In no particular order, here’s a heaping plate of news that piled up on my desk in recent days. Grab a double espresso and read on:
It looks like all the I’s have been dotted and the T’s crossed on the lease for former Top Chef finalist and Frederick, Md. restaurateur Bryan Voltaggio, whose upcoming Friendship Heights restaurant has been foodie fodder for months.
Via that instrument of official-dom—the press release—Voltaggio’s PR firm announced last week that indeed, he’s opening Range restaurant at the Chevy Chase Pavilion, in late fall 2012.
The meat-focused restaurant will concentrate on lesser-used cuts of beef, game, fowl and seafood, introducing diners to “parts of the animal rarely featured on traditional ‘steak house’ menus,” according to the press release. Think offal, shoulders and legs.
Family-style dishes will incorporate local, seasonal produce. Located in the former Stein Mart store, the 14,000-square foot space will sport an open kitchen and seat 275 people. It’ll also have a bakery and retail shop. Voltaggio owns the highly-acclaimed Volt restaurant in Frederick, as well as the new Lunchbox, a café located five blocks from the flagship.
The former Hollywood Diner on Rockville Pike has been turned over to restaurateur Ted Thedorou, who will be opening Ted’s 355 Diner on March 5.
Thedorou owns two Delia’s Pizzeria and Grille restaurants in Virginia, one in Springfield and one in Sterling, plus Delia’s Mediterranean Grille and Brick Oven Pizza in Alexandria.
The restaurants’ website says their pizza was featured on the Discovery Channel and was endorsed in a book by celebrity chef Mario Batali. Judging from the online reviews of Delia’s, the new place might give the nearby Silver Diner a run for its money.
895 Rockville Pike, 301-340-0088. www.teds355.com
In my January 17 posting, I noted that Rosario Granieri, the executive chef at Pacci’s Neapolitan Pizzeria at 8113 Georgia Avenue in Silver Spring, had left for another position.
I spoke with Granieri, who said he’s working as a pizzaiolo at the Rossopomodoro restaurant in Eataly, the hot Italian marketplace on Fifth Avenue in New York City. Sounds like a fun gig.
Speaking of the Big Apple, New York University and Churchill High School graduate Nina Deva opened Fraiche Cupcakery in January in the Wildwood Shopping Center. Deva, 25, said that living in New York taught her how to be “adventurous with my taste buds.”
And indeed, Deva has some unusual cupcake flavors—among them, chocolate red wine, green velvet, strawberries and champagne, lemon lavender and chocolate stout. She also does a line of savory cupcakes—available on weekends only, that includes olive feta, baked potato and curried carrot.
10219 Old Georgetown Road, Bethesda. 301-312-8081. www.fraichecupcakery.com
