The Neighborhood Restaurant Group was founded in 1997. What began modestly with the Evening Star Cafe, a rollicking corner restaurant in Alexandria’s Del Ray neighborhood, has now grown to include eleven restaurants, a wine shop, a bakery, butcher, and a full service catering business. Combined, the restaurants employs nearly 900 people. In 2010, NRG founded the non-profit initiative Arcadia Center For Sustainable Food & Agriculture, an organization focused on creating a more equitable and sustainable local food system. As its name suggests, the Neighborhood Restaurant Group is a group, not a corporation. It is a collective of talented and committed restaurant professionals who share common goals: to surpass the expectations of the guest; to open and operate independent, exceptional, distinctive, and conscientious chef-driven restaurants with ambitious beverage programs; and to create idiosyncratic gathering places that reflect the communities in which they reside. The Neighborhood Restaurant Group remains focused and committed to its community and to its guests and is constantly seeking new ways to better serve them both. Since breaking onto the restaurant scene 17 years ago, the Neighborhood Restaurant Group has received countless “RAMMY” award nominations from the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington. The nominated restaurants have brought home several awards including Best Upscale Casual Restaurant Vermilion, Best New Restaurant for Birch & Barley, Best Regional Producer for Red Apron and Restaurateur of the Year for Michael Babin. The culinary talents of the individual chefs have also been recognized by many local and national awards. with Rising Culinary Star Awards given to Anthony Chittum in 2009 and Kyle Bailey in 2011. Neighborhood Restaurant Group extends hospitality business savvy and professional production in event planning with their community focused Novemberfest and The Vices that Made Virginia, newcomer ABV, and the craft beer focused Snallygaster.
