An “American fine dining restaurant” is set to move into P. Brennan’s old space on the Pike

An “American fine dining restaurant” is filing the old P. Brennan’s space on Columbia Pike.

A family-owned eatery is looking to open by the end of the year at 2910 Columbia Pike. From 2010 to 2017, that address was the home of P. Brennan’s Irish Pub and Restaurant. However, the cavernous, two-level space has remained business-less for the last five years.

That’s changing, as ARLnow first reported back in April. The wife-husband team of Griselda Giselle Fernandez and Raheel “Ray” Khan are opening an “American fine dining restaurant” in the space that they are calling Stella Restaurant and Lounge.

The permit actually lists Nightbird Restaurant and Lounge as the name of the business, but Kahn said that was only a fill-in until they settled on a permanent name. As for why Stella, Khan said that was his wife’s call.

While the menu is still being finalized and the owners are still working to hire an executive chef, the plan is to serve steaks, lobster, crabs, and other high-end dishes, Khan told ARLnow.

It was about nine months ago when they took over the property, but it took awhile for plans to come together and permits approved by the county. Construction is starting next week, Khan said, with the hope to be completed in three to four months and for the restaurant to open in mid-December — an aggressive timeline, compared to other restaurant build-outs in Arlington.

When Khan and his wife first toured the space, next door to Rebellion and across the street from the Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse, they were ecstatic.

“It’s really hard to find such a big space in Arlington,” he said. “With parking underground and being such a well-known space, we loved it.”

The plans are to gut the interior while making some changes to the exterior, including adding sliding windows to provide some alfresco seating since there’s no outdoor patio.

This is the couple’s third D.C. area restaurant, including one location in Oxon Hill, Maryland and Heat Lounge on Lee Highway in Fairfax.