This week, CHS reported that Broadway’s Star Fusion and Bar survived opening just as the COVID-19 pandemic hit but is set to close permanently after a year and a half of challenges making ends meet on Broadway.
Another north-end Broadway restaurant also opened into the teeth of the COVID-19 crisis but Carrello says it is still going strong and welcoming Capitol Hill diners who may have never got acquainted with its rabbit meatballs, roasted peppers, alici anchovies, fried artichokes, albacore crudo, and salumi sliced “until it’s gone.”
But two years of business under pandemic restrictions has shaped a different take. Carrello’s namesake carts have been parked.
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CHS reported here on the addition to the Altura family’s late 2019 debut in the Broadway at Roy space where Poppy grew into a Capitol Hill classic over its 11 years.
Based around a concept of carts of stuzzichini, antipasti, and salumi rolling by like a kind of Italian dim sum, Carrello was chef and owner Nathan Lockwood’s answer to a near decade of creating upscale, chef-driven dining on Broadway at his “elevated” Altura across the street. The warmer, more playful Carrello was intended to be a more casual dining experience focused on “seasonal, artisanal traditions and familial generosity of Italian dining.”
“Like so many other businesses, we’ve been forced to continually adapt to the shifting demands of our industry. The namesake carts that drove Carrello’s identity, have become—at least temporarily—obsolete,” the restaurant says of how things are taking shape two years later. “The stuzzichini and antipasti that formerly roved around the dining room are now fully incorporated into the menu. This allows diners to plan the quantity and timing of plates with greater ease. The element of surprise—what may roll by and when—has been relegated to how the ingredients themselves come together on the plate.”
For now, at least, Carrello will feel a little more like a simpler Altura — and that’s ok. Add new coursed menus, a new à la carte menu, options for outside heated dining in the garden, a new “Aperitivo Hour” — Paired drink and small plate specials for $15, afternoon amari flights, and other fun surprises starting happily at 4:30 each day — and reservations now open for Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve coursed meals, and you have more good reasons to make your first in-person visit to Carrello.
Carrello is located at 622 Broadway E. Learn more at carrellorestaurant.com.
