Focused on the small businesses, people, and places that are rooted in The District
202 Magazine sat down with Cagla Onal-Urel, the Head Chef and Founder of local DC restaurants Green Almond Pantry & My Little Chamomile. The interview covers everything from her start in the culinary industry, working with the DC restauranteur Peter Pastan as Head Chef of his highly lauded restaurant Etto, starting Green Almond Pantry at a farmers market, and why she opened My Little Chamomile.
Dad Strength is a low ABV brewing company born and bred in Washington D.C. Craig & Ryan, the two co-founders launched the business after realizing that they were looking for a great tasting beer with a lower ABV. They partnered with local brewery Atlas Brewing to develop and launch the company. Since starting, they have expanded around the DMV and are available at Wegman’s Whole Foods, Safeway, and Giant. We sat down with Craig, one of the co-founders to talk about their experience launching a business in DC, how they scaled, and get their thoughts on fundraising.
We interviewed Thea & Morgan, two of the co-founders and co-owners of Nido Wine & Market, a local wine shop and market in DC’s Mount Pleasant Neighborhood. Thea & Morgan shared more about how Nido got started, how they are managing through tariffs, and how they are making wine more accessible in the community.
We sat down with Yao Zhao, the founder and CEO of 50Hertz, a new food startup that highlights the unique Sichuan spice. Yao shared more about his own career journey graduating from the Foreign Affairs University in China, attending graduate school in the US, and working at the World Bank in clean energy all before starting 50Hertz. Yao’s growing business has been featured in The Guardian, The New York Times, and Food & Wine.
We sat down with Soung & David, co-founders of All Souls & The Little Grand to hear about their experience starting the beloved neighborhood bar All Souls, and launching a New York Times named pizza spot, The Little Grand with their third business partner Joanna. We covered a lot of ground from the early 90’s DC post punk scene, the hardest part of starting a bar, and Soung’s challenge with working with sourdough pizza crust.
We sat down for a quick interview with the Founder and Editor in Chief of the The Georgetown Metropolitan, a hyper-local Georgetown blog that has been running almost daily by the same person for twenty years.
We had the chance to talk to Topher about how he ended up in DC, his experience starting and running The Georgetown Metropolitan, and the spots in Georgetown that he’s been going back to for years.
A short introduction to walking DC and why slow, deliberate, focused walking allows me to look closer at everything around me.
