Floriana

Kamala Harris Visits Floriana Italian Restaurant for Takeout in D.C. | Eater DC

"I find Floriana to be a long-running Dupont Circle Italian pasta place that has decorated its outdoor dining tents and a 17th Street NW Christmas tree with photos and cutouts of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris since November; on January 4 Harris and Doug Emhoff arrived in plain black masks to support the 41-year-old restaurant, take a selfie with the still-standing tree festooned with American flags, blue ornaments, and cutouts of Harris and President-elect Joe Biden, and urge support for small businesses. The restaurant embraced a “Kamala la-la-la-la la-la-la-la” theme—with a Harris cutout in the star position of the tree and seven posters hung from the sides of the expanded streetside dining tents—and owner Jamie Branda says bar manager Dito Sevilla “was the genius behind this and all Floriana trees.” Branda wrote that the Vice President-elect specifically asked after the staff, discussed cooking and how families’ mealtimes have shifted, and that the second gentleman “makes a good chicken” (Branda even offered him shifts in the kitchen); she also said Harris’s visit was given less than an hour’s notice. Several posters were briefly removed after heavy rainstorms destroyed tents, and the photos went back up when new tents arrived; the tree also included ornaments with Melania Trump’s “Be Best” slogan." - Gabe Hiatt