The Union Market District has everything from Michelin-starred restaurants to street-food stalls and a rum distillery. Now, a local brewery is joining the ranks thanks to Leesburg-based Crooked Run Fermentation. Owners Lee Rogan and Jake Endres teamed up with chef Chris Morgan (Yasmine, Bammy’s, Little Chicken) and others for Crooked Run and Pizza Serata, a brew-staurant serving spontaneously fermented beers, sours, ciders, natural wines, fruity seltzers, pizzas, and Italian sandwiches. It opens Wednesday, January 18.
Crooked Run first opened a nano-brewery in Leesburg a decade ago; a larger production facility debuted in Sterling in 2017. The first DC location will produce its own exclusive beer, the Alora—a dry, hoppy, Italian pilsner designed to pair well with pizza. A dozen drafts and an extensive can/bottle selection will pull from Crooked Run’s catalogue of 100-plus beers—anything from hazy IPAs to stouts, mixed fermentation sours and a corn lager that Andres likens to “a craft, fancy Budweiser” that goes well with spicy pizzas. Other fizzy house drinks include spiked, “heavily-fruited” seltzers, and non-alcoholic seltzer waters.
After years of experimenting with fruit sours, the team jumped into natural and low-intervention wine made with Virginia-grown grapes, as well as hard ciders fashioned from Old Dominion apples. Both are produced under Crooked Run’s house brand, Native Culture, which is grounded in Virginia-grown grains, fruit, native yeasts, and barrel fermentation—and includes a line of lambic-style beers. A variety will be available in DC for on-premise sipping and to-go sales.
As for food, Morgan teamed up with a big pie player for Pizza Serata’s menu: Anthony Falco, the pizzaiolo who’s credited with putting Roberta’s in Brooklyn on the map. He’s since gone on to become a global pizza consultant, and author of Pizza Czar. The duo created an out-of-the-box style. Morgan describes the crust as focaccia-like in shape and texture, but a bit airier and crunchier, made with a Sicilian olive oil-based dough. “It’s very nostalgic to the old school, butter-crust pan pizzas,” says Morgan. He also concocted a line of “dippies” for said crusts, including vodka sauce, homemade Calabrian chili-ranch, salsa verde, and a garlic sauce that riffs on Papa John’s.
The nine-inch personal pan pizzas come in classic flavors like a tomato pie and pepperoni. More adventurous topping combinations includea Philly pork-inspired pie with house-made porchetta, mozzarella and provolone cheeses, broccoli rabe, long hots, and a final drizzle of vodka sauce.
The same pizza dough is also used to make fresh bread for Italian deli-style sandwiches. Combinations include homemade mozz’ and prosciutto, as well as mortadella, pistachio pesto, and homemade straciatella cheese. Rounding out the menu are salads and snacks such as sticky garlic-Calabrian chili wings. For dessert: brownie sundaes in collaboration with neighbor Dolcezza Gelato. Come summer, you’ll also find an outdoor patio and slushee machines churning ice cream-inspired hard seltzers.
Crooked Run and Pizza Serata. 550 Morse St., NE
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.
