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Michael Mina's Acqua Bistecca asks a fair question: why shouldn't Tenleytown have a 40-ounce bistecca alla Fiorentina?

The Bourbon Steak empire expands northwest - with saffron fregola, a two-foot mozzarella stick, and a 22-foot mirrored bar designed for a neighborhood that has been waiting for a place like this.

Michael Mina's Acqua Bistecca asks a fair question: why shouldn't Tenleytown have a 40-ounce bistecca alla Fiorentina?

The name is a riddle if you don't know the backstory. Acqua means water. Bistecca means steak. Put them together and you get something that sounds like a koan - until you know that chef Michael Mina spent the 1990s running Aqua, a San Francisco fine dining restaurant where practically everything came from the sea and steak wasn't even on the menu. He cut his teeth there, then pivoted hard with later concepts - Stripsteak and Bourbon Steak - where the focus shifted to land. Acqua Bistecca, which opened at City Ridge on September 8, is where those two careers finally shake hands.

It's Mina's second DC restaurant - he opened Bourbon Steak at the Georgetown Four Seasons in 2009. That one is reliably packed with lobbyists, foreign dignitaries, and the occasional NBA player nursing a Wagyu steak that costs more than some people's rent. Mina envisions Acqua Bistecca, where the dining room centers around a towering 22-foot mirrored bar, as more of a neighborhood restaurant than Bourbon Steak. Which is to say: he's aiming for a room where you could conceivably show up twice a week without a) a company card or b) a special occasion. "Our price point obviously will be different from Bourbon Steak," Mina says. "Believe it or not, I do have people that use Bourbon Steak a few days a week. But it was very important to cast a wider net of the way you dine here, so you could use it three or four days a week."

A menu with a clear spine

The Italian-focused Mediterranean menu, developed by Fiola Mare and Via Sophia alum Colin Clark, runs along two columns: Acqua - grilled fish served over a bed of saffron-orange fregola - and bistecca, several cuts of steak chargrilled, brushed with Lambrusco butter, and served with a caponata-stuffed cipollini onion. That's the organizing logic, and it's a good one. It gives the kitchen a clear point of view instead of the usual sprawling Italian-American everything-for-everyone approach that tends to produce mediocre results across twelve categories.

Mina and Clark are confident the preparations are versatile enough to handle everything from monkfish to Maine lobster, and from a 12-ounce flatiron to a 40-ounce bistecca alla Fiorentina. Beyond those anchors, the pasta program earns its own attention. Dishes like vermentino-braised lamb pappardelle appear alongside a brief but considered collection of prime steaks and fresh catches. The lasagna has already developed a following - focaccia with ricotta and caponata, lasagna, Delmonico steak with Lambrusco butter, and affogato are among the standout plates.

Then there's the mozzarella stick. One starter, "The Only Caviar and Gigante Mozzarella Stick," priced at $42, is exactly what it sounds like: an oversized mozzarella stick - up to two feet long for large parties - topped with caviar. It's a flex, and it's designed to be. Mina has always understood that people come to restaurants for a story to tell later. "You create a style for your cooking," he says. "This is product-driven food people crave. It's not going to be tweezer food, but it's going to bring out that wow factor and that memorability." That philosophy makes sense in a room anchored by a mirrored bar that reaches toward a high ceiling - rich red and orange tones, velvet banquettes, intimate alcoves, and a soaring 22-foot mirrored bar set the stage for evenings meant to linger.

City Ridge as a dining address

The location is worth talking about plainly. City Ridge - the mixed-use development near Tenleytown - sits on the grounds of the former Fannie Mae campus on Wisconsin Avenue. Acqua Bistecca lands in a suburban-feeling development in upper Northwest. That's not necessarily a knock; the neighborhood is full of people who would prefer not to fight Penn Quarter traffic every time they want a decent steak. The Wegmans across the way has already made City Ridge a legitimate errand destination for much of upper Northwest and parts of Chevy Chase. Mina is betting that dinner follows groceries.

The bar program doesn't ignore where it's planted. Acqua Bistecca champions local spirits and brews of the DMV, including McClintock Forager Gin from Maryland, Sagamore Rye from Maryland, Cotton & Reed Rum from DC, Atlas Brew Works from DC, Port City Brewing from Virginia, and ANXO Cider from DC. It reads like a mini regional showcase, which plays well against the Italian frame - Italian restaurants have always made room for the local and the seasonal, whatever the terroir happens to be.

The space was designed by Nunzio Marc DeSantis Architects, who channeled the intimacy of a dinner party with modern Italian warmth. Velvet banquettes and cozy booths deliver a funky dinner party vibe alongside the lavish mirrored centerpiece. It's a full-room commitment to a particular mood - no apologies, no halfway measures.

Practical details

Starters run from $10 to $45, with entrées from $19 to $78. Happy hour runs Monday through Friday from 4 to 6 p.m., with dinner service Monday through Thursday and Sunday from 5 to 9:30 p.m., and Friday through Saturday from 5 to 10 p.m. Reservations are available on Resy. The restaurant is at 14 Ridge Square NW, within the City Ridge development, a few blocks from the Tenleytown Metro station on the Red Line.

One practical note from early visitors: avoid the front tables near the service station if you want a quieter dinner. The room runs large and the energy reflects that. The caviar mozzarella stick, on the other hand, is worth ordering regardless of table assignment.

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