UPDATE: We have been told that the opening is now planned for March 25.
A new market, bar and café planned for Takoma Park is “shooting for” a March 18 opening, according to co-owner Jocelyne DeHaas.
The Girl & The Vine (a crowd-sourced name from friends, based on the photo at the top) will open at 7071 Carroll Ave., the former location of Capital City Cheesecake.
DeHaas and co-owner David Fritzler live in Takoma Park with their two children (daughter Grace is the girl in the photo) and have teamed up with a third owner, Rob Theriot, to open this venture after working together in other organizations.
“We are really good friends, [have a] really good alignment of our business philosophy and really enjoy working together,” DeHaas said.
The café will operate on a counter-service model to help control labor costs, DeHaas said, which a trend now in the hospitality/restaurant business. The three also made the decision to be open from 10 a.m.-10 p.m. (11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday) as a quality of life issue for them.
“We’ve worked the grind for a really long time,” DeHaas said, “and we made the decision not to chase the ends, basically. We could kill breakfast—we know how to do that—but we don’t want to start work at 6 a.m. everyday, and none of us are interested in running any kind of crazy bar.”
The products they will offer will be coming from organizations and other sources the three know and trust and will be heavy on purveyors of organic and sustainable goods. They’ll feature wine, beers, cocktails, coffees and teas, as well as sandwiches, salads, bread, meats and cheeses, and other offerings.
“A lot of the folks we’re working with, whether it’s for our finishes and our art and things that we’re going to have here are people that we’ve known for a really long time and are friends and are doing cool stuff,” DeHaas said. “So we really wanted to bring all of our community together—people who do fun, cool things— and highlight them.”
“We have spent our careers learning to create spaces that serve our community and this feels like a dream come true,” said Fritzler in announcement on Main Street Takoma. “We love connecting with people, being creative, and eating and drinking the good stuff. It’s going to be a great place to hang out.”
“The Girl & The Vine is where you go for your everyday wine, or a unique bottle of something a bit more interesting,” said Theriot in the announcement. “You can grab a quick lunchtime sandwiches or decompress after work over a well-made cocktail.”
“The Girl & The Vine is a market, it’s a café and deli, and it has a bar component to it as well,” DeHaas added. “We have a pretty decent amount of charcuterie, cheese, staple products…a lot of wine and we’ll definitely have a ton of Maryland beers.”
The three designed the space themselves to emphasize a bright and open place to enjoy a drink or a meal.
“This is definitely our family’s space,” DeHaas said, “so we’re excited about it.”
Top photo, Grace in a Maryland vineyard. Below is (left to right) co-owners David Fritzler, Jocelyne DeHaas, and Rob Theriot (credit Jake Charow). Photos courtesy The Girl & The Vine.