In her ninth foot-numbing hour of adding the finishing touches to handcrafted hamburgers, Iliana Navarro’s eyes strayed from the chopping block to the clock on her cellphone.
It was 1:37 a.m.
(Evy Mages/FOR THE WASHINGTON POST) - Suzzie Wright has a burger at the Black & Orange, a new U Street burger joint.
“Don’t watch the clock!” Raynold Mendizabal, chef and co-owner of Black and Orange, yelled in Spanish. “It will make you crazy. Focus on the work.”
When the grilling started in February at this upscale hamburger joint just south of U Street on 14th Street NW, Mendizabal vowed to keep the doors open until 5 a.m. every day. It isn’t unusual for a pizza joint to keep such hours on weekends. But on Wednesdays? Even the historic Ben’s Chili Bowl locks up at 2 a.m.
On its 17th night of existence, Black and Orange’s gamble wasn’t looking good. The place hadn’t had a customer in nearly an hour.
Mendizabal, who fled Cuba in 1994 on a raft made of tires, wasn’t deterred. A physicist in his homeland, he had a Darwinian perspective on the challenge ahead.
“There is always going to be something to fear,” he said, invoking a story his grandfather told him. “The zebra doesn’t need to fear the lion; he just needs to run faster than the other zebras. Ha-ha, right?”
Black and Orange was testing a question that demographers and late-night revelers have long debated: Is the District slowly evolving into a 24-hour city?
Mendizabal, for one, said he thinks all the ingredients are there: the influx of young professionals, people of all strata working stranger and longer hours. They have to eat somewhere.
Max Farrow, a spokesman for the District’s Chamber of Commerce, said late-night dining is essential for the city to become an “entertainment mecca like New York or Los Angeles.”
But as of Thursday, it appeared perhaps Washington wasn’t ready. Both Black and Orange and the new 24-7 restaurant the Hamilton announced they were cutting back hours.
Although late-night weekend diners can still get a burger at Black and Orange at 4:59 a.m., the restaurant will close at 11 p.m. the rest of the week (except for a 3 a.m. Thursday close). On Twitter, Black and Orange cited a need to balance demand and business costs.
The Hamilton, a 400-seat agora of white-cloth tables, prosciutto and poached-egg sandwiches, and $13 mint juleps, will move to much more standard closing times of 1 a.m. on weekdays and 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Mendizabal’s angle is to fuse foodie sensibilities with urban grit. There are no white tablecloths. The burgers don’t even come on trays.
The steel shells of at least five condominium buildings are rising within five blocks of the restaurant, including a massive one across the street, next to a check-cashing spot. Still, when nights are slow, the strategy can seem as fanciful as the patties seasoned with truffle oil and thyme.
The staff perked up as a redheaded wanderer pushed through the door.
“Are you guys really open?” she asked the cashier.
“Yes!”
She chose a burger infused with garlic, sun-dried tomato and basil.
Then came the interrogation. Medium or well-done? Half-pound? Lettuce? Tomatoes? Bacon? Cheese? Fries? Seventeen questions in all.
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