Casa Luca, Fabio and Maria Trabocchi’s downtown osteria, has closed. The restaurateurs announced the shutter on Twitter, along with news they’re not letting the space near City Center go—in its place, they’ll open a branch of Sfoglina, their Van Ness pasta house.
https://twitter.com/CasaLucaDC/status/1025080551118708737
Casa Luca, meant to be the Trabocchis’ “casual” restaurant (compared to Del Mar or Fiola Mare), was a fixture on our 100 Best Restaurants list for its pastas and family-style roasts. Still, it was always more sophisticated than dressed down when it came to vibe and the cooking. While the dining room always felt a little sedate, Sfoglina is a brighter, peppier restaurant—but still not so casual (i.e. those $26 pastas).
This isn’t the first Sfoglina spin-off to happen this year. In May, the Trabocchis announced that a branch of the restaurant would open in a massive space in Rosslyn. Other expansions include a second Fiola location in Coral Gables, Florida—the couple’s first foray out of the DC area.
After the Trabocchis give the space a few tweaks, the new DC iteration of Sfoglina will debut August 9. It’ll be in soft opening mode—and offering 10 percent off—until early September when it officially opens.
Ann Limpert joined Washingtonian in late 2003. She was previously an editorial assistant at Entertainment Weekly and a cook in New York restaurant kitchens, and she is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education. She lives in Petworth.
