The Portofino Restaurant
Since 1970 the Portofino Restaurant in Crystal City has brought delicious Northern Italian cuisine to
Arlingtonians from their homey establishment on South 23rd Street
Three generations of the Micheli family have managed the popular restaurant and were part of the transformation of Crystal City into a cultured, urban neighborhood.
Since 1970, the Portofino Restaurant in Crystal City has brought delicious Northern Italian cuisine to Arlingtonians from their homey establishment on South 23rd Street. Three generations of the Micheli family have managed the popular restaurant and were part of the transformation of Crystal City into a cultured, urban neighborhood.
The concept for The Portofino Restaurant started at an upscale Georgetown restaurant, "1789. " Adelmo Micheli, one of the original proprietors of Portofino’s, immigrated to the US in the 1960s to work with his son, Sergio, at 1789. Sergio attended culinary school in Carata, Italy, and later found employment at the Italian embassy in Washington, D.C. as a chauffeur and chef, while balancing part-time work at 1789. He eventually worked his way up to chef and asked his father, who ran a market and liquor store in Genoa, Italy, to join him.
Angelo Mele, a regular customer at 1789, became impressed with the father-son duo. He hired Adelmo to be a chef at a new Italian restaurant at Crystal City following a move by the US Patent and Trademark Office. It was a smart move. Eventually, the US Patent and Trademark Office employed 7,000 employees across 18 buildings in Crystal City and it provided a steady customer base to The Portofino Restaurant until 2005, when the office relocated to Alexandria.
The Portofino opened in Crystal City in the midst of its transformation from an industrial to urban business district. Brickyards, warehouses, and factories once made up much of the neighborhood. By the mid-1960s, the need for extra office space outside Washington, D.C. transformed the area. Crystal City’s proximity to the District, the Pentagon, and National Airport drew in commercial businesses and federal agencies, which built large office complexes. This, alongside the arrival of a Metrorail station, led to the neighborhood’s development into the urban center it is today.
The Portofino Restaurant was at the forefront of this transformation in Crystal City. Richard Micheli, who currently owns and operates the restaurant with his sister Maria Puletti, thought that there were few restaurants on the block when Portofino’s opened. He recalled a hot shoppe and a counter service restaurant. Today, there are about 15 restaurants, cafes, and bars! The block is even referred to as Restaurant Row because it contains so many diverse eateries, an unthinkable term for the area when Portofino’s opened.
Richard described The Portofino’s early days as a destination restaurant: Washingtonians drove across the river to get out of the district and dine at the restaurant. The restaurant became so busy that Adelmo brought in his son Sergio, as well as Sergio’s wife Pilar, to work with him in the restaurant. In 1975, they expanded the front of the building into a former porch area to create another dining room, called the Veranda Room. By 1977, they opened another restaurant across the street called Cafe Italia, which served casual Italian cuisine like pizza. Mele eventually dropped out of the partnership, the Micheli family continued to expand. At one point the family operated 8 restaurants in the Washington metro area.
Through it all, the Michelis have maintained the warm atmosphere. The restaurant occupies a former private home, which the Washington Post described as “charmingly converted” in its first review of the restaurant. The setting provides customers with the expectation of coming home, so it's easy to feel comfortable. Customers could also always expect to see a familiar, friendly face. Richard recalled that one of his parents, Sergio and Pilar, was always hard at work at Portofino’s and Richard himself has long been a fixture at the restaurant--as a baby, he sat in a bassinet in the corner of the main dining room. In 1993, after graduating from the Culinary Institute of America, Richard formally joined his parents as a chef at the restaurant.
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