Sad news for fans of Jackie’s Restaurant and Sidebar: both will close in late March after 11 years in Silver Spring.
“It’s sad, Jackie’s is extremely personal to me,” says owner Jackie Greenbaum. “It had its day.”
Greenbaum says the shutter was prompted by her expansion in the District with business partner Gordon Banks, and the attention required by more recent ventures like El Chucho, Bar Charley, and Slash Run. Driving the need to refocus: Little Coco’s, their forthcoming Italian restaurant in Petworth, with Jackie’s chef Adam Harvey at the helm. What started out as plans for a small pizza joint literally grew into a full-fledged restaurant as the team acquired more space through permitting—over 100 seats in total, with room to expand to a patio and eventually, a roof deck.
“It became more and more apparent that I was going to raid the entire crew from Jackie’s, and it was time,” says Greenbaum.
Little Coco’s is set to arrive in spring, corresponding with the Silver Spring closures. In the meantime, Greenbaum plans to celebrate Jackie’s run and role in the community with “a culinary walk down memory lane,” bringing back past chefs and classic dishes such as mini-Elvis burgers and skillet-fried chicken.
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.
