Three weeks after opening Officina, chef Nicholas Stefanelli stands in red Nike high tops and a short-sleeved chef’s coat and explains how opening a restaurant is like working on a sports car. He had been through it once with his first place; Michelin-starred Masseria just turned 3. But this building, with all its moving parts, presents a more difficult track. “You’re constantly fine-tuning it,” he says. “You’re adjusting this here. Doing that there. Just constantly training.”

What began eight years ago as an idea for a combination butcher shop and trattoria has now been realized in a behemoth of a building on Washington’s booming Southwest waterfront. Officina (Oh-fee-she-nah) is three stories tall and contains five components: a cafe and a market with a butcher shop on the first floor; a bar and a dining room on the second floor; and a rooftop terrace.