New Small Business Round-Up: Four New

NEW SMALL BUSINESS ROUND-UP

Four New Shops on the Hill

by Elizabeth O’Gorek

Melissa Sanabria poses in the doorway of Sanabria & Co. The Shop (409 E. Capitol St. NE). Courtesy Sanabria & Co.

Sanabria & Co. – The Shop

Everything in Sanabria & Co. - The Shop matches. Laid out in a neutral color palette, The Shop (409 East Capitol St. SE) is a cozy space furnished with items accumulated by a discerning, but restrained, collector: local honey atop a found-wood table; linens nestled in baskets; cinnamon-colored throwpillows on a modern armchair.

Everything, from dinnerware and candles to linen and carpets, is sourced along the principals of environmentalism and fair-trade in support of small businesses. It’s all chosen to enhance the compact interiors of Capitol Hill homes.

Owner Melissa Sanabria is very familiar with those spaces. In 2017, she decided to leave her 15-year career as a banking consultant to establishing interior design company Sanabria & Co. “I wanted greater connection with my community,” Sanabria said.

Since then, she and her team of seven have helped redesign multiple Hill homes —from first floor powder rooms and third floor children’s bedrooms to rear additions and whole home renovations. When the rapidly-expanding interior design team moved into a larger studio space at 601 Pennsylvania Ave. SE last year, Sanabria saw the opportunity to make the retail part of her vision a reality. The Shop is a place for neighbors to tap the staff’s knowledge without entering the studio. The shop has many items, big and small, that would be perfect for seasonal gifting.

Each item is part of a family, Sanabria adds, suited to be paired with other items; a Jungle and

Loom plant with Jaipur

Living pot and the Wild at Home coffee table book; the fair and simple throw pillow with a vegan taper from Frères Branchiaux Candle Co. with a Cultiver linen blanket.

Sanabria & Co is open Thursdays, 10 to 6 | Fridays and Saturdays, 10 to 7 | Sundays 11 to 6. (409 E. Capitol St. NE) sanabriaandco.com

Sweet Crimes Gluten Free Bakery

When we meet in mid-November, Keri Lijinsky is excited to share two big projects she’s been working on. Both are expected to launch by the end of the month – she’s just not sure which will be first. —she’s just not sure which will be first. The founder of Sweet Crimes gluten-free bakery, set to open at 1238 Pennsylvania Ave. NE, is expecting her first child Nov. 28. As she awaits the birth of her child,

she also awaits the final documentation needed from the city to officially open her bakery. A former public health consultant, Lijinsky returned from assignment abroad with USAID to focus on improving her own health. Discovering that she was allergic to gluten, she set out on a mission: to bake without compromise, starting with a glutenfree wedding cake for her mother. After four years of research and experimentation, Lijinsky has created a proprietary gluten-free flour blend. She’s learned that customers want to buy their gluten-free baking fresh, rather than at a grocery store or baking it themselves. That’s how the dream of the Sweet Crimes bakery was born. The brightly-colored storefront will offer baked goods that include the cakes that set LiA creatively masked employee displays yummy cupcakes at Sweet Crimes, the new gluten free jinsky on the baking bakery on Pennsylvania Ave. SE. path, as well as pies, award-winning donuts, breads, buns and dry mix for the ambitious. There are also some surprises: Katja, a baker from Georgia, has mastered a gluten-free Khachapuri, the Georgian cheese bread, and staff are working on the perfect gluten free empanada. The shop will offer coffee and pastries, but also sandwiches and soups, catering to a lunch crowd that rarely finds their needs accommodated. Food is the source of emotional memory, Lijinsky adds. Getting it right brings people to a place of comfort and happiness. “They want it to taste like they remember it,” said Lijinsky. “That’s the standard, and that’s what they deserve.”

Sweet Crimes (1239 Pennsylvania Ave. SE) is open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day. Order online sweetcrimes.com

La Casina –327 Seventh St. SE

In July 2021, Angela Costantini and her husband Fabrizio moved their entire family from Rome, Italy to Washington, DC to ful ll a life-long dream: to open a Roman Pinseria in America.

