Pizzeria Vetri Closes D.C. Location After Nearly 3 Years on 14th Street NW

The Pizzeria Vetri at 2221 14th Street NW has closed, a representative for the company confirms, removing a source for square Sicilian slices and circular Neapolitan pies originally designed by James Beard Award-winning chef Marc Vetri.

The lone D.C. location of the Philadelphia-based brand opened in June 2016, about seven months after Vetri and his business partner sold their restaurant group to Urban Outfitters. A representative for the company tells Eater that the restaurant shuttered Sunday due to “a shifting in our business priorities.” Popville first reported the news with help from a tipster.

According to the Urban rep, the company has no plans to open more restaurants in the immediate D.C. area. It will continue to operate the Terrain Garden Cafe at the Anthropologie & Co. in Bethesda.

Vetri, the namesake pizzaiolo, split with Urban Outfitters in December 2017, saying he wanted to give the company room to grow its restaurants on its own. Vetri Cucina, where he won a Beard award for Best Chef:Mid Atlantic in 2005, wasn’t included in the sale to Urban. Vetri is a finalist for Outstanding Chef this year.

Pizzeria Vetri is now down to three locations, all in the greater Philadelphia area. An Austin outpost closed in February 2017. Another wood-fired pizza place, Piola, folded just across the street about a year ago.

Meanwhile, New York chef Michael White’s pizza chain, Nicoletta, is expected to set up in Navy Yard in the next few weeks.

• Pizzeria Vetri closed at 14th and Florida Ave, NW [Popville]
• Philly-Based Pizzeria Vetri Opens Today in D.C. [EDC]
• Chef Marc Vetri Just Sold Out to Urban Outfitters [E]
• Marc Vetri Quits Urban Outfitters [EDC]
• Pizzeria Vetri Shutters in Urban Outfitters’ Space 24 Twenty on the Drag [EA]
• Italian Chain Piola Closes Its D.C. Restaurant [EDC]
• NYC’s Nicoletta Pizzeria Finally Finds a D.C. Home in Navy Yard [EDC]