| RESTAURANT | THE PROPRIETOR | THE CONCEPT | PREVIOUS DC CONNECTION | QUESTIONABLE QUOTE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gordon Ramsay
|
501 Seventh St., NW |
The volatile host of Hell’s Kitchen taps pro chefs for a brutal cooking competition. He also runs high-end eateries around the world. | There’s fish. There’s chips. There’s a bunch of sauces. Put it all together in a cardboard box and you get . . . Gordon Ramsay’s fish and chips. | Tavon Hubbard—then based in DC—finished in last place on season ten of Hell’s Kitchen. | “Fish & Chips is a humble departure, and yeah, a bit of fun,” he told Las Vegas Weekly. “We’ve elevated it, made it a little more sexy . . . more Cool Britannia.” |
Jon Taffer
|
700 Sixth St., NW |
The volatile host of Bar Rescue helps failing watering holes. He’s also a consultant and entrepreneur. | Basic pub fare made with what’s touted as “innovative cooking technologies.” | A particularly notorious Bar Rescue episode focused on Silver Spring’s Piratz Tavern. | “I believe . . . we will set the standard for cocktails programs in the city,” he told Washington Business Journal. |
Photograph of Ramsay © 2017 by FOX Broadcasting.
Photograph of Taffer by Allison Gallagher/Flickr.
This article appears in the November 2021 issue of Washingtonian.
Lifestyle Editor
Daniella Byck joined Washingtonian in 2022. She was previously with Outside Magazine and lives in Takoma.
