{What’s in that empty storefront? Which favorite chef is opening up where, and when? All those details and more in Coming Soon.

HOTEL HERON

PROJECTED OPENING: Spring 2024 699 Prince Street, Alexandria, VA A new hotel, Hotel Heron, will open in the heart of Alexandria this Spring. Originally opened in 1926 as the George Mason Hotel, Hotel Heron will combine the iconic inn with a new building that houses a modern event space and elevated guest rooms. This new 134 room boutique hotel will have a ground floor restaurant serving hearth inspired Mid-Atlantic cuisine, a cozy craft cocktail bar in the heart of the hotel, and an open-air seasonal rooftop bar with views of the Potomac. Some amenities include a state-of-the-art fitness center and meeting spaces. For more information, click here.
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{Keeping you up to date on the absolute latest in restaurant openings in the DC Metro area.

Cucina MORINI

901 4th Street NW The team behind Osteria Morini and Matt Adler have opened a new Southern Italian restaurant, Cucina MORINI, in the space formerly home to Nicoletta Italian Kitchen and Brew'd in DC's Mount Vernon neighborhood. Cucina MORINI spotlights flavors from the Italian coast, with options such as Fresh Crudo, signature small plates, handmade pastas, and more. Some Osteria Morini classics are also available at Cucina Morini like Zuppa di Pesce. Guests can also enjoy drinks like the Morini Martini ($7) at the aperitivo bar. For more information, visit their website here.Photo Credit Nina Palazzolo
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All the food news that you can use.

Behind The Counter: Diane Gross of Cork Wine Bar

Good friend and one of the women leaders in the DC hospitality scene, Diane Gross, owns Cork Wine Bar & Market with her husband, Khalid Pitts. Cork Wine Bar and Market is now celebrating 16 years! In this business, that is a tremendous feat! A few years back, Cork Wine Bar joined under one roof in the former Cork Market space, creating a unique and innovative wine-centric dining, education, and retail experience. Upstairs is the neighborhood fave, Cork Wine Bar, where 50+ wines by the glass and 250 bottles from small producers worldwide are served. Downstairs, Cork serves up the Tasting Bar and Cork Market, which provide a casual environment in which to taste and buy wine. Whether sipping on the patio, supping upstairs, or perusing the market for wine and noshes to take home, Diane has always wanted to demystify the world of wine. Thankfully, she took some time to share the highs and lows of the last few years year, and …. there’s a bit of an announcement of what’s in Cork’s future at the end; read on ...  Cork Celebrates our Sweet 16! When did you open Cork and what made you leave a life as a lawyer to open a restaurant?My husband Khalid and I opened Cork in 2008 as a neighborhood wine bar in our Logan Circle neighborhood.  We wanted to create a welcoming space, somewhere we wanted to hang out at and where wine and food were accessible coupled with knowledgeable service.  I left the glamorous life as a lawyer for the more glamorous life of a restaurateur!  I was working on Capital Hill right before President Obama was elected and if you look back at the time, it wasn’t so much fun.  So, we hatched a crazy plan to create a space all about wine, focusing on Old World selections, bringing in smaller family run estates from lesser-known producers.  That was 16 years ago and now we still have the same philosophy though many of those same wines have a cult like following today and are much harder to get.    When we opened Cork, there was not much on 14th Street, we have seen it explode in the last decade to become a dining destination.  What has been your mission in operating Cork?We wanted to create a not so serious space to enjoy wine, we are serious about what we do and who we chose to have on our list – but we do the work, so our guests don’t have to.  We wanted to demystify the world of wine, so we created descriptions for every wine, complete with country, region and varietal. Guests are free to experiment, our wine team will help them choose (if they want) and we keep the prices reasonable so trying different wines and exploring is still doable.  That has been really important to us and we are constantly sourcing new wines so we can stay true to that mission. What have been some of the highlights of the past 16 years?So many – Michelle Obama, Jill Biden, Stevie Wonder, being able to welcome them and share our dining room with them.  Watching people march down 14th Street in celebration on November 2008 and then in protest on November 2016.   The Cork team, many of whom have been with us for years and years.  The Cork guests, talking about wine with thousands of people.  Hosting them for first dates & engagements, celebrating weddings and anniversaries and being sad when people move away.  Feeling apart of so many people’s lives was something I didn’t expect to happen but has in the most surprising and joyful way.   Every time I get a little down about the restaurant world, a regular will stop in and tell me how they would not know what to do without Cork and instantly I am uplifted.  We are grateful for each of these experiences which defines Cork.  What challenges do you think restaurants are facing now that were not around when you started?  It was definitely less complicated when we started and now it seems more difficult to do the same things.   Rising costs everywhere and the state of DC have really made operating challenging.  It makes it much harder to just operate one place successfully, I think that is why you see even smaller places expanding and after 16 years we have to think about what’s next!  But the adversity that we have all experienced in the past few years has made the community stronger and has developed new ways that we uplift one another.  For instance, women chef’s and food entrepreneurs came together during Covid to form RE:HER, a collective of women in the hospitality world supporting each other – I was fortunate to be on the Founding Board and the support and comradery has been amazing.  We know that we are not facing challenges alone.  What are the iconic Cork dishes and wines that you serve?Well definitely our avocado bruschetta (which we may have been the first in DC to do), our fried chicken and braised kale (yes, really!).  For wines, we change it up all the time but there are special wines that our guests keep coming back for Chateau Magneau Bordeaux Blanc, Otto Uve, Crochet Sancerre, Ameztoi Rosé, Vajra Langhe Rosso and of course Lopez de Heredia.   How do you select wines for the Cork and Cork Spring Valley?We have a core list that we have worked with for a long time, but we are always adding wines to the list.  We taste every producer that we sell, whether on the wine list or in our retail store.  We have always focused on old world wines from smaller family run estates that are doing sustainable, organic and biodynamic production.  Natural wine before it was a thing.  In essence the folks growing the grapes are making the wine.  Our tasting team is led by Anastasia who is our wine manager.  She takes the lead in finding new wines for our lists, putting together our epic wine flights each month and managing our store.  What is next for Cork?More Corks!  We are actively looking for new spots to do some additional wine bars and stores.  Coming to a neighborhood near you soon! 
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Where is Nycci? Here, there, and everywhere in media outlets across the city.

