Here's a look at the best new and renovated venues in Washington such as corporate event venues, party rooms, conference centers, restaurants with private rooms, unique venues, and more. These event and meeting spaces can accommodate groups large or small for fall entertaining including business dinners, cocktail parties, conferences, and private and corporate events.
Italian-based global pizzeria chain Piola opened a new location on 14th Street in June. The two-story restaurant seats 80 guests in the dining room and 20 at the bar, with a raised dining area on the split-level second floor. The restaurant's architectural details include skylights, picture windows, industrial furnishings, and exposed brick and pipes.
A huge open kitchen with hickory-fired rotisserie grills is a focal point at chef Mike Isabella's new northern Greek-inspired restaurant Kapnos on 14th Street. The 6,000-square-foot space includes a 39-seat semiprivate dining area with accents like velvet curtains, punched metal Moroccan lanterns, and a window view into the display kitchen. Designed by Streetsense, the restaurant's rustic 160-seat dining room also includes a 10-seat chef's table illuminated by wine bottle chandeliers. Also new is Isabella's new Italian sandwich shop G, which is located next door to Kapnos. The 2,000-square-foot restaurant seats 46 and offers dine-in and carry-out sandwich options by day and a four-course Italian-American tasting menu for dinner.
Long View Gallery is undergoing an expansion, adding 3,500 square feet to the gallery's loftlike event space. Slated for completion in October, the venue will include 8,500 square feet of event space inside the historic warehouse and 2,500 square feet of gated outdoor space. Long View Gallery's new flexible floor plans can accommodate as many as 500 guests, with room for 350 for a seated dinner and 500 for a cocktail party. The space offers Wi-Fi, wall panels for projection, and hookups for speakers, iPods, and wireless microphones.
New Dupont Circle lounge Kabin brings alpine Aspen chic to Washington with a 1970s-era ski-culture-inspired interiors. The 3,200-square-foot venue accommodates 250 guests and includes chalet-esque design details like charcoal-finished wood walls, skiing murals, mirrored ceilings, tanned-leather banquettes, herringbone floors, and a virtual fire box.
J&G Steakhouse reopens this month with an upgraded look, including a refresh of the restaurant's two private dining rooms. The renovation also includes the addition of Bar 515, a new upstairs bar. The new design from New York-based Elemental Interiors will include giant hanging lanterns, dark walls, and an abstract photo of the Capitol dome.
Salamander Resort and Spa, Sheila C. Johnson's 168-room luxury resort located on 340 acres in Middleburg, Virginia, is now open. In addition to two restaurants from Equinox's Todd Gray, the resort includes conference and event spaces like the 5,000-square-foot divisible Middleburg ballroom, a 1,800-square-foot Bluemont ballroom, and a 1,000-square-foot hospitality suite with an outdoor terrace, as well as two boardrooms with additional breakout rooms. Events can also be held in the 160-year-old converted Stallion Barn, poolside, or in the culinary gardens. Amenities include a sprawling equestrian program, a spa with 14 treatment rooms, a cooking studio, tennis courts, and walking and biking trails.
Chef Robert Wiedmaier's third Mussel Bar & Grille location is now open in Ballston. Located in a futuristic building that once housed a Chevrolet dealership, Mussel Bar & Grille's sleek design includes industrial elements like painted steel cargo containers and construction crane purse hooks at the bar. The restaurant boasts a selection of 100 beers, and beer makes its way into the decor. A custom suspended light fixture is constructed out of bottles of Wiedmaier's Belgian Antigoon beer, and lines for beers on tap are enclosed within glass as a design feature. The restaurant accommodates 244 guests in the dining room and 54 guests in the outdoor seating area.
Located within a block of the Dunn-Loring Metro station is new Italian restaurant Ovvio Osteria, which opened in August. The 130-seat restaurant incorporates barn wood salvaged from upstate New York for its rough timber-topped tables and bar. Two large communal tables flank the bar, each seating 14 guests. Subway tiles frame an open kitchen, which includes a wood-burning oven. Ovvio also offers a 36-seat patio.
A new, larger outpost of Ted's Bulletin opened on 14th Street in August. Designed to look like a 1930s diner, the 160-seat restaurant includes a 500-square-foot bakery offering treats such as doughnuts and homemade Pop Tarts to go. The restaurant, which includes counter and booth seating, can accommodate large groups of as many as 15 on either side of the dining room.
In late August, Doi Moi opened in Logan Circle from the team behind Proof and Estadio. Chef Haidar Karoum and restaurateur Mark Kuller's new 5,000-square-foot Southeast Asian street food concept's bright white, minimalist dining room seats 135 guests. Designed by GrizForm Design Architects, the restaurant also includes a cocktail bar, dubbed "2 Birds 1 Stone," on the lower level from bar manager Adam Bernbach.
