7 days ago
Ambitious Filipino Venture Exits H Street
In the latest blow to Northeast D.C., vet Filipino chef Paolo Dungca plans to close his casual cafe (Hiraya) and more formal sibling up top (Kayu) on Monday, June 30.
But there is some good news for the Northwest quadrant of the city: Kayu's next chapter is slated for Dupont, all due to one serendipitous meal Dungca's future landlord enjoyed on H Street. The owners of Dupont Italian Kitchen, who own the next-door building where Kayu is going (1633 17th Street NW), came for dinner in January. 'They had a great time and loved the food and asked me to go see the space — they thought it would be a nice addition to the neighborhood,' says Dungca, who's looking at a late summer opening. He plans to pause Hiraya until 'we find a space more suited for it.'
Hiraya was born years ago as a polished prix fixe place in the Block food hall downtown. For Hiraya 2.0, Dungca partnered with Juan and Jeremy Canlas — the father-son duo behind local chains like Supreme Barbeque and Auntea Boba. The H Street iteration that opened in 2023 was a leafy, all-day destination for vibrant rainbow lattes, Filipino pastries, breakfast sandwiches, and duck adobo. An upstairs tasting room later called Kayu capped off the project in 2024 (1248-1250 H Street NE).
'Unfortunately, we had to dissolve our partnership with Paolo,' Jeremy Canlas tells Eater. 'Business wasn't doing well, and we couldn't do both [Hiraya and Kayu], between overhead and costs and all that. It's not something we wanted to do, but we have to do.'
Canlas says he plans to transform Hiraya's downstairs cafe into a dual destination for wagyu smash burgers, loaded fries, and chopped cheese (Double Up) and bubble teas (Auntea Boba). Look for breakfast burritos and coffee drinks in the morning from 8 to 11 a.m. The goal is to open on Thursday, July 10. His budding Double Up brand out of Maryland is opening another standalone location in D.C. this summer (1530 U Street NW), he tells Eater. Auntea Boba recently closed its storefront in NoMa, and H Street marks its return to the area.
Going the fast-casual route isn't what Dungca had envisioned for the Filipino-run project.
'Going into business, you sometimes get pulled into different visions of how you want to continue the story,' says Dungca. 'For me, I just wanted to keep true to how we've been doing things so I think that's where it all fell through.'
Dungca admits that operating a dual Filipino venture in one building was a struggle.
'Moving forward, Hiraya and Kayu definitely need to be two separate entities. It's hard to run multiple concepts — when the cafe was busy, the team was dragged up and down; it's not ideal and nice to just regroup,' he says.
Still, leaving H Street wasn't ever the plan. 'If it was up to me I'd love to continue being a part of the neighborhood,' says Dungca. 'They embraced us and allowed us to share our culture and heritage.'
Dungca had also teamed up with the Canlas family to open Sari Filipino Kusina, a fast-casual comfort food spot in Annandale. It closed in late 2024, and a Canlas-run, to-be-named offshoot is expected to go into Kayu's old space.
Kayu's new 45-seat home is on par with the original, plus a 40-seat patio. The space most recently housed an Argentinian steakhouse, which closed in late 2023, and will undergo a light wooden refresh.
Kayu's weekend brunch will showcase lots of Hiraya's greatest hits, he says. Think brisket and egg sandwiches, cheese-stuffed dough with truffle butter, and vibrant lattes from Filipino coffee supplier Sun & Stars. 'We're trying to keep the spirit alive until we find the next permanent home for it,' he says.
As for dinner at Kayu, Dungca plans to stray from 'the classics' like sizzling sisig and adobo and 'dig deep' into regional Filipino cuisine, with a widened focus on veggies and seafood.
'There is some more research we can do to introduce the rich and diverse culture of where we came from,' says Dungca. 'Our job is to keep that and honor that on the menu and do due diligence.'
His culinary team frequently travels to the Philippines and brings back inspiration that way. Dungca, who hasn't been back since 2019, has plans to go to the big Manila Food Festival in August (the trip may now be in limbo, however, due to the new opening).
Dungca hails from the city of San Fernando in the Pampanga province northwest of Manila and migrated to Los Angeles with his family when he was 13. After moving to D.C. in 2014, he quickly worked his way up the ladder at some of D.C.'s most influential restaurants (Vidalia, Bad Saint, Restaurant Eve, Kaliwa, and ABC Pony).
'The majority of staff members have been with me since the beginning and through the early stages of my food career in D.C. They've turned into family at this point,' he says.
For the closing week of Hiraya and Kayu at the end of the month, he plan to invite friends to cook 'and keep it fun.' Little Hiraya, Dungca's quick-serve extension in Union Market, remains open with all-day breakfast full of Filipino silog rice bowls.
Despite its incoming closure on H Street, Kayu is up for a 2025 Rammy for New Restaurant of the Year — and Dungca is also nominated for Rising Culinary Star of the Year. Months after Vietnamese chef Kevin Tien closed Moon Rabbit at its Wharf digs, he won that same RAMW award in 2023.
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