DC Dining

words by > Nancy Davidson

* Master chef José Andrés talks about the Washington, DC, dining scene—past, present and future.

When chef José Andrés fi rst moved to Washington, DC, 13 years ago, it was a very different city. “There weren’t many restaurants,” he remembers. “Everything was French, Italian or a steakhouse.”

The Spanish-born chef had an early start with his cooking career: He began tending his family’s paellas as a child and entered cooking school in Barcelona at the age of 16. He was soon training at Michelin-starred restaurants in Spain, including El Bulli, where he met his mentor, chef Ferrán Adriá. By age 23, Andrés had several options about where he could go next. He’d been working for a few years in New York City, and considered moving to Japan. But then he met his future partner, who wanted to open Jaleo, a Spanish tapas restaurant. It was “a challenge that was good enough” to entice Andrés to relocate to Washington, DC.

The challenge paid off: Andrés is now chef/owner of seven restaurants in the DC area, including three outposts of Jaleo (www.jaleo.com); Mexican restaurant Oyamel (www.oyamel.com); Zaytinya (www.zaytinya.com), where his interest in small plates extends to Greek fare; Café Atlántico (www.cafeatlantico.com), and the six-seat miniBar (www.cafeatlantico.com/miniBar/miniBar.htm) located within it, where his most interesting and experimental cuisine is prepared sushi-bar style, in front of the diner. “I’m most proud of miniBar,” Andrés says. “It’s making a statement about creative cooking here in DC.

“We have people from all over the world here—from embassies and government,” he continues. “People think it is just meat and potatoes, but this city has some of the most well-traveled people in the world.”

Andrés is often credited with popularizing “small plates,” beginning with Spanish tapas and extending his approach to Greek and Turkish mezze at Zaytinya. Although Andrés incorporates his memories of traveling and eating in Greece and Turkey into the food, he’s not that focused on ethnicity. “One part of me only sees food as ingredients, but it’s also about the characteristics of fl avor and texture. I keep growing [as a chef] by being exposed to other cultures and regions.”

He finds plenty to inspire him in DC. “Washington is very exciting in terms of markets, especially Asian markets,” he says. “If you look around, you fi nd lots of excitement and inspiration.”

One trend that excites him is that many area chefs now own their own eateries, something that Andrés believes adds to the vibrancy of the restaurants. He cites Michel Richard’s California-lightened French fare at Citronelle (www.citronelledc.com); Roberto Donna’s Piedmontese Italian at Galileo (www.galileodc.com); and Jeff Tunks of DC Coast (www.dccoast.com), where the modern American, predominantly seafood menu is inspired by the Mid-Atlantic, Gulf and West Coasts.

Like Andrés, some of these chefs are chef/owners at several restaurants. “People wonder, how can we be everywhere? How can everyone be good? The answer is, we share our celebrity and success with the head chefs at each of the restaurants.” And he insists that he would rather see several restaurants run by a passionate chef than a chain of eateries run by a corporation: “The best food of a chain doesn’t beat the food of a chef or a family-owned restaurant.”

Andrés is a strong supporter of the Washington restaurant scene. “I love to go to the little bar at Palena,” he says. In the front room café at Palena (www.palenarestaurant.com), co-owned by Frank Ruta and executive pastry chef Ann Amernik (who met while cooking together at the White House), you can start with a pickled martini, then feast on the signature roast chicken, delectable fries and fresh pasta. Named for chef Ruta’s mother’s hometown in the province of Abruzzo, the restaurant’s inspiration is the straightforward, ingredient-driven cuisine of Italy, along with American and French infl uences. The back room is more formal, and you’ll most likely need reservations.

Friday, Saturday and late Sunday night, you might fi nd Andrés at New Big Wong (202-628-0491) on H Street in Chinatown. He is a big admirer of the fresh seafood there. “Late Sunday nights, they have live shrimp,” he reveals. The place is also known for its dumpling soup, roast duck and stir-fried noodles.

For the best sushi in the nation, Andrés suggests that diners head to Kaz Sushi Bistro (www.kazsushibistro.com). “I love to go the bar there,” he says. “I’m a fan of everything on the menu, especially the fried clams served with bits of lemon, and the selection of oysters is a knockout.” (Recently, Kaz won Informal Dining Restaurant of The Year in DC’s RAMMY Restaurant Awards, and Andrés himself won Chef of The Year.)

There are “too many restaurants and not enough time,” Andrés laments. However, for fi ne dining, in addition to Citronelle, Galileo and Palena, he recommends Tosca (www.toscadc.com), where the food is inspired in part by chef Cesare Lanfranconi’s Lake Como origins, and by the time he spent in the kitchen at Galileo.

Chef Andrés has some future goals—making sure that all three Jaleos are better every day. And he’s developing ideas for recipes and restaurants at his laboratory/library/test kitchen called THINKfoodTANK. It’s a place where he and his chefs can try out thousands of spices, wines and new technologies, and fi nd innovative uses for new machines.

“It’s very diffi cult to serve 400 people and be creative at the same time,” Andrés says. “The think tank is a place where the chefs can explore their creativity.”

That creativity extends to cookbooks. His second book, Everyday Spain, a guide to experiencing Spain through its food, with dishes from a variety of regions, is coming out soon. (His fi rst is Tapas: A Taste of Spain in America.)

And what about the future? Andrés predicts that the number of restaurants opening in urban areas will decline and more top-quality chefs will move to the suburbs, resulting in better, chef-driven restaurants outside of the major cities.

“People can only be as interested in food as the options they have,” he says. “In DC, we have a big roller coaster of new things happening—chefs and restaurants—so now people get excited about new concepts.” What new concepts would Andrés like to see? “I would like to see a newer style of steakhouses—Spanish style.” Keep your eyes open for such forward-thinking restaurants, as Andrés always likes a fresh challenge.