Red Light Dessert Bar Seeks ANC2F Endorsement, Is Told It Doesn't Need It

Restaurateur Aaron Gordon appeared before a committee of Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2F/Logan Circle on March 26 to ask for endorsement of a public space use application for a sidewalk cafe at R and 14th Streets NW. Gordon will soon open Red Light Dessert Bar at 1401 R Street NW, the former site of his Bar de Bari, which closed in January.

Already OK for Red Light to use this space

ANC2F's Community Development Committee (CDC) told Gordon he doesn't need to file a new public space use application. Gordon already has a valid public space use permit for the same space from the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) from the time Bar de Bari was open. He will not change the number of outdoor seats (44), move the fences, or change the footprint of the sidewalk cafe, so doesn't need new permission. The CDC Chair Walt Cain (Commissioner for district 02) thanked Gordon for his appearance and wished him the best of luck.

Gordon told the committee his lawyers recommended he appear before the CDC because he was planning to change the arrangement of the tables and chairs on the patio. The CDC is not empowered to manage outdoor cafes to this level of detail, he was informed.

Committee members asked Gordon why he had closed Bar di Bari.

"It was a daytime concept in a nighttime area," Gordon replied.

Red Light Dessert Bar will be more of a nighttime spot, he added.

The establishment is scheduled to open in April and will have 27 seats inside and 18 places at a bar. It gained some publicity because of its planned red-light-district theme -- a reference to 14th Street's "colorful past". Read more coverage of Red Light Dessert Bar from Eater DC here, and Washington City Paper here.