Ruta Ukrainian Restaurant has closed its Bethesda location at 4862 Cordell Avenue after a little more than two years in business. A sign posted in the window told would-be diners the restaurant was “currently closed,” with no reason given for the shutdown and no reopening date mentioned.
The closure was first documented by robertdyer.blogspot.com, which reported that Ruta was closed the day before its report ran and that the window signage offered no further explanation. According to The MoCo Show, Ruta has since removed the Bethesda location from its website, and a representative from the D.C. location confirmed that the Bethesda restaurant will not reopen.
A Bethesda Run That Began in 2024
Ruta opened its Bethesda restaurant in August 2024, occupying the former Momo Chicken space on Cordell Avenue, per The MoCo Show. At the time, the restaurant described itself as Maryland's first Ukrainian restaurant. A February 2025 review from Bethesda Magazine called the Cordell Avenue spot Ruta's second location, noting that the original had opened in Washington's Capitol Hill neighborhood in 2023.
That original restaurant, at 327 7th Street SE in Washington, D.C., became the city's first Ukrainian restaurant, according to The MoCo Show, and remains open even as the Bethesda branch has shut its doors. The Capitol Hill Business Improvement District also describes the restaurant as the first Ukrainian restaurant in Washington D.C.
Varenyky, Holubtsi and a Folklore-Inspired Name
Ruta's menu has featured Ukrainian staples including varenyky dumplings, chicken Kyiv, and meat holubtsi — stuffed cabbage served with sour cream — per The MoCo Show. Bethesda Magazine's 2025 review documented a similar spread, describing holubtsi stuffed with beef, red borscht, a sorrel-based green borscht, and assorted varenyky.
The restaurant's name draws on Ukrainian folklore: Ruta is named after a flower tied to Carpathian legends, which tell of a yellow bloom that turns flaming red for a few minutes during the holiday of Ivana Kupala, The MoCo Show reports. Per those same legends, whoever finds and picks the flower during that brief window is said to find true love. On Instagram, the restaurant's account, @ruta.dmv
, has described Ruta as the first Ukrainian restaurant in the DMV area.
With the Bethesda location gone, Ruta's presence in the region now rests entirely on its original Capitol Hill restaurant. No information has been released about why the Cordell Avenue location closed or whether any future changes are planned for the brand beyond its D.C. storefront.
