Allora will be the anchor restaurant at City House Charles in Mount Vernon

Allora, an Italian restaurant from chef-owner Brendon Hudson, will open this fall as an anchor of the City House Charles office and restaurant development at Charles and Eager streets in Mount Vernon.

Landmark Partners, developer of the eight-story project, announced Thursday that Allora will open a 2,500-square-foot, full-service restaurant and wine bar there in October. It will replace the smaller Allora bistro that Hudson opened in September 2021 at 1005 N. Charles St.

The new Allora will be the larger of two food-oriented tenants at City House Charles, constructed on the footprint of the Grand Central nightclub, which closed in September 2020 at 1001 N. Charles St. The other tenant, previously announced, is Roggenart Bakery & Café, which is under construction and set to open in September. The upper floors of the 37,300-square-foot City House Charles development are fully leased.

“We’re thrilled to have such a talented chef and operator bring this space to life, especially one with such strong Baltimore roots,” said Jon Pannoni, president of Landmark Partners, in a statement about Allora.

“We’ve worked closely to design a thoughtful, elegant and exciting space that embraces the neighborhood and building, and look forward to sharing it with the community,” Pannoni said. “The activation of this key corner space will bring City House Charles to life while reinforcing Mount Vernon as a choice neighborhood to dine and explore. Between Roggenart and Allora, we’ll have round-the-clock, superb food and beverage options for all.”

A Baltimore native and graduate of Gilman School, Hudson has degrees in culinary arts and entrepreneurship from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York.

In 2015, after a one-year stint in San Diego, he started Liliahna Catering, which is still in operation. He also operates Velleggia’s at Cross Street Market in south Baltimore; Piccola Allora, on the Johns Hopkins University’s Homewood campus, and Allora bistro at 1005 N. Charles St. He was voted Best Chef in 2020 by Baltimore Magazine, and Allora was voted Best Café in 2022 and was also included along with Velleggia’s among Baltimore’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2023. He’s also planning a restaurant called Zander’s inside the former Alex Brown & Sons bank building at 135 E. Baltimore St.

Designed by SM+P Architects, Allora at City House Charles will have an open kitchen concept with indoor seating for 50 diners, a 14-seat wine bar, a five-seat “chef’s counter,” and space for 10 outdoor tables along Eager Street. Menus will change seasonally.

“We are so excited to not only expand Allora into the full concept we originally imagined and intended, but to also be able to do so in such a beautiful and prominent space,” Hudson said in a statement. “We have spent the last two years cementing Mount Vernon as the next hot dining destination in Baltimore, and with this expansion of Allora as the anchor dining establishment of the newly-created City House Charles, we know we will only further that objective.”

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Ed Gunts is a local freelance writer and the former architecture critic for The Baltimore Sun. More by Ed Gunts