Alexandria's Evening Star Café to Close For Renovations, Reopen With a New Chef

The past week or so has brought news of a couple restaurants closing temporarily for renovations, including Harry's Tap Room and Ray's the Steaks at East River — and, eventually, the downtown location of Jaleo. Now you'll also have to make plans to visit the Evening Star Café once more before it closes on November 5 for a renovation. Neighborhood Restaurant Group owner Michael Babin tells Tom Sietsema that the Del Ray restaurant will get a revamp that'll look "familiar but all new" when it opens back up.

The good news is that Evening Star Café won't be closed very long — it's expected to open later in the month. The bad news is that it'll reopen without executive chef Will Artley, whose last night at the restaurant was October 22. Artley doesn't have another restaurant job lined up, but he does tell the Washington Post critic that he'll be appearing soon on a Food Network show that is "Not Top Chef," which is good because Top Chef is a Bravo show anyway.

· Evening Star Café Poised For a Makeover (and a New Chef) [WaPo]
· All Previous Evening Star Café Coverage [-EDC-]

Evening Star Café [Photo: Victor H./Yelp]