The car-free stretch in front of the shops on Connecticut Avenue NW has been finished since March 2024. In 2026, the storefronts behind it started to match it. Between January and late September, a rooftop tavern opened, a sushi and wok restaurant soft-opened, a cookie shop closed, and a bagel shop and a donut shop were announced for the empty spaces. One license application asked for almost as many seats outside on the sidewalk as inside.
Most of these changes are on a short run of addresses from 3411 to 3433 Connecticut. These are the first businesses to open, or plan to open, with the Promenade already finished in front of them. Several of their plans clearly count on it.
Four Years From Service Lane to Patio
The timeline explains why 2026 is the year this happened. DDOT closed the old service lane to traffic on April 22, 2020, as part of a temporary sidewalk extension program, and it stayed closed while the larger streetscape project moved forward. Construction got its notice to proceed on March 21, 2022. In June 2023, DDOT's director confirmed the lane would stay closed to cars for good, keeping the space for pedestrians, restaurant patios and farmers market pop-ups.
DDOT lists March 2024 as the completion date. The old vehicle lane was rebuilt as a single-level, patio-style area with a wider sidewalk, seating, restaurant dining and plantings. Cleveland Park Main Street and District Bridges held the ribbon-cutting on April 6, 2024. Eleven days later, ANC 3C approved a letter supporting sidewalk café permits for eligible businesses on the 3300 and 3400 blocks between Macomb and Ordway Streets.
So by early 2024, the outdoor space and the permission to fill it with tables were both in place. Retail moves slower than construction, though. Most storefronts on the block still had tenants who had signed leases under the old layout, or who had opened while the work was still going on.
The Tenant Who Opened Into the Construction
Captain Cookie at 3411 Connecticut shows what that timing cost. PoPville reported the shop closed by April 10, and in July the owner explained why in a public letter. The business signed a 10-year lease in December 2021, three months before the streetscape project got its go-ahead. Its build-out then dragged on for years. The owner wrote that the delays came from permitting, the historic condition of the building, supply chain problems, and
"street-level construction that timed poorly with our own project."
The shop finally opened in fall 2023, about six months before DDOT finished the work outside its door. In the owner's words, it closed because it "simply could not bring in enough revenue to support the astronomical and rapidly rising costs of labor, utilities, insurance and supplies." The letter ends by wishing the next owner luck and asking neighbors to give them a try.
Isaan Thai, at 3433, closed earlier in the year. PoPville reported on January 7 that the restaurant appeared to have closed after its furniture was cleared out. It was an observation, and no formal closure announcement followed.
Walking the Block, Address by Address
Taken in order up the street, the 2026 changes look like this:
- 3411, Over Doughs Bagels. On September 25, PoPville reported Over Doughs Bagels as the next tenant in the former Captain Cookie space. The post gave no opening date, owner or menu.
- 3417, Moga Doner House and Handcraft Donuts. Moga Doner House is going into the former Trattoria Al Volo. Its signage went up in May. ANC 3C voted 8-0 on June 15 to support a permanent Class C restaurant license. No opening has been confirmed. The same September PoPville post says Handcraft Donuts will take over the former SakuSaku Flakerie space, also at 3417. SakuSaku operated out of Al Volo when Eater profiled it in 2021. Public reports have not yet explained how the two new businesses will divide that address.
- 3419, Haru Wok & Roll. This restaurant in the former Mr. Chen's Organic Chinese space was in soft opening by July 20. Cleveland Park Main Street pointed out its robot waiters, which bring food to the table. The restaurant's own site lists Chinese wok dishes, dim sum, vegan options and sushi.
- 3421, Highlands Tavern. The former Cleveland Park Bar & Grill reopened with a renovated roof deck. Opening day was announced for Saturday, September 5, at 11 a.m.
- 3427, Atomic Billiards. It stayed open, and it is one of the stops on this month's Main Street bar crawl.
- 3433, Club Soda Cocktail Lounge Cafe and Grill. The proposed successor to Isaan Thai posted a liquor license notice on February 17 for a Class C tavern license. The application lists 100 seats inside and a 72-seat sidewalk café. No opening has been reported since.
Seventy-two outdoor seats next to 100 indoor ones is the clearest sign of what the Promenade has changed. That much sidewalk seating only makes sense on a block where the curb lane is now patio. The pre-2020 service lane had no room for it.
Highlands Tavern Is Built Around the Roof and the Weeknight
Highlands Tavern is the biggest of the 2026 openings, and its plan says the most about who the block now expects. The co-owners are Ki Yoon, who owns Magruder's, and George Grau, a D.C. native and Culinary Institute of America graduate who designed a scratch-kitchen menu. Former D.C. restaurant owner Jeffrey Diaz is general manager and runs the drinks program, which includes 12 draft lines. Chicago-born chef Mathew Douglas leads the kitchen.
The menu has wood-fired pizza, sandwiches and burgers, plus a kids' menu. The weekday happy hour runs Monday through Friday from 4 to 6 p.m., with $6 drafts, $7 cocktails, $8 glasses of wine, $2 off appetizers and a $10 whole cheese pizza. The tavern is also the official Notre Dame football watch-party spot, with screenings on the roof and across its floors.
Hours posted on the tavern's site are 11 a.m. daily, closing at 9 p.m. on Sunday, 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Grau's comment on the space looks back at the address's history. "Over the years, this location has held a special place in the neighborhood's social fabric," he said.
PoPville drew the link to the street directly. Its September 25 post opened by telling readers to "remove the impractical service lane and watch the Cleveland Park Promenade continue to bloom," with a link to the Highlands opening.
Mornings Are the Next Gap to Fill
Highlands and Haru are lunch, dinner and late-night places. The two announced newcomers go after mornings instead, with bagels at 3411 and donuts at 3417. Saturday mornings already have an anchor. The FRESHFARM Cleveland Park market runs Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. through December 19 at 3400 Connecticut Ave NW.
Some changes away from the 3400 block point the same way. The UPS Store at 3503 Connecticut was under construction in March with an expected April opening. Its location page now lists regular hours. Cork Wine Bar opened at 3504 Connecticut on Thursday, January 8. Eater reported it as Cork's second standalone location.
What's on the Promenade This Month
The Promenade's 2026 event season mostly ran from spring through September. Cleveland Park Main Street held Night Markets on the fourth Thursday of each month from April through September. Art All Night took over the 3300 and 3400 blocks on September 11, and Highlands Tavern was one of the participating venues. What remains this fall:
- Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., through December 19: the FRESHFARM market at 3400 Connecticut.
- Monday, October 5: chess clubs at the Cleveland Park Library, 3310 Connecticut, at 4 p.m. for children and 5:30 p.m. for adults.
- Friday, October 30, 7 to 10 p.m.: the Cleveland Park Main Street Halloween bar crawl, with stops at Atomic Billiards at 3427, Taco Cantina at 3321 and Nanny O'Brien's at 3319.
Moga Doner House, Club Soda, Over Doughs Bagels and Handcraft Donuts are all still in the announced or licensing stage, and none has given a public opening date.
If you own a home near the Connecticut Avenue corridor and want to know how this round of changes on the Promenade fits into your plans, Capital Residential can walk you through it privately. Request a confidential market consultation.
