Dio Wine Bar owner Stacey Khoury-Diaz awoke early Tuesday morning to discover the window of her H Street natural wine bar smashed and $2,000 worth of inventory stolen. So far, she says the police haven’t reported any leads.
“We’re figuring things out but fortunately everyone is okay,” says Khoury-Diaz.
The wine bar has been selling bottles for pickup and delivery since Mayor Muriel Bowser closed bars for on-premise consumption in March. Khoury-Diaz says her team is still planning to fill orders and make deliveries today, and she expects to open again for pickup on Thursday once the damage is repaired. She described the theft and vandalism as a “sucker punch” amid the economic and health crisis. Her general manager was diagnosed with Covid-19 last month but has since recovered.
Khoury-Diaz says a liquor store nearby was also broken into, and that she’s contemplating placing boards over her business’ windows to prevent future crimes. In Anacostia, Busboys and Poets owner Andy Shallal also boarded up his storefront after a March break-in, and launched a community art project to paint window boards across the city with uplifting messages.
Though not insignificant, Khoury-Diaz says the theft was “fortunately a small dent in our inventory.” She also has a sense of humor about what was stolen.
“We’ve always tried to introduce our wines to new people, hoping they’ll learn to like something different,” says Khoury-Diaz in a Facebook post. “A lot of orange wine was stolen last night. And someone out there is drinking some really funky shit today. And for the first time, I hope they don’t like it.”
Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.
