Uniontown Bar & Grill Shuts Down After Not Paying Rent

Owner Natasha Dasher implicated for trafficking drugs to Prince George's County

Total, but not surprising, bummer: Uniontown Bar & Grill, the only place in Anacostia to get a cocktail and a burger and dance to a DJ's playlist and watch a football game, has closed. 

The Washington Post's Mike DeBonis reports:

In April, the company owning the restaurant was sued in D.C. Superior Court for more than $18,000 in unpaid rent. After the company failed to adhere to a repayment plan and skipped a court date, an eviction writ was issued on July 11.

Last year, Uniontown owner Natasha Dasher was implicated for trafficking drugs from Texas to Prince George's County. Chris Shott reported on Dasher's legal troubles back in November for Young & Hungry:

Dasher, 36, was charged in two federal courts on Nov. 1 with separate counts of conspiracy and possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute. Acting on a tip from a confidential informant, agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency had tracked a tractor-trailer carrying some 65 kilograms of the white powdery substance in its fuel tank from Laredo, Texas, to Dasher’s office in Fort Washington, Md., according to court papers. Inside the suite on Livingston Road, authorities said, they also recovered duffel bags containing approximately $1.5 million.

It took a few weeks for the news of her arrest to make the papers. But once it broke, it upended the storybook narrative surrounding Dasher’s pioneering restaurant -- and it seemed to put the rebirth of an entire community in jeopardy.

In Anacostia, the lack of a nice sit-down restaurant has been a complaint dating back years. The arrival of Uniontown, which opened in February, had been hailed as a symbol of the neighborhood’s resurgence.

Landlord Stan Voudrie of Four Points LLC told Shott that should Uniontown close, he'd most likely seek to fill the space with another restaurant; Voudrie reiterated that sentiment to the Post, but didn't offer any other details.

Photograph by Darrow Montgomery

Uniontown Bar & Grill Shut Down After Not Paying Rent was originally published by Washington City Paper on Aug. 25, 2012.

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