Comet Ping Pong (often abbreviated as Comet) is a pizzeria, restaurant, and concert venue located on Connecticut Avenue in Washington, D.C.'s Chevy Chase neighborhood. Owned by James Alefantis, Comet has received critical acclaim from The Washington Post, The Washingtonian, New York magazine, the DCist, and Guy Fieri of Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.
- Venue
- Comet Ping Pong
- Address
- 5037 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC 20008
- Town
- Washington, D.C., US
Comet Ping Pong (often abbreviated as Comet) is a pizzeria, restaurant, and concert venue located on Connecticut Avenue in Washington, D.C.'s Chevy Chase neighborhood. Owned by James Alefantis, Comet has received critical acclaim from The Washington Post, The Washingtonian, New York magazine, the DCist, and Guy Fieri of Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Comet was founded in 2006 by Alefantis and Carole Greenwood, both of whom also co-owned another restaurant on the same block. The restaurant was involved in a disagreement with the area's Advisory Neighborhood Commission over concerts inside the restaurant in 2008. Alefantis became the sole owner of Comet Ping Pong in 2009 after Greenwood, a chef at both restaurants, left her position as co-owner and executive chef of Comet. The restaurant is the focus of the Pizzagate conspiracy theory, which has been discredited by a wide variety of organizations, including the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia. One Pizzagate activist fired a gun in the restaurant in 2016, and another started a fire in it in 2019. In 2020, the restaurant temporarily closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic before reopening afterwards. Comet Ping Pong was founded by James Alefantis and Carole Greenwood in 2006. Prior to opening Comet Ping Pong, Alefantis and Greenwood co-owned Buck's Fishing and Camping, another restaurant next door to Comet's current location. The location of Comet was previously occupied by another restaurant, Thai Room. When it was announced that it was closing, Alefantis decided that he would rather be competing against himself than another restaurateur. The original idea for the space was to make a restaurant devoted to roast chicken called "The Hen House", but Alefantis and Greenwood decided against it and made the location a pizzeria instead. The name came from a neon "Comet" sign that Alefantis found at Comet Liquor in the city's Adams Morgan neighborhood. After Alefantis purchased the location,