Pastry chef Alicia Wang's sourdough crust starts 48 hours before it reaches the wood fire. This fall, Michael Rafidi, chef of Albi and La' Shukran, and his team will open Bizzeria at 3246 Prospect St., NW, a Levantine-inspired pizzeria in Georgetown built around a form they have already worked through in service.
For the past three years, Rafidi and Wang carried the precursor at Yellow cafe in Georgetown: "(not) pizzas" with toppings such as spiced lamb and peppers or burnt eggplant with urfa chili crisp. That run has ended, and Rafidi is moving the pizza work into a full-service restaurant of its own.
What Rafidi Is Building at Bizzeria Georgetown
Bizzeria Georgetown is Rafidi's full-service home for the pizza work that began at Yellow. Rafidi named the restaurant for the absence of the letter "p" in Arabic, putting translation on the door before the first dough is stretched.
The format is still pizzeria, but Rafidi's team is shifting the grammar. They are placing Levantine technique and pantry logic inside a wood-fired restaurant rather than treating pizza as a neutral base for toppings.
For the reader, the opening is a place to watch several disciplines meet on one table: fire, fermentation, dairy, farms, and bottles, each with its own timing and pressure.
Wang's 48-Hour Sourdough Crust Gets Its Own Bench
A dough on Wang's 48-hour schedule cannot be treated as a last-minute platform. It needs advance production, bench space, temperature attention, and timing; the oven finishes work that began well before service.
Rafidi's team is making cheese in-house, adding a second point of control. They can tune fat, salt, and texture to the crust and heat of the oven, a practical choice for a kitchen defining its pizzeria through craft rather than assembly.
The move gives Wang's dough a clearer home. What began as an evening practice now has a room built around the demands of fermentation, shaping, firing, and table service.
How Rafidi Is Splitting Yellow and Bizzeria
Yellow in Georgetown will now run on a cafe cadence, while Bizzeria takes on the pizza work. Rafidi's team will serve wood-fired pita sandwiches, hummus, and mezze at Yellow until 8 PM Tuesday through Saturday and 3 PM Sunday and Monday.
The split is operational as much as conceptual. One address stays with all-day cafe service; the new one concentrates the table around pizza, with the space and service rhythm that a dedicated oven program asks for.
William Simons Builds the Wine Program Around the Table
Wine Director William Simons, who is behind the bottle lists at Albi and La' Shukran, is curating an eclectic wine program focused on family-owned producers from a wide range of regions.
At the table, the useful test is range. Simons has to account for cooler plates, smoke, fermentation, and shared dishes without turning breadth into drift.
How Rafidi Is Extending the Menu Beyond Pizza
Rafidi's team will extend the menu beyond pies into raw dishes, mezze, charcuterie, and seasonal specialties highlighting Mid-Atlantic farms.
Those categories shape how to eat here. Rafidi's raw preparations bring a cooler register; charcuterie brings salt and time; mezze gives the table spreadable, shareable work before and around the fire.
Seasonal sourcing keeps Rafidi's kitchen from relying only on a fixed pizzeria vocabulary. The restaurant may have a defined identity, but the farm side of the work has to move with what arrives.
What to Watch When Bizzeria Opens This Fall
Begin with execution. Wang's crust has to carry its fermentation cleanly through shaping and firing; the cheese has to support rather than dull it; the rest of the table has to feel joined to the same craft logic.
The measure will be precision in service: whether Rafidi and his team can bring dough, dairy, fire, farms, and cellar together as one program rather than separate ideas under one roof.
