FOOD & WINE

THE LATEST DISH

BY LINDA ROTH

Once ChiKo, the Chinese-Korean fastcasual D.C. favorite opens in Bethesda in January 2022, it will cross the bridge to open a 30-seat place in Northern Virginia at 4040 Campbell Ave., in Shirlington where Dak Chicken used to be. ChiKo is owned & operated by Danny Lee, Scott Drewno, and Drew Kim of the Fried Rice Collective, who operate two other D.C. ChiKos as well as Anju, near Adams Morgan and I Egg You, a breakfast pop-up within the Capitol Hill ChiKo. A fall 2022 opening is targeted.

Shake Shack plans to open where Arby’s was at 11710 Rockville Pike, south of Pike & Rose development. Plans call for 54 seats inside and 24 seats on a remodeled outdoor patio. Most important – it will have a drivethru. Shake Shack has one store in Cabin John, and one opening soon at Westfield Montgomery Mall and another in Gaithersburg at 195 Kentlands Blvd. They currently have stores at MGM National Harbor in Prince George’s County, three in Northern Virginia and seven in D.C.

Danny and Johnny Dubbaneh of Z&Z, specializing in manoushe Arab flatbreads, plan to open Z&Z Manoushe Bakery and market in Q3 2021 at 1111 Nelson St. in Rockville, featuring other signature dishes they are known for at their family farmers market stand. Being restaurateurs is in their DNA as their parents ran Chicken Basket in Gaithersburg for years. They will seat 25 people indoors, and 25 outdoors. The plan is to feature an Arab breakfast platter on weekends.

Co-owners Bettina Stern and Suzanne Simon of Chaia plan to open a pop-up at 7237 Woodmont Ave., where a Häagen-Dazs shop was in Bethesda, next to the still-closed Bethesda Row Cinema. It will be their third location. They have locations in Georgetown and in Penn Quarter. The 20-seat space plus patio seating, slated to open in early Q4, will also debut a new kids’ meal program.

Ch-Ch-Changes: Grand Duchess at 2337 18th Street NW in Adams Morgan has morphed from a cocktail bar into a full-service restaurant, with Chef Enoc Lopez, formerly of Martin’s Tavern at the helm, serving pastas and seafood dishes. Partners Vinnie Rotondaro and Rory Adair leveraged a winterization grant with a new 14-seat patio out front.

Food hall update: Common Plate Hospitality (CPH) plans to open The Heights Food Hall at Wisconsin Place, by Chevy Chase, in Q2 2022. It is the former site of a P.F. Chang’s and Anthropologie. The plan is for CPH to operate three stalls, leasing five to other chefs, as incubators. Confirmed concepts: This Deli of Ours, serving artisan sandwiches, and Spoons & Sticks, serving international variety of soups (ramen, pho), dumplings and bao. Included in the concept is a communal bar, a speakeasy with its own hidden entrance, as well as a fullservice location of Urbano, as CPH owns and operates Urbano 116, Mason Social, and Augie’s Mussel House and Beer Garden in Alexandria, Virginia.

New Delhi natives and owners Sachin Mahajan and Ricky Singh of Karma Modern Indian, will open Kismet Modern Indian, a more casual concept, in Old Town, Alexandria at 111 N. Pitt Street (where a BurgerFi used to be) in early Q4 2021. It includes a 30-seat courtyard patio in the rear. Executive chef Ajay Kumar will oversee the menus for both places. Christian Richardson, formerly of Doyle at Dupont Circle Hotel, is the bar manager.

Slice & Pie, serving takeout pizza pies and pizzas by the slice, and full-service 60-seat restaurant Lucy, is slated to open at 2221 14th Street NW where Pizzeria Vetri used to be. A Q4 2021 opening is targeted. Brought to you by Peter Bayne and Geoff Dawson of Tin Shop, who also own and operate the nearby Franklin Hall, Church Hall in Georgetown, TallBoy in Shaw, Penn Social in Penn Quarter, and Highline RxR in Crystal City. Master pizzaiolo Giulio Adriani, of Forcella in New York is working with them.

