Is Sabores cursed? The Cleveland Park Latino-Spanish tapas eatery has been beset by mishaps since before it opened in September of this year. First, there were the plumbing problems, which required multiple visits from the DC Water and Sewer Authority. Then there was the lingering feud with neighboring restaurateur Dean Gold, owner of Dino. And now, broken windows: Two weeks ago, David Metzner, co-owner of Sabores, was surprised to discover that three of his restaurant’s windows had been smashed overnight. “Someone kind of ransacked a few things,” he says. “We were surprised because we don’t have any enemies in the neighborhood . . . except for Dean.”
The bad blood between Metzner and Gold—which started over sewage leaks and escalated to sidewalk space, garbage collection, and the poaching of Dino’s chef, David Amaya, to Sabores—has been well publicized. But despite their frosty relations, Metzner does not suspect Gold. “No, no, no,” he says. “We know who it is, but I can’t elaborate because it’s still under investigation.”
For his part, Gold not only firmly denies damaging Sabores’s windows—“I had nothing to do with it,” he says—but he also denies the very existence of the fight: “It’s totally made up in his mind. There is no feud on my part, and I thoroughly resent this being characterized as a feud. I run my restaurant, and that’s all I worry about.”
