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Cafe Presse’s old bar is now a Galician tapas bar — MariPili ready for its debut on 12th Ave

 

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Abuela’s Garbanzos: “Marcona hummus, Spanish chimichurri and garlic chips” (Image: MariPili)

(Image: MariPili)

A new era for the old Cafe Presse space is ready to begin. MariPili will open — softly — this week, starting with a special set of reservations set up through its social media to give followers and early fans first dibs at the new Capitol Hill restaurant.

Set to serve its first customers Thursday night, there are no announced dates for the start of wider service at the new Galician tapas bar. You’ll want to check in on MariPili’s Instagram @maripili_tapas_bar if you’re eager to try it out.

CHS visited here with chef Grayson Pilar Corrales as the first time restaurateur was preparing her new venture to take over the space where Cafe Presse grew into a Capitol Hill favorite before closing earlier this year as owners Jim Drohman and Joanne Herron prepare for retirement.

“It was my grandmother who taught me how to cook, and MariPili is kind of based on my grandmother,” Corrales told CHS earlier this year. “She taught me how to cook from a very young age. She is Galician and she’s from Spain—as well as my grandfather. So, she was always cooking Spanish food and teaching me Spanish recipes.”

(Images: MariPili)

Repainted in the blues and whites of northwestern Spain and overhauled with a new ceiling, new floors, and plenty of natural wood, Cafe Presse’s old bar is now a tapas bar. Corrales said her goal is to keep things as local as possible while staying true to Galicia. Menu items will be in Corrales’s style, or in a style she has modeled around her grandmother’s way of cooking, including a play on her Spanish meatballs.

Corrales said MariPili’s drinks will focus on gin and tonics and there was talk of a possible sherry menu. The tap has switched out to Estrella Galicia and there will be exclusive Spanish and Washington wines.

Unlike Presse, Corrales said she expects MariPili to grow as a nighttime destination meaning the days of early soccer matches, brunches, and lunches are gone. The block’s other new food and drink venture — Anchorhead Coffee opened its new cafe and bakery next door in February — will be there to serve daytime needs.

MariPili’s opening, meanwhile, marks the arrival of one of the most anticipated new Capitol Hill restaurants in 2022 as new openings have slowed amid continued pandemic challenges.

MariPili is located at 1117 12th Ave. Learn more at maripili-tapas-bar.com.

 

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public spaces belong to people
public spaces belong to people
1 year ago

YESSS! Welcome to the Hill!

Log Time Capitol Hill resident
Log Time Capitol Hill resident
1 year ago

The menu link on their website does not work.

A Spaniard with wings
A Spaniard with wings
1 year ago

All the positive things. THANK YOU!