You know a few things about the Kennedy Center:

1. It’s in the middle of nowhere.
2. If you’re there for Shear Madness, you’re entertaining out-of-town guests.
3. You can’t sustain yourself for a whole show on only a smuggled-in pack of Twizzlers.

Enter legendary DC chef Bob Kinkead, who’s relocated his operation across from the Ken Cen and gone all Italian on us.

It’s called Ancora, it’s in the Watergate complex, and it’s now open for dinner (lunch starts on Thursday).

A holdover from the Rivers restaurant, the dining room is a bit... corporate. It’s getting a face-lift later this year, but already you’ll see some promising touches—you can order champagne out of a giant ice bucket in the middle of the room. A farmer’s table gets adorned with cheese for service. And you can order a whole veal shank for two, brought around on a cart and served tableside for you and your ballet-loving date.

You’ll need to run to catch the 7:30 curtain, but you can swing back afterward and take up a post at the sweeping, semicircular bar, where a piano player might be entertaining and you might be having a Negroni.

Coming later this year: a raw bar and charcuterie station, and a 70-seat patio overlooking the river.

It’s where all the symphony groupies are sure to hang out.