Officina Cafe Is Opening Up in Downtown D.C.

Chef and restaurateur Nicholas Stefanelli will open a third outpost of his Italian cafe Officina on Monday, August 30, this time in downtown Washington. The original, three-level restaurant, amari bar and market opened in 2018 at the Wharf, and since then has expanded to Georgetown.

This new downtown Officina Cafe is located on first floor of The Hub (1615 L Street NW), and will cater to returning office workers with take-away coffee and pastries, to-go salads and Roman-style pizza for lunch, and after-work wine and Italian cocktails (catering services will be available too).

Photo: Deb Lindsey

The space is done up in a black and white color scheme with golden yellow accents. Expect to find dishes like tomato and farro salad with whipped ricotta; crostini with burrata and beets; ravioli with ricotta, sweet corn and anchovies; and bavette steak; and cannoli, tiramisu, and made-in-house gelato for dessert.

Officina Cafe will start serving breakfast after the Labor Day holiday. Starting this Monday, swing by from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Photo: Deb Lindsey

In other news...

• Mi Casa will unveil a new brunch starting this weekend: order dishes like breakfast burritos and quesadillas or Mexican hot chocolate oatmeal. Drinks will include frozen cocktails, pitchers, and specialty cocktails like a “Café Express” with Hornitos Reposado, Mr. Black Coffee Liqueur, and agave. Brunch will run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday.
• Colada Shop opened its latest Cuban cafe yesterday in Fairfax’s Mosaic District. The eatery is part of Bloomingdale’s department store’s Bloomie’s smaller concept store, the first in the nation. According to Instagram, Colada Shop’s opening hours will run from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday.

• A classic cheese pizza from locally-based Andy’s Pizza took home a top prize at the International Pizza Expo, a competition held in Las Vegas this past week. More than 200 pizza makers competed at the Expo, which had three divisions and Andy’s Pizza won the Traditional division.

“We won with the exact same cheese pizza that’s available by the slice at all of our pizzerias. I’m thrilled that the judges saw everything that goes into each slice,” owner Andy Brown said in a press release.

Photo: Emily Brown