The lot at 1050 Bladensburg Road NE sits empty today. In the wee small hours of the morning, the inevitable happened when the Capital City Diner, almost three months after it closed, was loaded onto a flatbed and transported to an undisclosed location.

Matt Ashburn, who opened the diner in 2010, sent out tweets about the move, but said nothing about the destination. Last we heard from Ashburn, he was in the final stages of a deal to sell the 1940s-era silver car to new owners, but tamped down rumors that the diner will reopen in Columbia Heights with menu specializing in Asian fusion and Kosher deli dishes.

According to the Capital City Diner’s Twitter account, the move was finished about 1:45 a.m. Tuesday. All that remains at 1050 Bladensburg is a bike rack.

Still, the mystery lingers. How does one hide a diner? “Undisclosed locations” are sneaky and reminiscent of former Vice President Dick Cheney’s frequent disappearances while in office. We’ve reached out to Ashburn. But perhaps those of us who long for Capital City Diner’s malted waffles and fried chicken should start roaming our neighborhood’s back alleys and empty lots for the scents and sounds of that late, lamented griddle.

NBC4 got the raw footage of the diner in transit:

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