Del Ray’s Reserve 2216 closed quietly on Saturday. It was their last night in operation at their current address (2216 Mount Vernon Ave.) above sister restaurant Del Ray Pizza. Regulars will be relieved to know the restaurant focused on Southern-leaning food such as hot chicken and fried green tomatoes will only temporarily shutter as they seek a new location in the same area. “We’re really looking forward to finding a space and signing a lease soon,” says chef Eric Reid.
The reason for the move was two-fold. With just 30 seats, the restaurant’s popularity outgrew its capacity (They received a nod in our 2015 50 Best Restaurants). Second, there were zoning headaches. “We’ve had some zoning issues because the city was looking at us [Reserve 2216 and Del Ray Pizza] as two completely different restaurants, saying we have to have our own special uses, like off-street parking spaces,” Reid explains. “The timing worked out perfectly, with zoning issues coming up and us needing to expand into a bigger place.”
Wherever Reserve 2216 lands in Del Ray, Reid says he’s looking forward to expanding the menu; not sharing a kitchen with a pizza shop means more oven real estate. Reid says they are shooting to reopen mid-December and “definitely before Christmas” because they don’t want to miss out on New Year’s celebrations. They plan to serve dinner Tuesday through Saturday and Sunday brunch.
If you want your fix of Reserve 2216 in the meantime, visit Port City Brewing Company in Alexandria on Nov. 8 for a chili cook-off pitting Reid against his childhood friend who is the chef at Mason Social. Tickets are available here.
Laura Hayes hails from Philly (but don’t hold it against her). She’s been covering the local dining scene for three years, and her work has been published in the Washington Post, Food Network, Washington City Paper, Arlington Magazine and more. Having lived in Japan for two years, she finds herself in a constant state of craving sushi. Laura always orders her favorite savory dish again for dessert and keeps her gut in check through lots of CrossFit classes.
