Red Hen’s Mike Friedman opens Aventino and AP Pizza in Bethesda – WTOP News - Dining and Cooking

Classic Roman cuisine pairs with New Jersey-style pizza at two side-by-side restaurants in Bethesda from James Beard semifinalist Chef Mike Friedman.

Aventino Cucina and AP Pizza Shop open at 4747 Bethesda Ave. on Jan. 31. Friedman’s other restaurants include All-Purpose Pizzeria, The Red Hen and Boundary Stone Public House.

Aventino is named after one of the seven major hills in Rome. The menu is traditional Roman dishes, with what a pre-opening announcement said includes, “nods to the Roman-Jewish ghetto and Mid-Atlantic seasonal ingredients,” as well as housemade pasta and desserts from pastry chef Ann Specter, previously from CityZen.

The two-level restaurant seats 130 people and features is a large emerald and marble-clad bar. Here’s the Aventino menu.

AP Pizza Shop features New York and New Jersey-style oven pizza sold by the slice, as well as whole pizzas and antipasti. Here’s the AP Pizza Shop menu.

Friedman is a New Jersey native who grew up in a Jewish household in an Italian neighborhood.

Aventino will be open for dinner seven days a week, and AP Pizza will be open for lunch and dinner daily.

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