Osman Barrie warned his business partner, Joe Vamboi, that opening a 24-hour diner in a crime-ridden neighborhood near Howard University was a risky venture.
Barrie recalled how his more optimistic partner proceeded anyway. But Vamboi’s dream of expanding the Steak ’N Eggs franchise to the at-risk area was dashed by a
series of violent crimes that led him to close the establishment Tuesday.
The duo, who both left war-torn Sierra Leone, started as cooks at the Steak ’N Egg Kitchen on Wisconsin Avenue in the mid-1990s and eventually bought the diner.
They added their names, Osman and Joe, to the marquee, and the round-the-clock eatery near American University now is a popular hangout for college students.
Vamboi wanted to open a similar restaurant near the historically black Howard University, Barrie said, “to give something for his people.”
But Barrie told his partner that he’d have to start the business without him.
“I told him, ‘If you try to start a business in the tough neighborhoods, you’re really taking a gamble,’ ” Barrie said. “Sometimes you win; sometimes you lose.”
In 2003, Vamboi opened Joe’s Steak ’N Eggs on the 1900 block of Ninth Street NW, in the gentrifying Shaw neighborhood. Prices were cheaper than those at the Wisconsin Avenue site to accommodate the customers in the poorer neighborhood.
Business struggled, and after four years, tens of thousands of dollars, dozens of police calls, a fire and a fatal shooting Friday, Vamboi decided to close the restaurant.
The early morning shooting was the second in four months, prompting D.C. Council Member Jim Graham to again call for the closing of the restaurant, describing Vamboi’s diner as a “magnet for violence.” Vamboi’s employees have since quit because they didn’t feel safe, Barrie said.
Friday’s shooting victim, Michael Richardson, 30, was an intern with the D.C. Public Defender Service, and a regular, Barrie said. He always ordered the steak and eggs and French toast.
“He was a young, good guy,” Barrie said, “trying to turn his life around.”
Barrie said his partner’s business was blamed for the crime that’s plagued the neighborhood long before the restaurant came along.
“It’s a shame,” Barrie said. “He tried to look out for our people, but our people didn’t look out for us.”
