{"id":378804,"date":"2026-10-21T20:10:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T20:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/378804\/"},"modified":"2026-10-21T20:10:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T20:10:08","slug":"with-a-new-owner-nycs-famed-cafe-fiorello-falls-flat-in-d-c-fast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/378804\/","title":{"rendered":"With a New Owner, NYC\u2019s Famed Cafe Fiorello Falls Flat in D.C. Fast"},"content":{"rendered":"

Landry\u2019s Inc., the massive hospitality group run by Texas mega-billionaire restaurateur (and NBA Houston Rockets owner) Tilman Fertitta, is taking over bankrupt Fireman Hospitality Group<\/a>\u2019s three biggest money-making Manhattan restaurants \u2014 Trattoria dell\u2019 Arte, Fiorello\u2019s and Bond 45 \u2014 as part of a newly announced $22 million purchase in conjunction with Ciao Hospitality Group, which will act as the new operator, per the NY Post.<\/p>\n

Caf\u00e9 Fiorello DC will be permanently closing after service on Wednesday, October 28, sources tell Eater on Wednesday. Its OpenTable reservation portal also confirms the news: \u2018We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your understanding. Thank you for considering Caf\u00e9 Fiorello DC, and we\u2019re sorry we won\u2019t have the opportunity to welcome you.\u201c Over at National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland, Fireman\u2019s Fiorella Italian Kitchen<\/a> will also be closing on Thursday, October 29.<\/p>\n

Fertitta\u2019s Titanic-sized restaurant portfolio includes Morton\u2019s, Mastro\u2019s, Del Frisco\u2019s, Strip House; Mexican cafe chain Dos Caminos; and sushi bar Blue Fin, all of which have a NYC presence. He\u2019s also an of New York\u2019s Catch Group, which includes sceney spots like Corner Store, the 86, Do\u2019resh, and Keen\u2019s Steakhouse. He shows no signs of slowing down in the restaurant world \u2014 despite juggling his time as the President Donald Trump\u2019s appointed ambassador to Italy (and parking his superyacht<\/a> in D.C.).<\/p>\n

Ciao CEO Jeff Crivello tells the Post he co-bid on the Fireman empire together with Landry\u2019s and will also operate Fireman\u2019s other venues: Paris Bar in the Le Meridien Central Park Hotel, hotel rooftop lounge Le Jardin, Brooklyn Delicatessen, and two Manhattan outposts of Brooklyn Diner. Fireman\u2019s group started showing wear and tear after COVID-19, and the death of its cherished founder Shelly Fireman last fall at 93 didn\u2019t help, notes the Post, leaving the company with nearly $10 million in secured claims. Its RedEye Grill, \u201chome of the famous dancing shrimp,\u201d closed this summer near Broadway after a 30-year run, and National Harbor\u2019s Italian kitchen Bond 45 closed earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Cafe Fiorello\u2019s marquee real estate along Pennsylvania Avenue NW has seen its fair share of restaurants come and go; the 6,500-square-foot corner formerly housed San Francisco\u2019s short-lived Tadich Grill<\/a> and longtime local fixture TenPenh before that.<\/p>\n

Along with its thin-crust pizza that helped make the NY original famous, there\u2019s a destination antipasto bar showcased upon entry, lobster carbonara, seasonal specials like an open-faced lasagna for two, a flame-kissed Black Label burger, and branzino al Forno that made use of its wood-burning oven. Months after opening, Eater spotted polarizing Georgia politician Marjorie Taylor Greene<\/a> having dinner here in a well-tailored red suit just weeks before she hung up her Republican congresswoman hat.<\/p>\n

The neighborhood near the Capitol is undergoing a dining resurgence as of late, with the arrival of flashy surf-and-turf spot Chandelier<\/a> on Pennsylvania Avenue this fall and Atlas Restaurant Group completely gutting the old Charlie Palmer Steak in preparation for a 2027 opening.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Landry\u2019s Inc., the massive hospitality group run by Texas mega-billionaire restaurateur (and NBA Houston Rockets owner) Tilman Fertitta,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378805,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[139127,9,56,63,65,64],"class_list":["post-378804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-dc-restaurant-closings","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}