Art and Soul Closing for Renovations January 22

415 New Jersey Avenue, NW

From a press release:

Four years after Celebrity Chef Art Smith opened Art and Soul in The Liaison Capitol Hill, an Affinia hotel, the regionally-inspired restaurant with a Southern accent, is undergoing a physical transformation. Plans include new interiors for the restaurant, bar, private dining room and lobby and a fine-tuned, artisanal farm-to-table menu. Art and Soul will close on January 22, immediately following Presidential Inauguration activities, and is scheduled to re-open the week of February 18.

“Our menu is constantly changing with the seasons and dining trends, and after more than four successful years, it’s time for Art and Soul to get a makeover,” said Chef/Owner Art Smith. “The soulful Southern-inspiration behind the Capitol Hill restaurant that Washingtonians have come to know and love will remain, but we are giving her a new pair of shoes, so to speak, so she can dance on for many more years to come.”

Interior Redesign
Seattle-based Hospitality Design firm, Dawson Design Associates, is the team behind the Art and Soul renovation. Using various natural and rustic elements the team will create an indoor urban market feel to compliment the approachable, modern, farm-to-table menu.

Herringbone wood flooring will replace carpet throughout the restaurant, bar and lobby. New light fixtures, various textured wall treatments and graphics will bring the look and feel of the outdoors inside. Banquettes will be replaced by free-standing tables to complement the urban market ambience, and a playful wall sculpture comprised of different types of beans will stretch along one side of the restaurant, as a nod to Southern cooking. The market-to-table motif is further strengthened by elements found in The District’s many urban gardens and expressed in wall dividers and screens.