WASHINGTON — The Meatball Shop will open its first location outside of New York City Friday evening on D.C.’s 14th Street, N.W.
The Meatball Shop took the space formerly occupied by Cork Wine Bar, which consolidated the wine bar with its 14th Street Cork Market last year.
Co-owners Daniel Holzman and Michael Chernow — both classically-trained chefs and childhood friends — teamed up to open their mix-and-match meatball restaurant, which quickly expanded to other locations.
The First Meatball shop opened in 2010 in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. There are now five locations in Manhattan and one in Brooklyn.
The D.C. Meatball Shop, at 1720 14th Street, N.W., will be open for dinner only its first week with brunch and lunch hours to follow.
Like its New York locations, diners choose their ball (beef, chicken, pork, veggie, salmon, lobster) and a sauce (tomato, parmesan cream, spicy meat, pesto, yogurt dill, lemon butter) and decide if they want their dish naked, in a bowl or as a sandwich.
The menu also includes mozzarella balls, risotto balls, buffalo balls and crabcake balls, as well as salads and sides.
And unique to the D.C. menu is Bienvenidos Balls, a collaboration between The Meatball Shop and Chef Jose Andres. The balls are made with fresh Iberico pork, Manchego cheese, garlic, onion and other spices and served on slider buns. A portion of Bienvenidos Balls sales go to Jose Andres charity, World Central Kitchen.
The Beinvenidos Balls will be on the menu for two weeks.
