New Brew Pub Coming to National Harbor

New restaurants just seem to keep popping up on both sides of the Potomac these days. Today comes word that National Harbor will be getting a new brew pub, likely in early 2015.

Granite City Food & Brewery is described in a news release as “a polished casual Modern American restaurant featuring a wide variety of dishes prepared from made-from-scratch recipes, as well as an on-site microbrewery.” The brew pub will open at the corner of American Way and St. George Boulevard on the ground floor of The Bozzuto Group’s luxury apartment community The Esplanade at National Harbor, across the Potomac River from Old Town Alexandria.

Headquartered in Minneapolis, Granite City Food & Brewery opened its first restaurant in 1999 and is currently located in 14 states. The National Harbor location will mark the company’s 33rd restaurant and will feature Granite City’s new upscale, contemporary design.

“We’ve enjoyed great success with our Cadillac Ranch location in National Harbor and are excited to introduce our Granite City Food & Brewery brand to the area,” said Rob Doran, CEO of Granite City Food & Brewery. “The opportunity to bring Granite City Food & Brewery to National Harbor seemed to be a natural fit as we moved forward with our expansion plans.”

Granite City Food & Brewery will employ more than 250 people at the National Harbor location.

The restaurant will occupy nearly 11,000 square feet of space and seating for approximately 300 people. The interior spaces will showcase a full-service, modern wrap-around bar that flows into an atrium, an open kitchen, a central hearth oven, a private dining room, exterior patio and an on-site microbrewery, visible from inside the restaurant and available for tours.

Also on Wednesday, Brewbound reported that Granite City is undergoing a makeover by Boelter Beverage to “refresh the restaurant’s corporate brand identity and each of its microbrews.”

PHOTO courtesy of Granite City Food & Brewery