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A bit of a restaurant real estate conquest is going down on 18th Street: Delfina and neighboring sister business Pizzeria Delfina will take over the space previously occupied by rival Italian restaurant Farina, which has been closed for months. Life comes at you fast.
To recap: Farina went dark this summer amid a wage theft lawsuit and unpaid bills and rent. Then, earlier this month, its sister restaurant Farina Pizza was evicted from its space at 18th and Valencia following another acrimonious lawsuit over unpaid rent.
Now, in a twist reported by Tablehopper, while Delfina and Pizzeria Delfina close for the first two weeks of January to undergo kitchen renovations, they’ll temporarily move into the Farina location at 3560 18th St. (at Dearborn), hosting a week of pop-ups.
The Delfina and Pizzeria Delfina residency at the former Farina, which they’re calling Delfina in Movimento, begins Thursday, January 4 and goes through Thursday, January 11. Each night, they’ll host a guest winery and sommelier, like Andrew Mariani of Scribe Winery and Robert Sinksey of Robert Sinksey Vineyards. They’ll also host guest bartenders each night. Reservations are available, and they’ll also have space for walk-ins.
What’s to become of Farina when Delfina returns to its renovated home? One possibility appears to be a private LGBT clubhouse called YASS. That’s already raising eyebrows due to funding from the controversial tech billionaire Peter Thiel, who is gay but largely reviled in the LGBT community for his support of Donald Trump.
