Maydan Is Branching Out With a Casual New Arab Restaurant Fit for Food Halls

The owners of Maydan, the Middle Eastern and North African restaurant in D.C. that has drawn national acclaim for its Arab condiments and dramatic open-fire cooking, are expanding with a new business built on innovations they made during the pandemic. Washingtonian reports Rose Previte and Mike Schuster are partnering with a new group called Unfold Hospitality to open Tawle — a restaurant named after the communal menu that Maydan originally introduced for takeout — at a new food hall downtown next year. Tawle, which means “table” in Arabic, will reportedly serve kebabs, dips, spreads, and a la carte entrees available for takeout and delivery. According to Washingtonian, the first location is expected to begin with a counter-ordering system, but the owners are planning to replicate the idea with more casual, full-service locations in the future.

Mediterranean jewel box set to open

Ilili, the anticipated D.C. offshoot of the fancy Lebanese restaurant from New York, has set an opening date for Friday, October 8. The restaurant is taking over the glass-enclosed cube at the center of the Wharf development that formerly housed Mike Isabella’s Requin. [WBJ]

Rey Lopez/Eater DC

Here’s Johnny

Reverie chef and Minibar alum Johnny Spero is preparing to open a high-end bar this winter in the Capitol Crossing development on Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington City Paper reports. Equipped with a wood-burning grill and a raw bar, Bar Spero will take after Spanish watering holes the chef learned to love when he was cooking at Mugaritz in the Basque country. The new restaurant will fold in the same pristine Maine seafood the chef serves at modernist tasting menu spot Reverie. Spero is also leading the kitchen at Nighthawk Pizza, a new Arlington bar from Aslin Beer Company slated to open this fall. [WCP]

Stay golden (and gluten-free)

Golden Flour, a bakery that relies on a proprietary blend of gluten-free flours, plans to open in Brightwood Park (441 Kennedy Street NW) on Saturday, October 2, according to DCist. Options include vegan sweet potato muffins, chocolate chip scones, coconut rum cake, salads, and pizzas. Many of those items will come in wheat-based varieties, too. Baker Nieshia Williams is an Oxford-educated biophysicist. [DCist]

Mastering Dutch pancake balls

Mosaic District in Fairfax has a new mom-and-pop called Poffy that’s dedicated to poffertjes, or bite-sized Dutch pancakes, stuffed with sweet and savoring fillings like cookie butter and Spam. [Northern Virginia Magazine]