Landmark D.C. Restaurant Closing its Doors

WASHINGTON - For decades, the Yenching Palace was a favorite Chinese restaurant of diplomats and other Washington power brokers. But the Lung family, which has operated the Cleveland Park eatery since 1955, has decided its time to close the check on this historic landmark.

The Lungs have decided to close the restaurant they've operated in the 3500 block of Connecticut Avenue, Northwest after more than 50 years.

The Washington Examiner reports that the U.S. intermediaries for the White House and the Soviet Union met there in 1962 to help defuse the Cuban Missile Crisis. Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger took a Chinese delegation there as part of President Nixon's efforts to normalize relations with Beijing.

Walgreens Pharmacy will be the building's new tenant. The nation's leading pharmacy plans to open its first store in the District at that location.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)