Closed: Aug. 21

Reopened: Aug. 22

History: No citations listed in city records dating back to 1999.

Health Department Says: no certified food supervisor on duty; offering unwrapped (not prepackaged) foods for sale to the public in violation of licensed restrictions.

Business Says: Health-department high jinks = no soup for you. When the 11-story, 539,000-square-foot steel-and-glass office building at 901 New York Ave. NW opened in early 2005, it provided a rooftop deck, fitness center, and concierge service but, because of delays, no sandwich shop. The property manager brought in the Vie De France kiosk as a stopgap, and, according to kiosk attendant Steve Allen, management obtained all the licenses required to sell a selection of pre-made sandwiches, salads, pastries, cookies, bagels, soups, and coffee. More than a year later, a health inspector appeared and said that the sandwiches, made daily off-site and packed in plastic containers, needed to be sealed with stickers and that the kiosk wasn’t licensed to sell anything besides bags of potato chips. “We thought we had all this covered, but I guess it’s just the games they play,” says Allen. Vie De France higher-ups sorted things out with the health department, and the kiosk was back open the next day, but it hasn’t offered hot food since then. Until a full-service deli under construction in the building makes its belated opening in a couple of weeks, people looking for a bowl of soup will have to go elsewhere. That includes one of Allen’s customers during a drizzly lunch hour recently. “But this is a soup day!” she protests when told there’s none. “Guess it’s off to Cosi,” says a man to his buddy as they turn up their jacket collars before venturing into the weather.

—Huan Hsu