In Thailand, when friends are out for the evening and someone asks "What do you want to do next?", a common reply is kiin laow, loosely "let's eat and drink." As of two Thursdays ago, that phrase is also the name above the door at 2340 Wisconsin Avenue NW. The space had been dark since Social Beast closed at the end of 2021.
Kiin Laow Thai Restaurant and Bar held its soft opening at 5 p.m. on October 22, according to PoPville. The first 100 guests that night were promised free Thai tea for a year. Hoodline reported that the opening came after a year of delays. Neighborhood reporting puts those delays down to complicated electrical work, permitting and the build-out.
The building has held five restaurant concepts, and its size has been a recurring problem for the tenants who came before. Kiin Laow is starting by using only part of it.
Most people in Glover Park can name at least two former tenants of 2340 Wisconsin. Here is the full sequence in one place:
| Tenant | Concept | What the record shows |
|---|---|---|
| Busara | Thai | Held the space before 2009 |
| Blue Ridge | American | Previewed in June 2009 as taking over the Busara space |
| Town Hall | American | Moved in after Blue Ridge closed; reviewed as newly opened in January 2012; final day September 29, 2019 |
| Ghostline | Delivery and takeout food hall | Opened late August 2020 |
| Social Beast | Dine-in food hall with Mijita's Tex Mex | Opened May 2021; announced final day November 30, 2021 |
Town Hall had the longest run on record, from early 2012 to 2019, and its owners left on gracious terms. Their closing message thanked customers and staff and said it was time for another operator. The two concepts after it lasted about fifteen months combined. In 2020, Eater DC listed the vendors lined up for Ghostline's opening weekend. By the following spring, Washingtonian was reporting that the ghost kitchen would become Social Beast, with indoor dining and an outdoor bar.
Aaron Gordon owned Ghostline and Social Beast. He explained the problem plainly when he announced the closing to Washingtonian in November 2021:
"The space was huge, the electrical bills were huge, the rents were huge. We just couldn't quite make the numbers work for us."
He also said the Delta wave in summer 2021 finished off the business. In the same article he put it briefly: "COVID outlasted us."
The scale is concrete. The building has 5,800 square feet of indoor space, split among a main dining room and bar, a second dining area with its own bar, and a side dining room. A large enclosed patio comes on top of that. Neighborhood coverage of the opening described the common problem behind the earlier closures: too much room and not enough people in the seats. Seat counts fell over time, especially during and after Covid. The same coverage also noted that takeout alone cannot cover rent on a space like this.
Gordon named electrical bills among the costs that closed Social Beast. Electrical issues were also among the problems that held up Kiin Laow's opening for most of a year.
For now, only the main dining room and bar are in use. The second dining area and bar, the side room and the enclosed patio are all described as "under evaluation." Earlier tenants had to fill the whole building from the day they opened. Kiin Laow is starting with the room it can fill.
That approach matches the owner's background. Kesorn Aswalap opened Sampannee at 2122 P Street NW in Dupont Circle in June 2023. Sampannee is a neighborhood Thai restaurant, a different kind of place from a food hall. Aswalap went to culinary school at the Grand Palace in Thailand and ran a cooking school in Bangkok before coming to the United States. She runs Kiin Laow with family.
The soft-open menu covers more of Asia than Sampannee's Thai menu does:
The upstairs could be used for more than dinner. At ANC 3B's October meeting, Glover Park Main Street executive director Kate Dean said the owners plan to host events and classes on the second floor, with flower arranging given as an example. Classes and private events would earn money from square footage that a dinner crowd alone has struggled to fill.
The neighborhood report on the opening ended with a clear message. Neighbors have celebrated Kiin Laow online, but a space this size lasts only if people come in regularly, and takeout alone will not carry it. For anyone within walking distance, that means booking a table, sitting at the bar and coming back. Ordering delivery from the sofa doesn't do the same job.
The opening also fits a busy few weeks on Wisconsin Avenue. On the same ANC agenda, Monument Realty described plans to convert the closed office floors at 2201 Wisconsin into about 82 more rental units. Work is expected to take about a year, with no major changes to the retail space or the building's exterior. ANC 3B meets again tonight, Thursday, November 5.
After Kiin Laow, the next date to plan around is Saturday, December 5. Miracle in the Alley returns to the alley behind the 3800 block of W Street, between 38th and 39th Streets. In October, ANC 3B unanimously approved a $2,500 grant for professional light installation, with the Glover Park Citizens' Association as grant agent. The event is public and open to everyone.
Recent years give a good idea of what to expect. The GPCA's December 2024 gazette advertised lights, inflatables, candy canes, hot cocoa and a 6 p.m. start, and invited neighbors to bring something to spike the cocoa. The 2025 preview at ANC 3B added snacks and the hope of a neighborhood Santa at 6:30. The alley is a short walk from 2340 Wisconsin. That makes the evening easy to start with cocoa under the lights and finish with dinner at the new place on the avenue.
When I value a home in Glover Park, I look at what has opened and closed on Wisconsin Avenue, because buyers ask about those blocks. I follow them closely for that reason. If you're thinking about what your home could sell for, or when to list it, Stephanie Bredahl can help. Request a stress-free selling plan, and we'll go through it together, starting from the street you already know.