Sunday, June 10, 2007

Ryan Eades is a regular carryout customer at A.V. Ristorante Italiano -- "It's the only place for decent pizza" near his residence, he says -- and he's disheartened to hear that the family-run Italian restaurant at 607 New York Ave. NW will end its 58-year run this summer. "Why are they closing?" Eades asked me in an e-mail. It "seems like that area will continue to grow, and a historical place like that should boom. What gives?"

Co-owner John DiBari confirms that A.V. will serve its last plate of pasta July 28. "We got an offer and accepted it" from local developer Douglas Jemal, says the succinct restaurateur. "For various reasons, the family has decided it was good for the family." As of late last month, no decision had been made to honor the end of the nostalgia-inducing restaurant, which retains a phone booth with folding doors, a jukebox that plays only opera -- and a restaurant review on the wall dating to 1962.

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