NYC INSTITUTION CAFE FIORELLO IS EXPANDING TO D.C.

Cafe Fiorello’s first foray outside of Manhattan will reactivate a prime downtown D.C. corner that’s sat empty since 2018 (1001 Pennsylvania Avenue NW).

The NYC fixture, situated across the street from Lincoln Center since 1974, continues to lure theater-goers with its reliable Italian fare and a destination antipasti bar overflowing with vegetables and seafood. Other familiar favorites making their way down to the nation’s capital include bouncy calamari, creamy rigatoni alla vodka studded with smoky bacon, open-faced lasagna dotted with short rib meatballs, burrata ravioli, dover sole with lemon beurre blanc, beef cuts, veal chops prepared three ways, thin-crust pizzas, and fluffy tiramisu.

The D.C. landlord’s leasing agent Bill Miller tells Eater the goal is to open this fall — just in time for the huge 2024 presidential election.

Cafe Fiorello’s new power-spot address, wedged between the White House and U.S. Capitol, was most recently home to Tadich Grill — the old-school standby out of San Francisco that lasted just three years. The short-lived import fit 175 seats in the main dining room, 16 bar seats, and 20 lounge seats, along with a large private dining room and private patio.

Weekend brunch at Cafe Fiorello brings smoked salmon bagel boards and artichoke frittatas to the table. Like the 50-year-old flagship, the D.C. location hopes to cater to ticket-holders going to nearby shows at Warner and Ford’s theaters. The D.C. outpost will also introduce a daily cafe to fuel up downtown tourists, politicos, and FBI agents on coffee, espresso, teas, breakfast sandwiches, pizza, and pastries.

Fireman Hospitality Group is also behind NYC classics like Brooklyn Diner, Bond 45, and Trattoria Dell’Arte. The team first expanded to the D.C. area over a decade ago with the openings of Bond 45 and Fiorella Italian Kitchen at National Harbor.

Meanwhile, Pennsylvania Avenue NW is no longer the priciest street to lease commercial space in the city. That’s according to a recent report from JLL, which says the Wharf’s Maine Avenue SW stretch is now the new Boardwalk of D.C.

2024-04-16T22:04:06Z dg43tfdfdgfd