Beth’s Café and Bar, an American restaurant, is set to open in Bethesda in early December, according to co-owner Celal Gulluoglu.
The restaurant at 4950 Fairmont Ave. shares a building with Eastern Mediterranean eatery ala Bethesda, also owned by Gulluoglu, but will have different management, he said in an email to MoCo360 Tuesday. Ala Bethesda is nearby at 4948 Fairmont Ave.
Gulluoglu said the restaurant is planning for a Dec. 6 grand opening. During the opening, guests can sip cocktails or mocktails and listen to a performance by Bethesda-based jazz quartet SK Jazz, Gulluoglu said.
The restaurant will have blues and jazz music playing in the background of the 2,750-square-foot restaurant, Gulluoglu said. According to the restaurant website, the owners hope for Beth’s to be a “place where friends and family can gather, unwind, and enjoy great food in a relaxed setting.”
The menu will include an assortment of small plates including baked brie with fig jam and walnuts; Maryland Crab dip; a cheese board; hot honey chicken bites; Brussels sprouts; and macaroni and cheese.
For larger dishes, Beth’s will also offer seafood plates such as fried branzino as well as quesadillas, tacos and sandwiches. Dessert offerings include fudge brownies and cast-iron baked cookies.
A variety of wines and beer will be available, along with cocktails such as the Bethany, with hibiscus and jalapeno-infused tequila, and mocktails such as the Bloom with rose water and iced black tea.
Like ala Bethesda, which opened in March, Beth’s is located in the former space of Positano Ristorante, a staple of the downtown Bethesda area for decades. The restaurant closed in May 2021 during a lengthy legal battle within the family who owned the restaurant for more than 40 years. It was split into two separate spaces for ala and Beth’s.
The former Italian restaurant’s once ivy-covered banquet rooms have been transformed into a contemporary and industrial space. The wood garage doors on the façade of the restaurant open to an outside dining area and bar that is covered and heated and leads into an inner dining room toward the back of the space.
Gulluoglu said after he opened ala Bethesda, he realized that residents in the area were missing “good service and unique food and drinks.”
“We thought it’ll be good to fulfill this gap in the neighborhood,” Gulluoglu wrote, noting that he expects diners who may be looking for a quick bite, meeting for business or a date to gather at Beth’s.
