One of Alexandria’s Oldest Restaurants Gets a Facelift | Eater DC

"A 100-year-old Alexandria stalwart, operating on the site since 1904 and as a restaurant since 1964, has been transformed from decades of breakfast buffets in classic red booths into a swanky all-day spot after a gut renovation down to the studs following a 2023 acquisition by Alexandria Restaurant Partners (ARP). “We’ve focused on reimagining [the restaurant], paying homage to the many years of history there, and just bringing it up to 2025, so to speak,” says Dave Nicholas, ARP managing partner, who notes that after the death of longtime owner Charlie Euripides in 2022 ARP sealed the deal in 2023 and reopened the space in April 2024 after a three-month closure. “I said to them for almost 18 months, ‘if you’ll sell us the real estate, then we’re interested,’” Nicholas tells Eater. ARP and corporate operations chef Santiago Lopez — who says, “I think our focus here has been hyper-seasonal, fresh, vibrant food” — toured North America from New York City to Texas and Florida (hitting up to 10 restaurants a day) to reimagine a menu of modern American staples. The new program swaps an old-school buffet for acai bowls, adds dinner (for the first time in 30 years), cocktails and a boozy brunch, and introduces dishes ranging from a mushroom ravioli dressed with a dried porcini mushroom crema, stuffed with a mushroom mix and accented with marinated and grilled maitake mushrooms, to a cheeseburger with house-cured bacon flavored with maple syrup, deviled eggs topped with roasted corn and tajín, and a char siu pork with fried rice. Brunch offerings span steak and eggs and blueberry pancakes to cinnamon-molasses butter–topped oatmeal pancakes, avocado toast with marinated burrata, bananas foster French toast, and chicken and waffles with chorizo gravy. The building gained an 80-seat patio (replacing a rare Old Town parking lot) with seasonal decor and a selfie-ready floral arch by Naii Vegas of Creative Buildr, a dining room for 100 including a 20-seat private room, and a new floral mural by Amuse126; the renovation also added a bar and design touches that play up Alexandria history with newspaper-inspired wallpaper and Americana nostalgia." - Adele Chapin