NYC’s Famed Cafe Fiorello Opens in D.C.

A New York Metropolis legend is making D.C. its second house. The venerable Cafe Fiorello, which first opened its doorways in Manhattan over 5 a long time in the past, lands within the shadow of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Could 21 (1001 Pennsylvania Avenue NW). This marks the primary time the flagship of restaurateur Shelly Fireman’s hospitality group grows past its Huge Apple roots.

Fireman Hospitality Group already maintains a 15-year presence within the D.C. space with Bond 45 and Fiorella Italian Kitchen in Maryland’s Nationwide Harbor. “Shelly and I’ve all the time recognized that if we have been to deliver our flagship some place else, the nation’s capital was on the high of the record,” CEO Ben Grossman tells Eater. And with Cafe Fiorello celebrating its fiftieth anniversary final yr, the time felt proper to increase. The NYC fixture, located throughout the road from Lincoln Heart since 1974, continues to lure theater-goers with its dependable Italian fare and a vacation spot antipasti bar overflowing with greens and seafood.

On the coronary heart of the brand new 6,500-square-foot nook house — which housed short-lived energy spot Tadich Grill till 2018 — is a wood-burning oven, a novel characteristic for D.C. that will get its personal particular part on the menu. For instance, the branzino al Forno comes fire-roasted alongside peppers, onions, and olives, whereas a center-cut veal chop additionally boasts a particular wood-grilled taste profile. And don’t miss out on the flame-kissed cheeseburger, served with Tillamook cheddar and cacio e pepe fries.

However apart from the dwell hearth grill, don’t count on too many menu variations between the New York authentic and D.C. That, Grossman says, is on objective. “These are dishes that we’ve been executing for a very long time which have stood the take a look at of time,” he notes, referencing a variety of each day home-made pastas and sauces which have made Cafe Fiorello well-known.

A traditional plate of spaghetti and meatballs stands out with pomodoro sauce and brief rib-and-bone marrow meatballs for a very melt-in-your-mouth end. Carbonara will get an improve with Fiorello’s lobster carbonara, served with traditional guanciale and pecorino Romano. A stupendous linguine and clams is completed with a conventional white wine clam sauce, and naturally, there’s rigatoni alla vodka for the old-school Italian lovers.

Cafe Fiorello

Cafe Fiorello

Additionally starring on the menu are Cafe Fiorello’s thin-crust pizzas, topped with components together with candy fennel sausage and peppers, quite a lot of pepperoni, or prosciutto di Parma. And lest you overlook about your greens, the restaurant boasts a formidable antipasto bar that includes a constant choice of eight roasted and pickled greens, plus 4 choices that rotate seasonally. To not be missed are the fire-roasted crimson and yellow peppers and the crispy cauliflower Milanese served with a cauliflower coulis and Parmigiano-Reggiano.

To enhance its best-selling dishes, Cafe Fiorello additionally developed a novel bar program for its new D.C. house. “We’ve all the time considered ourselves as an Italian playground the place individuals can get the classics they love, with a twist,” Grossman says. As such, traditional Italian cocktails see a number of variations in D.C. Strive a banana-flavored Negroni, that includes bourbon and creme de banane, or the Cafe Fiorello Grand Spritz, which provides passionfruit and lime to the traditional Aperol-and-prosecco mixture.

Cafe Fiorello

“We’re not solely targeted on the meals at Cafe Fiorello — it’s actually in regards to the visitor expertise and making you’re feeling at house the second you stroll within the door,” says Grossman. And whereas the newly renovated restaurant is giant, there are homey touches, ranging from the nice and cozy millwork and traditional Italian furnishings, to Shelly Fireman’s private artwork assortment adorning the partitions. “Shelly all the time says that we’re huggers, and that’s what we wish people to really feel after they come to eat with us,” says Grossman.

Cafe Fiorello