A Flurry of D.C. Eating places and Cooks Flock to Annapolis

Between contemporary imports like Timber Pizza, Leo (a bar from Misplaced & Discovered’s homeowners), Tatte (a Boston transplant with deep roots in D.C.), Urbano, Moby Dick Home of Kabob, and quickly-to-arrive Capo Deli, Maryland’s quaint capital is formally a prime enlargement marketplace for well-known D.C. eateries.

Regardless of its comparatively shut proximity, the waterfront city noticed a post-pandemic surge of year-round residents who work in D.C. Now that many favourite go-to spots are establishing store in Annapolis — and liberal work-from-home insurance policies staying in place — there’s fewer causes to make the 45-minute trek into the nation’s capital.

Timber Pizza’s co-owner and president Chris Brady says he at all times envisioned bringing his Petworth-bred pies to his native Annapolis. When the pandemic shut the restaurant trade down in 2020, he moved again house and shortly realized he wasn’t the one transplant on the town.

“I’m as Annapolis as they arrive, so it was at all times on the radar,” Brady says.“There’s a sure appeal to Annapolis – I at all times known as it 30 miles from D.C. however a world aside.”

Demand for his award-winning pizza was instantly obvious. Upon opening in August, the 1,850-square-foot import off West Road was flooded with prospects.

“Annapolis has lengthy yearned for revolutionary eating in my view,” says Brady. “It’s simply actually nice to have a pleasant new mixture of locations to go as a result of these are the sort of locations that I get pleasure from as a part of my rotation.”

That features his new vegetable-friendly neighbor Leo. Homeowners Hilarey and her husband Brian Leonard, who additionally run D.C. bars Misplaced & Discovered and Freestone, didn’t intend to open a restaurant once they relocated to Annapolis in 2019. After dwelling in D.C. for 20 years, the couple merely wished more room for his or her rising household. However after speaking with their associates and new neighbors, they realized there was a gap available in the market and opened Leo in 2023.

“[Other restaurants] do numerous enterprise for vacationers, which is nice, however when you reside right here, you don’t wanna eat crab cake sandwiches every single day,” says Hilarey Leonard.

Their diverse menu that pulls from native farms and waterways sends out celery bisque, vegan spring rolls, complete grain salads, and a blue catfish with a porcini crust and do-it-yourself grits.

Moby Dick Home of Kabob chief working officer Alex Momeni says the group eyed Annapolis for years, ready for the appropriate industrial spot to open up. The DMV-wide Persian kebab store lastly made its Maryland capital debut three months in the past.

“We opened that location in anticipation for what’s to return within the subsequent couple of years and past in that geographical space,” says Momeni. Gross sales began off “gradual and regular,” he experiences, and the model plans to develop with the area.

Previous City-born Urbano Tex Mex opened in Annapolis City Middle in September, full with a non-public tequila tasting room. The quickly increasing Mexican spot comes from Frequent Plate Hospitality, an Alexandria-based restaurant group that lately entered the Maryland market at The Heights meals corridor in Chevy Chase. Managing associate Chad Sparrow says the choice to develop to Annapolis was straightforward, saying its family-friendly ambiance is an effective match for the market.

Urbano Tex Mex

European-styled bakery and cafe Tatte, the Boston-based chain that ballooned to fifteen areas throughout the DMV in a matter of years, opened its furthest outpost from the District’s industrial kitchen this month in Annapolis. Positioned throughout the road from Urbano, Tatte drew consideration even previous to opening. Workers observed curious onlookers peering into home windows of the brand new 3,900-square-foot, white-tiled house because it was being constructed. Simply because this Tatte is a bit farther from the central kitchen the place all the products are made doesn’t imply the meals right here isn’t as contemporary, administration says.

“All of the desserts and baked objects that you simply see are baked whereas we sleep at evening after which delivered the following morning at 5 a.m.,” says Terry Sorrow, Tatte Annapolis’ assistant common supervisor.

The inflow of latest residents and eating places from D.C. is just not going unnoticed by Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley.

“It’s much less dense and we see lots of people relocating,” he tells Eater. “They respect the proximity to Baltimore and D.C., however with these new locations opening up, they don’t must go far.”