On MacArthur Boulevard, the Restaurant Spaces Outlast the Restaurants

"In short, nothing practical can be built there without violating the zoning code." Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3D wrote that in October 2023 about 4885 MacArthur Boulevard, the low building with parking on its roof where Black Coffee used to be. The letter backed an apartment project for the site. In exchange, the applicant agreed to build out the two ground-floor restaurant spaces for restaurant tenants and to try to lease them for restaurant use for two years.

The apartments were never built, and the letter's two-year leasing promise was tied to a project that no longer exists. A café counter is coming back anyway. That small, odd outcome explains this fall on the Palisades' main commercial strip better than any single opening or closing. Tenants on MacArthur come and go. The rooms they leave behind tend to go to the next kitchen.

Three addresses, three handoffs

These are the addresses that changed hands, or went dark, between last fall and this week.

Each row has a gap in it, and each gap was a different length. The 4828 space sat empty about ten months between Momo's last day and N.H. 48's first. Black Coffee's old room has been dark for more than eighteen months and still hasn't reopened. At 5125, the clock only started this fall.

4828: from boba to vada pav in ten months

Momo's Cafe served Taiwanese-style popcorn chicken, bentos, and boba until its last day on October 31, 2025, PoPville reported. The space didn't change hands for another kind of shop. It went to another counter and another kitchen.

N.H. 48 Indian Kitchen opened there on September 3. As Washingtonian reported, the name comes from National Highway 48, the 1,744-mile road linking Delhi and Mumbai. It runs through Bhakti More's home state of Maharashtra and Prady Rana's hometown of Delhi. Both owners spent years in front-of-house roles at DC restaurants. Rana worked at Rasika West End before moving on to Del Mar, Osteria Mozza, and Fiola Mare. More worked at Chai Pani and Tamashaa and was maître d' at Bresca and Jônt.

The menu follows the highway. The owners told Washingtonian they are especially proud of the chicken lollipops, the dahi ke kebab, and the vada pav, the Mumbai street-food potato patty served on a soft bun. Mutton ghee roast is the heavy hitter. Dal makhani, pani puri, and crispy palak chaat round out the familiar side of the menu. "We wanted to create a space where the food is homely. Nothing modernized, nothing having a take on it," More told the magazine.

The schedule matters for planning. N.H. 48's online ordering page lists dinner only, 5:00 to 9:30 p.m. on Sunday, Monday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. It is closed Tuesday and Wednesday, and offers pickup and delivery. That means a Thursday works and a midweek takeout plan has to land on Monday. The posted hours can change, so check the page before you head over.

4885: the room a zoning letter earmarked for restaurants

The building at 4885 MacArthur has an unusual history for a dining room. ANC 3D's October 16, 2023 letter to the Board of Zoning Adjustment notes that the lot was a gas station for decades until 2000. When the current one-story building went up, zoning rules required 12 on-site parking spaces. That requirement is why 17 spaces sit on the roof, reached from V Street. At the time, the building held Black Coffee, the closed Café Vino, and the photo and framing shop Dodge Chrome.

The owner went to the board for several special exceptions to build apartments above the shops. The commission voted 3-1-3 to support the request "with serious reservations," and the applicant agreed to four conditions:

1. Apartment tenants would not be eligible for residential parking permits.
2. The two existing restaurant retail spaces would be built out for restaurant tenants, and the applicant would try to lease them for restaurant use for two years unless there was no practical way to find such a tenant.
3. The applicant would donate $10,000 toward improvements to the triangle of public space at MacArthur Boulevard and V Street.
4. Construction crews would park off-site.

The case appears on the ANC 3D 2023 meeting docket as BZA Case 20946. In 2023, UrbanTurf described the project as 19 units.

Then the plan stalled. Black Coffee closed on March 31, 2025, PoPville reported. That June, UrbanTurf reported that the developer had dropped what was by then a 21-unit plan, citing tariffs and interest rates, and was turning to leasing the site's spaces.

The restaurant condition was written for a project that never happened. Even so, the outcome matches what the commission asked for. The ground floor is going to a food tenant. In late August, PoPville passed along a reader's account of active build-out and word that the tenant would be Maman. Hoodline describes Maman as a French-inspired café chain. Maman's Palisades page now lists the address and a phone number, describes the "signature blue and white décor," and says "grand opening coming soon." It gives no date. The chain opened its first location in the region at Bethesda Row in June 2022.

The neighbor makes the case for keeping this a food address. BlackSalt has been at 4883 MacArthur since 2005. Black Coffee opened in May 2018 as its sibling on the same block, run by the same restaurant group. A morning café next to a dinner anchor is the setup this block had for nearly seven years. It is the setup it is getting back.

5125: the one still waiting

The western end of the strip is where the pattern is under test right now. On October 7, PoPville reported that Conduit Road Public House at 5125 MacArthur appeared to have closed permanently. According to readers, what was posted as an August "holiday closing" had become a permanent one. The space was home to Salt & Pepper before that.

One PoPville reader called it "a tough location to work," and said "the street frontage is almost too subtle." Nothing has been announced for the space.

Go by the other two addresses and the next tenant here is probably another restaurant. The open question is how long the paper stays on the windows. At 4828 it took about ten months. At 4885, with a canceled development in the middle, it has taken more than eighteen.

Using the strip this week

Here is what is open and when, for a reader looking at the calendar this Thursday:

• Thursday through Monday dinner: N.H. 48 at 4828 MacArthur is serving from 5:00 p.m. Plan around its Tuesday and Wednesday closures.
• Sundays: The Palisades Farmers Market runs year-round at 48th Place NW and MacArthur Boulevard. The Palisades Citizens Association calendar lists every Sunday in November, through November 29, and continues into January 2027.
• Weekday coffee at 4885: Not yet. Maman's own page still says "coming soon," so its listing is the one to check.
• 5125: Dark, with no new tenant named.

The Mike Aubrey Group keeps an eye on the Palisades block by block, including who is building out which storefront and how long each one sits empty. If you want to know what the next tenant at 5125 means for your corner of MacArthur Boulevard, get in touch.