Quick Hits: Matt Baker of Gravitas is moving into the Eaton Hotel’s lobby space, where Tim Ma’s American Son used to be, to open Michele’s, a French/American place, in early Q4 2021, featuring seafood-centric tasting menus. There will also be a third location of Baker’s Daughter café at the hotel… A new brewpub called The Brass Rabbit Pub will open where sports bar Bracket Room used to be…. Mike Cordero will open his third Taco Rock at 1116 W. Broad Street in Falls Church in Q4 2021. It will be larger than his Taco Rock taqueria-and-tequila bars in Rosslyn and Alexandria… TOKU Japanese & Asian Cuisine has relocated to 2439 18th Street NW in Adams Morgan, joining Hilo Poke & Sushi.

Just Opened: Lahlou Restaurant Group opened Lupo Pizzeria at 1908 14th Street, NW where a Taylor Gourmet used to be. Corporate chef, Juan Olivera, is part owner of the 160-seat restaurant. They also own the nearby Lupo Verde, The Wharf’s Lupo Marino, and Lupo Verde Osteria in the Palisades…. Knead Hospitality + Design opened Mi Casa in Dupont Circle at 1647 20th Street NW. It seats 130 with an outdoor covered patio…. Denver-based Smashburger is back, this time opening in Penn Quarter at 804 Seventh Street NW…. Texas-based The Boiling Crab, opened at 400 H Street NE, where Driftwood used to be, serving a wide variety of crabs: blue or Dungeness crabs (seasonal), king crab legs or snow crab legs.

Linda Roth is Founder & CEO of Linda Roth Associates (LRA), a DC-based public relations & marketing firm that specializes in the foodservice and hospitality industries. Follow her at: @LindaRothPR #LindaRothPR or www.lindarothpr.com The Point in Southwest D.C.

For Seafood Entrepreneur Greg Casten, the Point is ‘The Point’

BY OLGA BOIKESS

Dynamic entrepreneur Greg Casten helms the sustainable seafood company Profish and a bevy of establishments featuring its produce, including Tony & Joe’s Seafood Place and Nick’s Riverside Grill in Washington Harbour on the Georgetown waterfront.

Yet what he’s eager to talk about is his latest success, The Point. This massive restaurant on Buzzard Point’s newly developed waterfront “is a really special spot,” he exults, with its unique nautical “vibe.” A soaring interior and huge outdoor patios with panoramic vistas are backed by a state-of-the-art kitchen with a wood grill and “all the toys” his talented executive chef Benjamin Lambert (an alumna of 2941 and Nora’s, as well as top NYC restaurants) could want. Chef Lambert makes good use of Profish bounty, but the kitchen also turns out interesting plates focused on duck, steak and locally sourced produce as well as burgers and wings.

Casten’s 40 years in the fish and food industry began as a teenager, working parttime on a lobster boat. He flipped burgers and set up food operations at concerts, resorts and fairs in New England during his college years. Accounting school provided the grounding for an entrepreneurial style that blends business systems and creativity. Years of work in family seafood restaurant businesses in Boston and Washington, D.C., taught him a lot about how to source and serve fresh fish. “It’s all about relationships,” he explains. When he and a partner started Profish in 1988, he would “meet sea captains” at the dock and drive to airports to pick up freshly caught lobsters. Among the lessons he teaches: When in doubt about the freshness of a product, “make the phone call.” Nowadays, he says, the “first receiver [of fish or seafood] must have all the information about the catch. One can tell the boat that a wild catch comes in.”

Casten’s concern about quality and value translate to his restaurant operations. At The Point, Chef Lambert has developed a menu that features dishes people “want to eat every day.” His wood-grilled crab cakes, fried fish and burgers are the best sellers. And some 700 pounds of potatoes are peeled, cut and fried each week. There are house-baked bagel chips and cornbread. Dishes involving meat, seafood and vegetables have a “balance of flavor” — such as grilled oysters with blue crab miso butter and anchovy breadcrumbs, and duck with charred cabbage, mushrooms and local jam.

Feedback from Casten often comes via a marked-up menu, Lambert says. “He wants to be sure we offer good value.” He “looks at the size of portions.” He also looks at the dishes themselves. He took particular pains with the chowder, according to Lambert. He wanted it to be “thicker” and to have a remembered New England flavor. The crab donuts, a house specialty, underwent a recent collaborative upgrade to keep them hot and to be sure that every bite had a bit of crab in it.

What’s next at The Point? Possibly a boat traveling back and forth from Washington Harbour so diners can enjoy several Casten venues in one night. There’s always a new challenge on his horizon. Greg Casten.