Washington, D.C. – NoMa’s newest chef-driven restaurant, Zuppa Fresca, opened ahead of schedule December 31, with a fresh menu and relaxed atmosphere. Located in the Loree Grand at Union Place, at 250 K Street, NE, Zuppa Fresca is a Sicilian-themed restaurant. View the menu.
Entrepreneurs John Kennan and Chef Alfio Celia are hoping Zuppa Fresca becomes the favorite dinner spot for NoMa residents. “Everybody’s been waiting for a neighborhood spot like this for so long,” Kennan said. “The people who have dropped in have been so impressed by the food and the service, and they’ve been saying how great it is to have a space like this.”
“Everything is fresh and prepared here, even down to the mayo and daily quiche crust,” said Chef Celia, a Sicilian native who spent much of his childhood in restaurant kitchens around the Eastern Shore. When Celia was about 12, his restaurateur father was waylaid on a delivery and didn’t return in time for the restaurant’s dinner service. Unbeknownst to his father, Celia had been taking lessons directly from the chef for months after he finished his homework. When both his father and the chef were unavailable, Celia jumped into the line and started preparing the food for waiting patrons. “When I walked out, my dad had been sitting at the bar watching the food come out, and he was laughing,” Celia remembered. “The first day my dad learned I could cook is definitely a favorite childhood memory.”
Celia is bringing his Sicilian heritage into Zuppa Fresca’s menu. The desserts are recipes from his grandmother’s dessert shop on Sicily. The restaurant offers a fresh, light menu of soups, salads, quiche and paninis. Chef Celia is planning a unique dinner menu focused on seafood, chicken and veal, which will be launched when the restaurant acquires its liquor license within the next few months. Meanwhile, Zuppa Fresca is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. The restaurant is situated between the Union Station Metro and New York Avenue Metro stations, just blocks from the NoMa Harris Teeter and two blocks from H Street, NE.
Zuppa Fresca has hired 21 people, most of whom live in the NoMa area. The restaurant seats 70, with the capability for another 60 seats outside during warmer weather. Residents of Loree Grand, Senate Square, 425 Massachusetts Avenue and The Washington Center will receive a discount on meals for a limited time.
Zuppa Fresca is the ninth restaurant to open in NoMa in the last 18 months, and the second chef-driven concept here, after Todd Gray’s Watershed opened in April 2010 at the Hilton Garden Inn. For a retail map, visit http://nomabid.wpengine.com/map/map/.
About NoMa
NoMa is a vibrant, connected neighborhood north of Union Station and the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. In the last six years, private developers have invested more than $3 billion in the 35-block area covered by the NoMa BID, and have plans to develop more than 20 million square feet of office, residential, hotel, and retail space. In 2011, developers broke ground on 1,900 residential units; more than 700,000 SF of office space are also under construction. NoMa has 15 modes of transportation, including two Red Line Metro stops, and the best biking facilities in DC, with the only East Coast Bikestation, the 8-mile Met Branch Trail, and six Capital Bikeshare stations. For more information about NoMa, visit nomabid.wpengine.com and sign up for our bimonthly newsletter. Follow us on Twitter @NoMaBID; or Facebook at www.facebook.com/nomabid.
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For immediate release
News media contact: Rachel Davis
202-289-0111, [email protected]