By Susannah Black
The Curious Grape closed last Saturday after three years in its Shirlington location. Less than a week later, Nino Pino, the opening manager of Palio Ristorante Italiano in Leesburg, debuts a new Italian restaurant, Osteria da Nino, in the same space tonight.
A former Curious Grape chef, Delian DiPietro, will return to Shirlington as the chef for Osteria da Nino. Having met through restaurant connections, Pino and DiPietro decided to open a restaurant together after hearing that the Curious Grape was for sale several months ago.
In addition to Curious Grape, DiPietro worked at Blue Hill in Manhattan and José Andrés’ Zaytinya in D.C.
The first of his family born in America, DiPietro will concentrate on creating authentic and scratch-made Italian dishes. “I plan on modernizing Italian classics,” says DiPietro, who plans on making homemade pasta. DiPietro will also include some of his Curious Grape dishes, like the seared octopus over squid ink hummus.
Osteria da Nino will be open for lunch and dinner Monday through Friday, and brunch will be served on the weekends. Pino eventually hopes to offer a Sunday brunch buffet. In addition to Osteria da Nino’s full bar, a weekday happy hour will also be available with both food and drink specials.
“We’re both Italian,” says Pino, “and we’re keeping it 100 percent Italian.” / Opening tonight: Osteria da Nino; 2900 S. Quincy St., Arlington
