WASHINGTON — After nearly four decades serving Italian dishes and pizza in Bethesda, Maryland, Stromboli Family Restaurant, which closed earlier this month, will reopen with a new owner whose existing restaurants are nowhere near Italian.
But Stromboli will keep its Italian theme.
Mike Daryoush, founder and owner of Moby Dick House of Kabob, with 23 locations of Persian-influenced kebab restaurants, purchased Stromboli, and plans to reopen it early next year.
From a real estate perspective, it made a lot of sense.
“Because of the fact that it’s located next to the first Moby Dick in Bethesda, (Daryoush) has been friends with the Stromboli family for years, just being next door neighbors,” Alex Momeni, director for Moby Dick Restaurant Group, told WTOP.
“This was another project that came about, and he certainly didn’t want the Stromboli family and that name and all the work and effort they put into it for more than 40 years to just fizzle away,” said Momeni. “So, it seemed like a no-brainer to pick up the name and the menu and the brand and do what we can to rejuvenate it and bring it back to life.”
Stromboli opened its Wisconsin Avenue restaurant in 1980 and built a loyal neighborhood following for its family-style Italian menu.
“The goal is to keep the popular items that the Stromboli name has already created. But with that said, we want to redo the menu, really spiff it up, bring some new menu items into it and kind of put a twist to the Italian eatery scene,” Momeni said.
The restaurant itself will have an entirely new look. The space, at 7023 Wisconsin Ave. in Chevy Chase, has been totally gutted in preparation for a rebuild of the restaurant space and kitchen.
No reopening date has been set, but Momeni says it will likely be very early next year.
