A new tavern with Appalachian charm and an Italian American-inspired menu will soon open for business in Clarendon.
Nettie’s Tavern, opening Monday, Aug. 11 in part of the former Whitlow’s space, is named after a beloved family friend of Arlington restaurateur Reese Gardner. The Appalachia native met Nettie, who he identified only by her first name, six years ago in a bar near Berkeley Springs, W.Va.
“On Saturdays, especially during the winter, we would hang out and watch WVU football and have a couple of beers,” Gardner said. “She was just this amazing woman … she always had a funny twist to her.”
While Nettie passed away about four years ago, her memory lives on in the new restaurant, with its laid-back sensibilities and dishes that pay tribute to her Italian heritage and Appalachia’s Italian immigrant communities.
Nettie immigrated to the United States from Pescara, Italy when she was around six years old.
“You never think of West Virginia as being a big Italian [place], but they created what’s called a pepperoni roll,” Gardner said. “It’s going to be one of our staples on the menu.”
Nettie’s takes the place of B Live at 2854 Wilson Blvd, next-door to Boe, a forthcoming country-themed bar. However, the space is probably best known for Whitlow’s, the popular watering hole that shuttered its Arlington location in 2021 after 26 years in business.
“It was the first bar that I went to, essentially, when I moved here,” said Gardner, who also owns Brass Rabbit and Quinn’s on the Corner. “When the space became available, I scrambled to find out who the landlord was.”
Highlights from the “100% scratch” and seed oil-free kitchen include a mushroom truffle-topped “longbread,” a signature chicken cutlet Caesar salad, spicy vodka rigatoni and venison meatballs, reminiscent of the owner’s childhood.
These bites are joined by heftier entrees like a lemon garlic branzino bowl with rice and Brussels sprouts, a 14-ounce ribeye in cabernet Sauvignon gravy, and “two ways” salmon, featuring honey glazed salmon and a salmon cake.
Five dessert options include mason jar tiramisu, limoncello panna cotta and a peanut butter and chocolate pie featuring Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.
The restaurant’s interior, meanwhile, is a love letter to Nettie’s Appalachia, complete with homemade whiskey bottle lamps, taxidermy and West Virginian wood paneling.
On the walls are weathered photos of Nettie and her family members out hunting, along with her wedding dress, immortalized in a large frame by the bar.
“I started thinking about what that Clarendon was lacking — just like, a comfortable, cozy [place] with the wood, rustic kind of feel to it,” Gardner said. “We just don’t have anything like that.”
When it’s time for the check, customers can learn more about the tavern’s namesake lady through a short story booklet that Gardner wrote. He described Nettie as a free-spirited woman who enjoyed, among other things, hunting, Bud Light and The Grateful Dead.
At Nettie’s, Gardner plans to recreate some of Whitlow’s traditions including a weekly $3 “mug night” from 6-9 p.m. each Thursday with frosted glass mugs.
Other planned specials include a bucket of five beers for just $5 from 6-9 p.m. Monday nights, a $5 burger-and-fries deal on Wednesdays from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. and $2 weekend brunch bellinis, with Prosecco on tap.
The restaurant plans to be open for lunch and dinner, as well as brunch on Saturdays and Sundays. The grand opening brunch will be Saturday, Aug. 16.
Ahead of the Aug. 11 opening, Gardner said he plans to host a menu preview party sometime next week, open to the restaurant’s newsletter subscribers.