Dinner Party Trends: Axios

Read Brianna Crane & Sami Sparber's interview with Nycci, and get all the deets on hosting trends in 2024~Find out more here. Photo: A tablescape by North Carolina-based dinner party wares rental company Canary. Photo: Emily Bennett, courtesy of Beth Nash 
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Take a deep dive into the Industry and beyond.

Bubbles for the Winn: Industry Night, March...

Hey all and thanks for joining me again on this week’s Industry Night. So excited to spend this month at Tony & Joe’s down on the waterfront in Georgetown. If you live in the DMV or have ever visited this city, chances are you’ve been here. They have one of the best patios. It looks out on the Potomac with views of the Kennedy Center. Seriously, on a gorgeous day, you want to sit out on that patio with a tray of fresh shucked oysters and a glass of rose and watch the boats go by. So special thanks as always to Greg Casten for being such a tremendous supporter of me, this show, and the work that I do. I’m going to chat with Greg in a minute about the history of Tony & Joes and Tony - Greg’s Uncle Tony - who was such a character and just recently passed away. Later in the show, I’ll be chatting with good friend and wine authority Winn Roberton. Winn runs the show at Michael Mina’s Bourbon Steak and I love talking wine with him. And by the end of today’s show, you will too.But first — one of my favorite things to do is talk about where I am eating and I kid you not, I have been seriously out and about and eating all the good things — mostly!- I celebrated the Lunar New Year with Scott Drewno & Danny Lee at Chiko for their Lunar New Year Tea — They brought in Jill Nguyen of Capitol Jill Baking and Caroline Ta of Sweets by Caroline with ginger scones, dumplings, tea sandwiches, and milk buns- Popped into Fiola for a glass of Mt Etna Bianco & airy gnocchi- Love a Rasika check in and on a Friday, it is hopping- I’ve been to Moon Rabbit twice in the last two weeks — it is that good — you may have listened to my show with Kevin Tien & Susan Bae and team that I did there before they opened, and everything that we talked about — their intention, commitment, passion — it all ends up on the plate. There’s also a really sunny vibe — they are all so happy to be there and be open and be serving delicious mod -Vietnamese. Do not miss the pate chaud or any of Susan’s desserts- I stopped by Tail Up Goat. They are now doing a tasting menu only in the dining room so I just sat at the bar had a wonderful glass of La Croix Gratiot Les Zazous — a truly lovely white that Bill Jensen recommended. He also poured me a funky wine - Sipon from Slovenia — and of course, he poured me a Riesling because it makes him crazy that I don’t like it. And I have to tell you — he didn’t even try. He poured me a Riesling that had a sweet finish and I was like, you gotta be kidding me. When I bring in Winn we are going to talk about Somms and their love of Resling!- Last one — although I have so many more places that I have been — I went to Service Bar. Now if you know me you know I’m not really a cocktail drinker. But it had been a minute since I had been in and I was looking forward to catching up with Christine Kim. Again, the city was pretty lit up. U Street had bars filled, with people waiting on lines to get in and other people pouring out. So fun. They play amazing music, and if you are a cocktail drinker while, the place looks like a hole in the wall — the cocktails are thoughtful, balanced and well madeOkay! On to today’s show!When you are at Bourbon Steak there is a very tall individual walking around busily taking care of all the patrons — you cannot miss Winn Roberton, the head sommelier. And there’s over 750 labels on that wine list!A local boy, raised in Washington, DC, Winn's journey into the world of wine started as a server at Bourbon Steak in 2008.Listen to our full conversation here, or watch it unfold on YouTube, here. 
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