Downtown’s Bibiana Kicks off 2018 With Fresh Art

Downtown Italian eatery Bibiana is back in action this week with a new look, reopening Monday, January 8, for lunch and dinner service following a recent makeover.

Rammy Award-winning restaurateur Ashok Bajaj’s 140-seat eatery (1100 New York Avenue NW) scored new furnishings, art, and an additional private dining room, with pops of turquoise and metal accents sprinkled throughout. The nine-year-old restaurant also rang in 2018 with a new executive chef: Loris Navone, a transplant from Miami who most recently served as consulting executive chef at Casa Tua. He’s getting a warm welcome in D.C. at his newly redesigned restaurant from Harry Gregory, co-founder and director of Ara Design International.

There’s photographs of Italian Vespas hovering over the 12-seat bar, which was also outfitted with new bar stools and display shelving. Italian chairs, some with black metal and others with timber frames, pull up to dark oak laminate tables.

Photo: Greg Powers

Its existing 48-seat private room sports new wall coverings of Italian columns from Sterling Art of London. There’s a newly commissioned collage of classic Italian streetscapes (think: Trevi Fountain, the Colosseum, and the Pantheon) in another dining area.

Bibiana is not the only D.C. power spot to get a refresh as of late; Charlie Palmer Steak also got a stylish renovation in late 2017.