Food

Capitol Hill Restaurant Newland Closes After Four Months

Chef/owner Andrew Markert says his fancy venture was "the right concept, wrong time."

Newland closes on Capitol Hill. Photograph by Kimberly Kong

Chef Andrew Markert has closed his Capitol Hill fine dining restaurant, Newland. The tasting room, which opened in March with whimsical touches like caviar served in lunchboxes and prix-fixe menus starting at $80, lasted just over four months. 

Markert says his neighboring casual ventures, gastropub Beuchert’s Saloon and new sandwich/cocktail spot Fight Club, are doing well—catering to the Hill’s many families and happy hour crowds. 

“I think [Newland] ended up being the right concept, wrong time,” says Markert. He says new Covid variants caused costly cancellations each week—matched with rising food costs and labor shortages, it was a tough combination. The restaurant changed course and began offering a la carte service in addition to tasting menus shortly after opening, but Markert says that sales continued to decrease. 

Diners may find a chef’s tasting or similar Newland-esque offering at Beuchert’s down the line, but for now, Markert says the team is recuperating and leaning into their casual businesses.

“I poured a lot of time and money into [Newland], and it just didn’t click like we wanted it to,” he says. “It’s really sad. There were a lot of tears shed on our last service.”

Read a full statement from the restaurant here:

 

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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.