All-Purpose has only been open two months, but the team behind the pizza-centric Italian-American restaurant already has plans for a second location. The owners, who also operate The Red Hen and Boundary Stone, will open a slightly larger location at the Dock79 development in Navy Yard next summer. The restaurant will be accompanied by a small takeout shop focused on rectangular Sicilian-style pizza.
The menu at the new spot will be similar—but not identical—to its Shaw counterpart. Specifics are still in the works, but expect a range of hot and cold antipasti plus pizzas with seasonal toppings baked in a deck oven. Buttercream Bakeshop owner and pastry chef Tiffany MacIsaac will continue to work with the team on desserts.
“It will still be us,” says chef and co-owner Mike Friedman. “We’re just still in that infant stage where I really want to see what that area has and what it doesn’t have and really see where we can fill a niche.”
While wine is a main attraction at the Shaw All-Purpose, thanks to sommelier/co-owner Sebastian Zutant, beer will have an expanded role in Navy Yard. It’s near Nationals Park, after all.
The restaurant will overlook the Anacostia River with a front patio, side “garden lounge,” and 50-seat rooftop bar.
The adjacent, 1,200-square-foot takeout spot will be a “true recreation of the Jersey-New York pizza shop,” Friedman says. The Sicilian-style pies—available whole or by the slice—will be rectangular and thicker than those served in the restaurant. “Think like richer focaccia,” Friedman explains. There will likely be two or three options, including one with cheese and something seasonal.
The pizza shop menu will also have some “fried bits,” a couple salads, and possibly some meatballs or baked pasta. The takeout will have some stools and patio seating if you want to stick around for a beer with your food.
Despite the relatively swift expansion, the All-Purpose team doesn’t have any grand schemes to replicate the restaurant all over the place. “I don’t want to become an empire. I don’t want to take over the city. I don’t want to open up an AP on every corner,” Friedman says. “I want to make really great restaurants and give something to the community that maybe wasn’t there before.”
All-Purpose, 79 Potomac Ave SE.
Jessica Sidman covers the people and trends behind D.C.’s food and drink scene. Before joining Washingtonian in July 2016, she was Food Editor and Young & Hungry columnist at Washington City Paper. She is a Colorado native and University of Pennsylvania grad.
