The storefront right outside the U Street Metro entrance at 13th and U Streets NW is getting a new tenant next door to a familiar face. La Pâte Pasta & Pizza Bar, a fresh concept from the owners of Emmy French Corner, is set to open on September 18 at 1250 U Street NW, bringing house-made pasta, focaccia and Sicilian-style square pizza to the corner under a 100% halal menu.
The new restaurant comes from Imen and Nabil, who already run Emmy French Corner next door, according to PoPville. Signage for La Pâte went up at the intersection in mid-August, giving commuters and neighbors an early look at the coming concept, per the same outlet's earlier coverage of the location.
The name itself carries a bit of linguistic playfulness. La Pâte is French for dough, while cooked pasta in French is technically pluralized as les pâtes, a distinction some local residents noticed when the initial street signage appeared, PoPville reports. The wordplay bridges the French branding of the owners' bakery next door with the Italian, dough-centric menu inside the new spot.
A French Bakery Empire Grows on U Street
Imen and Nabil aren't new to this stretch of U Street. The pair opened Emmy French Corner at 1250 U Street NW in May 2025, specializing in artisanal French pastries, viennoiseries and fruit-shaped trompe-l'œil desserts, according to Connect CRE. The owners signed a 10-year lease for that 1,250-square-foot bakery space, the outlet reported at the time.
Co-owner Nabil Moharram has pizza roots in the neighborhood as well. He previously operated Pizzarro, an Italian pizza venue at 5th and U Streets NW, before expanding into French pastry arts and, now, back into pizza with La Pâte's Sicilian-style squares.
Chain Storefronts Give Way to Local Concepts
The bakery space next door tells its own story about how national chains have cycled through this stretch of U Street. That 1,250-square-foot unit was formerly home to a Starbucks before EastBanc leased it to Imen and Nabil in May 2025 as part of streetscape commercial updates, per Connect CRE's reporting.
La Pâte's own address has a similarly chain-heavy past. Fast-casual pizza chain &pizza temporarily closed its location at 1250 U Street NW in October 2025, ahead of the space being re-leased for the new pasta and pizza concept, the same PoPville report notes.
That corner has long been a magnet for pizza lovers and transit riders alike. Back in December 2018, Hoodline identified &pizza at this same address as one of the U Street Corridor's five most popular dining spots based on consumer review metrics, reflecting the corner's role as a high-volume stop for neighborhood nightlife and commuters over the past decade.
The address also carries a more troubling chapter. In March 2023, local law enforcement responded to a violent incident at the &pizza storefront, where a restaurant manager allegedly hit a customer with a wooden baseball bat shortly before closing time, according to court documents recorded by FOX 5 DC. That altercation resulted in police intervention and hospital care.
A Long-Term Bet Amid Bigger Redevelopment Plans
The broader block surrounding the Metro entrance has been eyed for much larger changes. Real estate firm EastBanc, in partnership with Jamestown, previously submitted a Planned Unit Development proposal to construct a 9-story residential building with neighborhood retail surrounding the U Street Metro station, according to UrbanTurf. Even so, the 10-year leases signed by Imen and Nabil suggest ground-floor retail activity at 1250 U Street NW will remain stable in the near term while that larger redevelopment outlook stays pending.
Part of a Citywide Halal Dining Wave
La Pâte's fully halal menu also fits into a broader shift playing out across Washington, D.C. this year. The city has seen an expansion of 100% halal-certified dining concepts in late 2026, including New York-based Holy Burger, which recently hung a coming-soon banner in Columbia Heights, and viral fast-casual chain Flavor Hive, which brought walking tacos to Georgetown's M Street last month. Food businesses across the city are increasingly catering to halal dietary demands across both American fast-casual and international cuisines, and La Pâte's arrival on U Street adds another entry to that growing list.
