David Winer, owner of Grillfish and Logan Tavern, has a new restaurant in the works. The new venture, Merkado, is right down the way from Logan Tavern on P Street, across from the Whole Foods. “If I didn’t sign a lease here, another restaurant would have,” Winer tells Tom Sietsema. “I’d rather compete with myself.” Very strategic.

Merkado will tap into the trans-Pacific fusion craze. Winer says the place will look like “an urban cantina crashed into an Asian teahouse.”