The Room
Nicholas Stefanelli opened Masseria in Union Market in 2015 — a Pugliese-American chef-driven Italian dining room with a working argument for Apulian and Adriatic regional cooking. The Michelin DC guide awarded Masseria One Star in 2017 and the room has held the rating ever since.
The dining room is small and intentional — exposed brick, hand-painted Italian folk art, an open kitchen at the back, banquettes along the eastern wall. The format is intentionally tasting-only.
The Food
The tasting menu rotates monthly with the seasonal harvest. The kitchen draws from Apulian and Adriatic traditions — the seasonal-rotating pastas, the wood-fired Mediterranean seafood, the Italian-American secondi, the regional-rotating dessert programme.
Wine programme is heavily Italian. Cocktails are aperitivi-led. Service is brigade-Italian in rhythm — formal but warm.
Best Occasion Fit
Proposal: The corner two-top at Masseria, on a clear evening, is one of DC's most-discreet proposal venues.
Impress Clients: International visitors recognise the Michelin-starred Italian-fine-dining language immediately.
Birthday: Birthdays at Masseria are formal, Italian-fine-dining, candle-on-the-tasting-menu affairs the room has hosted for ten years.