Arcuri Soft Opening Wednesday, Grand Opening June 22

Arcuri, the Glover Park restaurant taking over the former Kavanagh's space at 2400 Wisconsin Avenue NW, will have a soft opening later this week and a grand opening June 22. The team behind Arcuri hopes the community embraces it as a new neighborhood favorite. 

"They seem really pleased with the fact that someone is coming in and wants to bring a neighborhood restaurant back into the fray," Adam Hiltebeitel, chief managing partner in charge of business operations, told Patch. 

The restaurant features 119 seats for dining several feet below the grade of Wisconsin Avenue, including ample bar seating and 16 outdoor seats. 

For a below-grade space, there is a surprising amount of natural light from the floor-to-ceiling front window. The removal of a center wall and replacement of ruddy brown tiling with glossy cream-colored concrete adds a warm hue to the space. 

Arcuri Executive Chef and co-Owner Dick Jones's American-Italian menu will start at on the smaller side, growing and changing in response to both seasonal availability and neighborhood demands. There will be pizzas, pastas, entrees and seasonal appetizers.

The bar will feature 14 taps including mostly local or craft beers as well as Prosecco and two California blends, one red, one white, on tap.

"I want to go out and be comfortable, but I want to have great food as well. And I think that that's what we're going to go for here," Bryce Gerlach, vice managing partner in charge of bar and cocktail operations.

Gerlach was sharing shots of his homemade Limoncello served in icy cool glasses Monday as the rain poured down outside. The refreshing lemon drink was enough to forget the downpour for a few moments. Limoncello will be available as an aperitif to sip or served frozen and similar in texture to a margarita.

The owners have hired about 20 people so far to make the operation hum. Behind the bar several times a week you will find Tym Schelling, a 25-year Glover Park resident, who said he "came out of retirement" to join the team at Arcuri a few days a week. 

The roll out for the new restaurant has been relatively slow, but Schelling said, that's a good thing.

"We're getting everything right," he explained. 

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