Alas, Arcuri heard the fat lady sing and has acquiesced. Owners Bryce and Adam announced to the neighborhood that they will close their Italian restaurant after eight years in Glover Park at 2400 Wisconsin Avenue. Arcuri served excellent brick oven pizza and other Italian fare like Kavanagh’s and Faccia Luna before them. The restaurant business still is tough, especially when the majority of your business has become pizza delivery rather than sit-down service. On top of that, restaurants are scrambling to find employees while food and delivery costs are rising; both of which squeeze margins even tighter. Arcuri will close its doors permanently after a couple of Limoncello's at the end of the day on August 28th.
Suddenly, Glover Park’s supply of pizza pie is dwindling. Domino’s closed in the spring after a fire at the Calvert Center, which closed Laliguras as well. So far, there are no signs of reconstruction at the Domino’s store. The Glover Park Grill’s chef Michael Schlow appears to have shut down his pizza “ghost kitchen” which was called Little Prince Pizza (changed from Georgetown Pizza). The concept was to bring comfort food to people during the pandemic, yet it did not seem to get off the ground. The Little Prince website now gets redirected to Schlow’s Alta Strada pasta restaurant in Chinatown. Café Romeo’s was shut down by DC officials back in 2019 for various violations, and the restaurant never re-opened. The pizza scene in the neighborhood progresses like a scene from Agatha Christie’s famous novel, And Then There Were None.
You still can grab a pizza locally, not to worry - and then there were two. Though the owner of Angelico’s Pizza pondered closing the Glover Park store to focus on his other restaurants and had advertised the space for rent, Angelico’s at 2313 Wisconsin Ave is going strong and getting good pizza to their customers. Social Beast (formerly Ghostline) at 2340 Wisconsin Ave, utilizing the “ghost kitchen” or food hall trend, offers Detroit pizza as well as traditional. Also, Whole Foods will have a pizza oven and offer fresh pies and slices from its bistro. Expected opening now is in the fall. Pizza has gotten a little pricey when you factor in tax, tip and delivery – a range of $15-$35 for a pizza – which likely will affect demand. Will an enterprising businessperson sweep in and fill the vacuum, or will it end like the novel? “And then there were none.”…
Chris Jones
Editor's Note 8/26/2021 - Domino's door was open today and I peeked in. Reconstruction is underway. Assuming no permit or inspection delay it could be a couple of months to re-opening.
