Altitude brings handmade pasta and vinyl lounge vibes to Crystal City

Handmade pasta is the most immediate sign that Episcope Hospitality wants Altitude to read as more than another polished Italian opening in Crystal City. The chef-driven restaurant is set to join Constellation at 2011 Crystal Drive in National Landing, giving the neighborhood a two-part hospitality draw built to work from daytime coffee runs to lingering dinner service.

Altitude’s kitchen is led by Mariela Pacheco and Andres Lopez, both of whom have worked in acclaimed kitchens including D.C.’s Pineapple and Pearls. Their menu leans hard into craft and texture: crudos, handmade pastas, house-baked breads, aged cheeses, olive oils and balsamics. Two of the dishes called out in the concept are ricotta gnocchi with brown butter and sage and grilled branzino with shaved fennel and citrus.

The drink program matches the ambition of the food. Altitude will pour about 70 wines by the bottle and 20 by the glass, alongside cocktails with an Italian tilt, including drinks inspired by Emilia-Romagna and a New York sour with an Italian twist. The room itself is designed to feel like a midcentury listening lounge, with a bar shaped like an airplane wing cross-section and a vinyl library that turns dinner into part meal, part soundtrack.

That atmosphere is paired with a practical neighborhood play. Constellation opened on May 20 at the same address as an all-day café and gourmet market, serving coffee, tea, pastries, entrées, grab-and-go items and a slow bar. It also uses Small Planes Coffee single-origin roasts. Altitude’s handmade pasta reaches beyond the dinner room too, showing up in Constellation dishes such as rigatoni bolognese. For pasta fans, that means the project is woven into both sides of the concept, not quarantined to a single white-tablecloth moment.

The opening lands inside JBG SMITH’s $40 million repositioning of 2011 Crystal Drive, an 11-story, roughly 445,000-square-foot office building that was reported as 43% vacant in 2024. The site sits at the base of the future pedestrian bridge to Reagan National Airport, part of the CC2DCA plan to improve walking, biking and micromobility access between Crystal City and DCA. One report has the bridge slated for completion in 2028.

Episcope founder David Morton said the two concepts were designed to complement each other while still offering distinct experiences, and the timing reflects a broader push to make Crystal City feel like a destination, not just an office district. In that effort, handmade pasta is doing a lot of the talking.