With a dearth of sit-down dining options east of the Anacostia River, restaurateur Andy Shallal says residents there need a cool spot to call their own—like the Busboys and Poets restaurant and bookstore he’s opening next week on Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. in Anacostia.

“It’s an area that’s been underserved for many years,” Shallal says. “People live here and raise families here and there’s a fair amount of disposable income, but they can’t spend it here because there’s not a lot of services to spend it on.”

Wards 7 and 8 share fewer than a dozen sit-down restaurants, as Washington City Paper reported last year. In Shallal’s view, he’s giving the people something he thinks they want so they don’t have to travel far for decent dining options.

But he bristles at criticism that his venture will hasten gentrification and help push many longtime residents out of the historic African-American community.

“The displacement doesn’t happen because of a restaurant, it happens because government policies don’t take into account the impact of the market,” Shallal says. “Our government has to take into account the inevitable parts of the change and put things in place to prevent those changes from happening.”

By opening in Anacostia, Shallal says he’s putting a restaurant in an area he intends to support. He says his latest Busboys has brought 80 jobs to the neighborhood and roughly 95 percent of them went to Southeast residents.

The Far Southeast Family Strengthening Collaborative, a nonprofit that supports families and children living in Ward 8, owns the building that houses the eatery. That means rent payments will go toward supporting the nonprofits’ programming and offsetting its financial obligations for the property, says Perry Moon, the collaborative’s executive director.

Beyond that, Busboys plans on partnering with the collaborative to run leadership and culinary training programs out of the restaurant.

Much like at other Busboys locations, Shallal envisions it serving as a hub for community events, including fundraisers with space reserved on the walls for local students and artists to display their wares—some of their work already graces the premises. Events will focus on Southeast D.C. and may include movie screenings, a radio show, and children’s programming—things people on the other side of the river are used to, Shallal says.

“We don’t parachute here,” Shallal says. “We are part of this community.”

Parisa Norouzi, executive director and cofounder of Empower D.C., a nonprofit supporting low and moderate income residents, commends Shallal on his plans to give back to Southeast and says that the primary drivers of gentrification are local government policy and development subsidies in the form of tax breaks, tax increment finance districts, and land—all of which help lure developers. But, she says, established, large restaurants like Busboys can also act as a draw.

“They’re perceived as an anchor tenant that helps them sell the development project as a whole, so whether it’s a restaurant or some other entity that’s a lucrative anchor tenant, that helps them sell the rest of the project,” Norouzi says.

The Anacostia Busboys has been in the works since Shallal signed the lease in 2014, and he estimates the project cost close to $2 million.

It marks the chain’s seventh location and it probably won’t be the last—Shallal says he’s scouting other sites in Howard County, Maryland and Fairfax County, Virginia.

Anacostia’s restaurant and its bookstore are slated to open for business Tuesday, following its grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony.

There’s still plenty of work to do until then. This week, workers were installing light fixtures, assembling tables, getting the kitchen and bathrooms together, and tending to other odds and ends. A giant mural featuring Frederick Douglass and commissioned by local artist Mia Duvall wasn’t quite finished yet.

Once the restaurant opens, you can essentially expect the same cuisine you’ll find at the social justice-centered chain’s other locations, says Aisha Byrd, director of marketing and events for Busboys and Poets. That includes vegan, vegetarian and gluten-friendly options, like falafel wraps, red quinoa, and vegetable curry. Dishes for meat lovers include lamb sliders, a roasted turkey sandwich, and burgers.

Where it may change is in the booze—Eli Gotay, the chain’s food and beverage director, says he may launch cocktails exclusive to the Anacostia restaurant. Gotay is also researching black-owned distilleries and breweries in the area to put on the menu by April.

“I’m big on supporting local,” Gotay says.

At 200 seats and 7,000 square feet, this new Anacostia location is the fourth-largest of Shallal’s half-dozen Busboys.

Shallal named the restaurant’s private events room after late D.C. Mayor Marion Barry—images from his life, including a photograph of Barry shaking hands with President Ronald Reagan—line a wall in the room.

On Wednesday—what would have been Barry’s 83rd birthday—D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser helped dedicate the room to the “Mayor for Life,” who made his home in Anacostia.

“Busboys is known for fostering the type of discussion and community that our Mayor for Life was known for,” Bowser said in a statement. “Now, his legacy lives on in the opportunities that this restaurant and the Far Southeast Family Strengthening Collaborative will help deliver to the residents of Ward 8.”

Busboys and Poets is located at 2004 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. SE. Opens Tuesday, hours to come.