dog-friendly patio, and a short walk to the Tenleytown-AU Metro.
The setup was also a bet on small operators. The opening announcement said Tenley Provisions was built so independent chefs could share their food "without the barriers typically associated with opening a standalone restaurant."
The posted hours show how the day was split among the three, and what happened to the evening share.
| Concept | What it serves | Hours posted in June | Status as of early October |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sofie's | Crêpes, hash brown bowls, pancakes, breakfast burritos | Daily, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. | Open |
| El Jefe Woodfired Pizza | House-made dough, wood-fired pies, pastas promised "soon" | Tuesday to Sunday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. | Open |
| Bistro Metzger | Fish and chips, bánh mì, French onion soup, chicken in a pho-inspired broth | Tuesday to Sunday, 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. | "Closed Until Further Notice" |
Eater DC's October 1 closings roundup said Bistro Metzger "appears to have closed in September" and confirmed that El Jefe and Sofie's are still open. No owner statement has explained the closure or said what might take over the evening slot, and the Tenley Provisions website still lists Bistro Metzger's hours. PoPville's own post on the sign ended with two words: "Stay tuned." El Jefe is still a sit-down option until 9 p.m. most nights. The menu written for a long evening dinner is the piece that has stopped.
What else opened in the middle blocks this year
Look at the corner's neighbors and the same pattern shows up. The 2026 arrivals between Upton Street and the Metro are built for daytime traffic and quick meals.
South Block, 4523 Wisconsin. The bowls, smoothies, juice, and toast shop opened this summer in the space Robeks left in August 2025 after 20 years. It opens at 7 a.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. on weekends and closes at 8 p.m. every day. Founder Amir Mostafavi told Fast Casual that Tenleytown's daily movement and personal feel were what drew the company there. Sources disagree on the exact opening date. PoPville ran an "Opens Today" post on June 29, and the company announced July 11.
Marv's Dogs, 4936 Wisconsin. Diane Gross and Khalid Pitts, the owners of Cork Wine Bar, opened their hot dog shop on Wednesday, May 13.
Sofie's and El Jefe, 4700 Wisconsin. These are the two Tenley Provisions concepts still running, covering breakfast through an early pizza dinner.
Put together, the middle of the strip now has more ways to start the day than it had last year. Coffee and a smoothie at 7 a.m. and crêpes until mid-afternoon are new this year. A chef-driven dinner has fewer homes on these blocks than it did in June.
The new evening table is at 4000 Wisconsin
On October 8, two days ago, the biggest restaurant opening on the corridor this fall happened at the south end. Botiwalla opened at 4000 Wisconsin Avenue NW. PoPville readers reported the tables outside already set with utensils and napkins.
The restaurant comes from chef Meherwan Irani and the James Beard Award-winning team behind Chai Pani. Irani modeled it on two things. The first is the Irani cafés of India, the tea and kabab houses run by Parsi families who immigrated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His great-grandfather owned Sarosh Canteen, the only Irani café in his hometown of Ahmednagar. The second is India's late-night street food scene.
The menu fits an evening out more than a quick lunch:
- Chicken tikka, lamb, masala fish, and paneer kababs cooked over charcoal, served in hot buttered naan or over salad or rice bowls
- Smoky lamb burgers and vada pav
- Chai Pani standbys like Masala Smashed Potatoes and Okra Fries
- Boozy slushies, fizzy sodas, hot chai, and cold lassis
The dining room is designed to evoke mid-century Irani cafés, with layered colors, faded patinas, Victorian details, and old memorabilia. None of the sources we reviewed published hours. Check before planning a late meal around it.
And at the north end, before the year is out
The other end of the strip is getting its own evening anchor. At The Collection in Friendship Heights, Open Road is slated for 5471 Wisconsin Avenue, and a new all-day café and wine bar called Cove is set to join it in the fourth quarter of 2026. The two take over the spaces that were Junction Bistro and The Hunter's Hound. Matthew Carlin, president of the group behind both, said Friendship Heights "immediately stood out." No opening day has been announced, and nothing confirms whether the timeline still holds.
If both open on schedule, an AU Park resident heading out for a weeknight dinner will be choosing between Upton Street at one end and the District line at the other. The diner corner sits roughly in between.
The middle's dinner plan is dated 2028
The middle of the strip does have an evening plan. It just isn't close. Axios reported on September 14 that developers are planning a second Nesso Plaza, a small-business "urban mall," in a former PNC Bank on Wisconsin Avenue in Tenleytown. Developer Jonathan Askarinam called the building "a dead zone" he hopes to revive.
The plans include a rooftop restaurant, bar, and event space, plus a reworked backlot for outdoor dining. Tenants haven't been chosen yet. Askarinam said to expect local food and drink, wellness, retail, and businesses for kids. A sauna, a bathhouse, or a golf simulator could go in the old bank basement. Construction is expected to start next year, with a spring 2028 opening target.
The reasoning behind it matches what Tenley Provisions said in June. "It's hard to find well-designed, appropriately sized spaces in DC [for smaller businesses]," Askarinam told Axios. Both projects aim to give independent operators smaller, shared space on this stretch. The first one has already lost its dinner concept. The second won't open its rooftop for at least another year and a half. The first Nesso Plaza, on H Street Northeast, is expected to open next year with tenants including Bread Par Avion and Qualia Coffee. That will be the earliest look at how the model works.
Two dark storefronts and one steady Saturday
Two more storefronts in the middle blocks are in an unclear state. Their status is from the most recent reports we found, not from an in-person check:
- Cava, 4237 Wisconsin. In May a worker at the still-open restaurant told PoPville a temporary closure was coming to expand into the space next door at 4235, a closure estimated at "six months or so." We found no confirmation of when it closed or when it will reopen.
- 2D Noodles, 4513 Wisconsin. It was reported temporarily closed on August 24, with a "Fresh Noodles Coming Soon" sign in the window. We found nothing on a reopening.
One morning fixture hasn't moved. New Morning Farm's market at Sheridan School, 36th Street and Alton Place NW, lists Saturday hours of 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. from May through November. That leaves a handful of Saturdays this season. The farm's page has no date on it, so check the hours there before you go.
For now, the 2026 map of Tenleytown's Wisconsin Avenue looks like this. Breakfast and lunch have more choices in the middle than they did a year ago. The newest dinner menu is at 4000 Wisconsin. A second evening cluster is due at 5471 Wisconsin by year's end, and the rooftop planned for the old PNC Bank is targeted for spring 2028.
When a long-running storefront changes hands, as the diner corner just did, the change can show up later in how close-by homes are shown and priced. If you own near Wisconsin Avenue and want to talk through what this year's turnover means for your block, Thomas Kolker is glad to meet without any pressure. Request a complimentary consultation and home valuation.
