Food

Declaration Is DC’s New Politically-Themed Restaurant

The Shaw eatery opens with pizzas fashioned after the original colonies.

Declaration Shaw. Photograph by Daniel Swartz

The same restaurateur who brought us presidentially-themed eateries Lincoln and Teddy & the Bully Bar has created another edible ode to American politics: Declaration, now open in Shaw. The 52-seat restaurant from Alan Popovsky pays homage to the founding fathers with thin-crust pizzas (why not?), which represent the 13 colonies that declared independence in 1776—not ironically, the same square footage of the restaurant.

PRG Hospitality executive chef Demetrio Zavala designed the pies with toppings that represent each former colony, such as sliced tomatoes and pesto for New Jersey, or a Thanksgiving-style pie for New Hampshire (turkey confit, cranberries, maple gravy). The kitchen also translates a few historical recipes for the menu, such as an Italian riff on a colonial-era dough boy, as well as iconic dishes (cheesesteak, wings). As for the diner’s inalienable right to be choosy: gluten-free crusts.

Popovsky says this isn’t the last historically-themed concept for his hospitality group, as the JFK and Jackie venture is still in the works.

Declaration. 804 V St., NW; 202-627-2277. Open for dinner Monday through Thursday, 5 to 10 (late-night menu to 11); Friday and Saturday, 4 to 11 (late-night to 1 am); Sunday from 4 to 9 (late night until 10 pm). Lunch coming soon; weekend brunch starting in spring 2016. 

Food Editor

Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.