Business Ins & Outs: Reverie, Molteni&C, Ice Cream Jubilee
By • March 18, 2024 0 1121
In: Reverie
Chef Johnny Spero’s Reverie will return to service in a matter of days, after a major reconstruction. An August 2022 fire shut down the Michelin-starred and intimate restaurant at 3201 Cherry Hill Lane NW. Restaurant expert Linda Roth reports: “The 16-course tasting menu ($255/person) reflects tastes from where Johnny has traveled and lived: Nordic countries, Japan, and the Chesapeake (Maryland). New design = fewer seats (36) than the pre-fire Reverie. They will start taking reservations in mid-March.”
The official opening date is March 26.
In: Ice Cream Jubilee
Ice Cream Jubilee opened at 3333 M Street (in the old Sweetgreen location) last week — offering “ultra premium ice cream, vegan sorbets and vegan soft serve.” Founded in 2014, Ice Cream Jubilee “specializes in handcrafted, creative ice cream flavors that delight and inspire,” we’re told. “Ice Cream Jubilee has won best ice cream in D.C. for nine years running and is constantly churning out new innovative seasonal flavors. Our ice cream is made at a dairy farm with milk from grass fed cows and no extra preservatives.”
The shop will have a grand opening party on Thursday, March 21.
In: Molteni&C
Molteni&C, a luxury furniture and kitchen group, has opened a 7,149-square-foot showroom at 3306 M St. NW. This opening marks the sixth “Flagship Store,” directly operated by Molteni&C around the world, after New York, Miami, London, Paris and Doha. The M Street store joins other top-drawer design companies like B&B Italia, Bo Concept and Waterworks — all part of the design district of Cady’s Alley on the west side of Georgetown.
Molteni&C will have a grand opening party on Thursday, March 21. Italian Ambassador Mariangela Zappia is expected to attend, along with company executives.
In: Afghania
Taking over the former space of Don Lobo’s Mexican Grill which closed May 31, 2020, after 16 years, Afghania — at 2811 M St. NW — is another restaurant by Omar Masroor. His Bistro Aracosia on MacArthur Boulevard gets high marks for serving the likes of sabzi turnovers, lamb chops and beef tenderloin, qabuli palou and veal ryehaan. The new restaurant is situated between Taj of India Cuisine and La Chaumiere. Masroor’s other spots are in McLean and Springfield.
In: Outerknown
Another cool, sustainable clothing store has opened at 1240 Wisconsin Ave. NW. The seven-year-old business — founded by surfer Kelly Slater — tells us: “We’re committed to protecting the environment and supporting fair labor. … The materials we use are vital to designing responsible products. We have a fiber policy and scorecard that has helped us navigate which fibers we consider to be preferred based on criteria for sustainability and circularity potential. This is why we work to increase the amount of preferred fibers (such as organic cotton, hemp, recycled cotton, responsible wool, etc.) in our products..”
In: Argent
Yes, another women’s clothing store is coming to the avenue, and some more cool gals, too. This one is Argent at 1250 Wisconsin Ave. NW with the slogan, “Successful separate, stronger together. It’s not uniformity, it’s unity.”
The clothing company with some stand-out “work friends” and spokesmodels, as it were, says: “Work is changing, but our clothes are struggling to keep up. We know this firsthand: Argent is the result of years spent searching and failing to find clothes with the attitude and ambition that match our own.”
The Georgetown store is the company’s first one outside New York.
Coming: River Club
At Washington Harbour, River Club will succeed the shuttered Bangkok Joe’s Restaurant (at the corner entrance for decades). The Residents Cafe firm — with a restaurant just south of Dupont Circle — expects to open the new place in the summer.
Out: Outdoor Voices
“Take a Hike” is the advice on the front window of the closed Outdoor Voices at 3025 M St. NW — which opened in 2018 — along with written messages from former employees, “Sayonara” and Peace Out.” The athletic leisure brand for women and men closed all of its stores last week but remains as an online business.
Out: Mono by All About Burger
Mono Diner at 1424 Wisconsin Ave. NW, which opened in 2019, closed last week. The seemingly popular restaurant offered table seating with a “diner” feel — and was operated by All About Burger, owned by Mohammad Esfahani.
