Grand opening weekends: First, Blue Door in Flint Hill; then, Hazel River Arts & Antiques in Washington
Washington, D.C.’s Cafe Milano alum turned restaurateur Andrea Pace, along with his partner Reem Arbid, recently sold their critically acclaimed Villa Mozart, an Italian gastronomia gem in Fairfax which they owned for 10 years.
Welcome Andrea and Reem to Flint Hill. The former Public House is now The Blue Door kitchen & inn and will offer modern American cuisine. The soft opening will be this Friday and Saturday from
5 to 9 p.m. and noon to 7 p.m. Sunday. Reservations are required for the soft open, outside seating only and they are pet friendly.
They will continue to run their overnight accommodations, four beautifully appointed rooms, and the restaurant itself oozes Rappahannock Country chic.
Andrea hails from South Tyrol, a small Germanic province of Northern Italy, and so speaks fluent German. Reem is from Lebanon, speaks French and lived in France for many a year. They both capture the epitome of European warmth and graciousness.
Andrea came to New York City as a young man, following his employer, a renowned Italian Michelin star chef to work with him at the famed Palio Restaurant for 6 months, which turned into 7 years. He eventually gravitated to Washington, where he worked at Cafe Milano and moved on to Fiore di Luna where he met Reem.
She owned a successful catering business and he thought they could merge their two specialities. Andrea tells he always wanted to have his own small Inn and restaurant but his dream he thought was maybe 5 years down the road.
In the meantime, they were focused on finding a place in Arlington or Fairfax County and were just about to close on a lease for a restaurant in Vienna when Reem received a voicemail message from a former Villa Mozart customer. It was a rather detailed message saying she’d been perusing Rappahannock for a weekend home and driving through Flint Hill noticed the For Sale sign of the Public House.
“It has Andrea’s name all over it,” she said.
Looking, meanwhile, for something to do over Memorial Day weekend?
Mountainside Physical Therapy and Hazel River Arts & Antiques, both now owned by Anne Williams, have a whole day of fun and adventure planned for you. On Saturday, May 26, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Mountainside will offer a “Meet & Greet,” with the healing and medical practitioners that Anne has assembled as part of her Hazel River Healing Arts Retreat Center.
From 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Hazel River Arts & Antiques (formerly Ginger Hill) will host a grand opening celebration with a variety of live music, poetry, arts and demonstrations.
The meet and greet will be a great opportunity to see what new offerings there are to help people become healthier, fit and less stressed naturally. Practitioners include Anne Williams, our local physical therapist with 28 years of experience, who will present several topics including an introduction to TRE (Tension and Trauma Releasing Exercise).
Anne will introduce to you Dr. Chris Nagle, a medical doctor offering concierge medical services to Rappahannock. Kay Beatty will speak about offering nutritional evaluations, while Kay and Cindy Markart, our personal trainer and Pilates specialists, will combine expertise about weight loss.
Stratton Semmes will offer information on herbal remedies, Philip Rosemond has his newly developed program Falling With Grace, which addresses the issues of falls in the elderly, and Jamie Hudson will help guide your life.
As for the antiques, come meet all the new artists and vendors, including Nol Putnam, Brenda Van Ness, along with Peter Kramer, Jackie Leibowitz, Hans Gerhard and Sally Mello.
Musical artists will include Gaye Adegbalola, Bill Harris, Dan Lewis and Linda Hemistra and friends.
Divine Swine will provide barbeque and sides, and there’s a bake sale to benefit Mountainside Dance Center’s upcoming 2nd Annual Community Dance Showcase. So bring a chair or a blanket and sit back and relax and enjoy the entertainment, or just shop!