The Delaware hotel group behind Barracks Row’s new Harvest Tide Steakhouse will also bring its sister Mexican restaurant and tequila bar to the same Capitol Hill neighborhood.
Zoca’s first foray outside of Bethany Beach, Delaware, is slated to open in January in the historic building once occupied by cocktail lounge Stanton & Greene (319 Pennsylvania Avenue SE). The menu at DC’s Zoca will resemble the 2-year-old original, which serves surf tacos, tequila flights, sizzling fajitas and cheesy chimichangas from chef and Salvadoran immigrant Danio Somoza.
“It will be the same menu, same concept as Bethany Beach,” Coastline Restaurant Group partner Enrique Somoza (and brother of Danio) told Eater via email.
The family group also runs Harvest Tide Steakhouse, the luxury surf and turf brand with locations in Lewes and Bethany Beach. A DC offshoot opened this fall along Barracks Row (212 Seventh Street SE) in the storied space once occupied by the Acqua al 2 Italian Reserve.
Barbacoa pork plays an important role in Zoca’s creative Mexican menu, featured in a tamale starter, taco and sandwich. Other menu highlights include queso fundido, street corn nachos, burritos, mole enchiladas, seafood paella, and a whole red snapper dressed in chunky salsa.
Zoca will host an instant taco competition on the same Pennsylvania Avenue SE strip of Paraíso, the stylish taqueria and mezcaleria that replaced Emilie a year ago.
Zoca’s bar program features a section of “jumbo” margaritas filled with flavors like pomegranate, apple cider and mashed guava. Classics like a mule, Manhattan and Old Fashioned are revisited with mezcal, reposado, añejo and other Mexican spirits.
The DC edition will feature 180 seats and a sidewalk patio for 20, according to an ABRA filing, and will go by “ZOCA & Crush by ZOCA.”
Stanton & Greene cocktail bar replaced Pour House in 2015, sprucing up the circa-1850 building with vintage-looking subway tiles, a massive marble-topped bar, leather banquettes and glowing liquor racks in the top to accompany an original patterned box ceiling. It’s unclear what the renovation will entail for his new life as Zoca.
Here’s a look at his menu at Bethany Beach:
