dangerously delicious pies

Dangerously Delicious Pies and Ezme Set to Open Next Week

Given the rash of closings of late, it’s nice to report on two restaurants that will open next week: Dangerously Delicious Pies on H Street NE and Ezme on Dupont Circle. Both places are, essentially, offshoots of established operations.

DDP was born in Baltimore in 2003 by guitarist-cum-baker Rodney “The Pie Man” Henry who realized early on that man does not live by rock ‘n’ roll alone. Particularly if man has bills to pay. So he turned to his boyhood hobby of baking pies, which turned into Dangerously Delicious Pies. Henry started with only seven varieties but, within a couple of years, expanded to more than 30, including a pulled-pork barbecue pie, a favorite of Baltimore City Paper in 2008.

The H Street location, which has been teasing fans for months now, will offer the same menu as the Baltimore original even though there are two different ownership groups. It’s not clear whether the D.C. space will host the occasional musician, as the Baltimore spot has done in the past (but not currently until the right permits are in hand). Which is a shame, because Y&H really likes the idea of having something flaky on his plate and something flaky on the stage at the same time.

The rock ‘n’ roll/baked goods hell raisin’ starts, officially, on Friday, March 12. Axes and pie tins optional, we believe.

Earlier next week, Harun and Yavuz Bolukbasi, the same brothers behind Meze in Adams Morgan, will open their latest venture, Ezme in Dupont Circle. The anagram-like name should tell you something about the restaurant’s concept: It’s Turkish/Mediterranean meze, just like at the brothers’ Adams Morgan spot.

The menus at both restaurants won’t vary much — unlike the brothers’ other new eatery, Bistro Cacao on Capitol Hill, which is very French country — but Ezme will do one thing that Meze doesn’t. It’ll offer tasting menus with wine pairings. It will, in other words, cater to the deeper pockets of Dupont rather than to the id-like aspirations of Adams Morgan.

Ezme officially opens on Wednesday, March 10.

Dangerously Delicious Pies, 1339 H St. NE, (202) 398-PIES