It was realized Monday, Nov. 15 when, La Casina, or “the little house” (327 Seventh St. SE), opened to the public.

“We are happy, because we have our dream,” said Angela, her Italian accent coming out with her excitement. “For us, it is incredible. We don’t even realize it is true.”

Fabrizio and Angela know the Roman restaurant business well. They have spent much of their career expanding the family restaurant business in Rome, La Casina 1978, to include not only pinseria but also cocktails, a bistro and a pastry shop.

Pinsa at La Casina is a modern take on an ancient Roman recipe that results in a “cloud” of pizza —a delicious soft crust that sti ll has a delightf ul, crispy exterior. Photo: Celeste McCall/CCN

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La Casina DC (327 Seventh St. SE) is open for lunch and dinner, Daily 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. lacasinadc.com

She Loves Me

Now, they’ve brought it to Capitol Hill. But don’t call it a pizzeria!

Fabrizio Costantini describes the restaurant as a Pinseria Romana. Roman pinsa is a modern take on an ancient Roman dough. It has a mixture of flours, with low gluten content and high moisture —but no yeast, Fabrizio explains. “It is left to rest for about 36 to 48 hours in the refrigerator. It will ripen naturally, taking on a crunchy appearance when cooked but soft and light inside.”

Thus far, Fabrizio has the critical job at the oven, but they’re looking forward to taking on a few more sta , including a prep cook and the right person to train as an additional pinsa chef to work the oven.

Besides pizza, the pinseria will serve salads, fried vegetables, mozzarella- lled rice balls, fried stu ed olives, and other Roman dishes. Complementing these classics is draft beer, wine and other beverages. The restaurant will pre-bake halfsized pinsa, ensuring speedy satisfaction for the lunchtime crowd; after three minutes in the oven, customers can walk away with a freshly cooked, truly Roman repast.

Growing up, Holley Simmons would help her mother, gluing rhinestones on custom gowns the seamstress created for ballroom dancers. “It was like a playground,” Simmons recalled. It was a crafty, hands-on Waiter Jesse with Fabrizio and Angela Costanti ni La Casina background that instilled in Simmons an appreciation for the arts. Now, the founder of orist She Loves Me (721 Eighth St. SE) uses owers, fresh and dried, to create her own kind

She Loves Me owner Holley Simmons with fl owers in the Aphrodite vessel at the Capitol Hill shop (721 Eighth St. SE). Photo: Maddie Kaye

of glamor for special events, celebrations and important moments.

“Nature is anything but perfect,” Simmons said. “Something that’s asymmetrical, that’s slightly awed, something that is kind of curious and draws your eye in—that’s what we aim for with our owers. That’s also the type of experience we’re trying to create in both our spaces.”

She Loves Me rst opened in Petworth, but when that location closed it spread its tendrils throughout the District. A new shop set to open any day now in Eckington Yards (1550 Harry Thomas Way NE) will be the agship store and production facility.

Capitol Hill has restauranteur Aaron Silverman (Rose’s Luxury) to thank for a smaller o shoot on Barracks Row. Silverman showed Simmons the little space in front of his catering kitchen, and she decided it was a space well-suited to putting down roots for an intimate little ower shop.

She Loves Me offers wreaths, centerpieces, pre-made bouquets and a small selection of dried owers sold by the stem. Seasonal flowers are sourced from local, women-owned farms throughout the spring, summer and fall. When winter comes, She Loves Me switches its focus, doing its best to work with American-grown blooms. gifts from jewelry and bath soaks and candles to confetti cannons and ower growing kits. In addition to owers and gifts, She Loves Me o ers in-person and virtual workshops and arrangements for micro-weddings.

She Loves Me Capitol Hill is open Wednesdays to Fridays, 11 to 7 | Saturdays and Sundays, 10 to 4. Shop online at Shelovesme. com ◆

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