Long-Awaited NYC Pizza Place Nicoletta Slated to Open in D.C. in the Fall

Talk of NYC pizzeria Nicoletta opening a location in D.C. has been going on for years — way back to 2013, in fact — but the restaurant from Osteria Morini chef Michael White is still in the works. Washingtonian reports that restaurateurs chef Michael White and Ahmass Fakahany now say that Nicoletta Italian Kitchen is slated to open in Mt. Vernon Triangle by late fall.

The vision behind the restaurant is “Italian piazza,” where diners can order anything from lasagna with crispy corners to Calabrese pizza with fennel sausage. The NYC outpost divided critics when it opened (New York Times critic Pete Wells gave it a zero star review in 2012). The menu for the Washington location is still in development.

Nicoletta’s format has evolved since the restaurant’s first rumblings of opening in D.C.: in 2013, the idea involved operating the pizza joint out of a retail kiosk in The Yards, and that was still the plan in 2015. “We’re in the process of getting the design right and working out the kinks. If I gave you a date, it probably would end up getting pushed back,” Osteria Morini executive chef Matt Adler told Eater back in 2014.

• Osteria Morini Chef Michael White Is Opening a Pizza and Pasta Restaurant in DC [Washingtonian]
• Nicoletta Could Arrive in D.C. By Fall [EDC]
• Yes, Nicoletta Is Coming to The Yards (Updated) [EDC]