Citizens & Culture, a new restaurant slated for downtown Silver Spring, will feature live music and ‘DMV’ cuisine, according to a report from MoCo360.
The 15,000-square-foot restaurant will seat approximately 500 people and features a retractable roof, an outdoor patio, and garden walls. A variety of local ingredients will be utilized on the menu in order to create flavors inspired by Ethiopian, Chinese, Thai, and West Indian cuisines, which are abundant in this region, according to the report.
Citizens & Culture is the second downtown Silver Spring establishment from Tsega Hailemariam, who opened Kaldi’s Social House in 2013. A second Kaldi’s location is located in the Clarendon neighborhood of Arlington, Va.
Hailemariam initially intended to open a sports bar in the space previously occupied by Pacci’s Pizzeria at 8113 Georgia Ave. With the aid of chef consultant Jessica Shields, the concept evolved into a more casual fine dining eatery within the two-story building, he told MoCo360.
The restaurant will be headed by chef Ryan Hackney, a Beat Bobby Flay alum who has previously worked at Macon Bistro & Larder, Charlie Palmer Steak, and most recently Valor Brewpub. Hackney recently made headlines for revealing part of Citizens & Culture’s menu in the most unlikely of places: a birthday party for society scammer Anna “Delvey” Sorokin.
Citizens & Culture is tentatively scheduled to open in April, and has been named one of Eater’s “Most Anticipated Spring Restaurant Openings to Track Around D.C.“
Rendering courtesy Tsega Hailemariam