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Green Almond Pantry opens in Georgetown with Mediterranean dishes like seasonal focaccia bread. Photography courtesy of Green Almond Pantry
The pandemic has been tough on small restaurants particularly Green Almond Pantry, whose tiny Shaw space suffered a devastating fire five days before Christmas. Chef/owner Cagla Onal-Urel, usually a beaming presence at her beloved Mediterranean lunch counter and market, looks pained as she recounts that time. She and general manager Kat Kempner cancelled their flood of holiday orders, issued refunds, and threw out fire-damaged food and melted Christmas candies they’d painstakingly prepared by hand.
Thankfully, this story has a happy ending or a new beginning, as Green Almond reopens in Georgetown today. Onal-Urel, a Turkish native who cooked at fine dining Italian restaurant Obelisk for years before leading the kitchen at Etto on 14th Street, is already greeting former Shaw regulars who are eager check out the new space a 15 counter