The name
Alfreda honors Chef Russell Smith's late grandmother. Her stories of growing up on a farm during the Great Depression — and the close bond her family had with the food they raised — still shape how the restaurant cooks and welcomes people. The idea underneath it is simple: good food brings people together.
The chef
Russell is a DC native who spent his high school and college years in Erie, Pennsylvania, where a neighborhood New York–style pizzeria shaped his earliest idea of what pizza could be. He spent nearly two decades in fine dining, first with the Black Restaurant Group and later with the Wolfgang Puck family, rising to executive chef of The Source and opening CUT Steakhouse in Georgetown.
The work sharpened his technique, but eventually he wanted to build something more personal: a restaurant centered on sourdough pizza, simple ingredients, and hospitality that felt easy instead of formal.
The craft
During the pandemic, Russell started baking — and something clicked. He chased the New York and New Jersey pies he loved, then kept paring back, finding that "the more ingredients I removed, the better it tasted."
Every crust still starts with a sourdough starter and a slow, 48-hour cold ferment — a higher-hydration dough that bakes up crisp outside and soft and chewy within.
Love Family
Russell built Alfreda alongside his wife, Alisa — founder of Safe Start Child — and their daughters, Lily and Aerin. When Aerin was diagnosed with celiac, he created a gluten-free pie just for her, prepared and baked in its own dedicated area with the care a celiac family expects.
Our kitchen is not a certified gluten-free facility. Please tell us about severe allergies before ordering.
