WASHINGTON 鈥� After a year and a half of construction, permitting and menu testing, one of D.C.鈥檚 most highly anticipated restaurants will open its doors Tuesday.
Unlike other buzzed about dining establishments, The Shaw Bijou won鈥檛 have a line around the block and guests won鈥檛 be packed into an overly crowded dining room. The restaurant doesn鈥檛 even have a menu 鈥� just a phone call a few days before dinner to confirm allergies and food preferences.
鈥淵ou put the food in our hands. That鈥檚 really why you go to a restaurant,鈥� said Kwame Onwuachi, executive chef at The Shaw Bijou.
鈥淎lso, it鈥檚 kind of awkward to give someone a menu and then have to take it away because we鈥檙e going to be putting plates down.鈥�
It鈥檚 not just a few plates that Onwuachi and his team will be putting down in front of diners 鈥� it鈥檚 roughly 13 courses. The Shaw Bijou is an eight-table tasting-menu restaurant, located in a 200-year-old restored row house in D.C.鈥檚 Shaw neighborhood.
Vegetarians and vegans, have no fear: Onwuachi has tasting menus for specific diets.
鈥淲e cater to all,鈥� he said.
Onwuachi, who recently competed on Season 13 of Bravo鈥檚 鈥淭op Chef,鈥� has been working on the concept for roughly 18 months. The goal, he says, was to build a restaurant that feels like home.
鈥淲hen you go to your friend鈥檚 house, they don鈥檛 say, 鈥楽it down here for three hours, the bathroom鈥檚 that way.鈥� It鈥檚 like, 鈥楥ome to bar. What do you want to drink? Come into the kitchen, let me feed you, let鈥檚 go outside, let鈥檚 go into the living room.鈥� We wanted to keep that feel,鈥� he said.
When diners arrive to The Shaw Bijou, they are escorted upstairs to a small bar. On Icelandic sheepskin chairs, guests work with the restaurant鈥檚 mixologists to make their desired cocktails (again, no menu) and have their first course.
When cocktails are complete, it鈥檚 on to the next course, which takes place in the heart of the building: the kitchen. Then, it鈥檚 off to the dining room.
鈥淲e want you to feel like you鈥檙e coming into our home and we鈥檙e just taking care of you. You don鈥檛 go to your friend鈥檚 house and order food; you go to your friend鈥檚 house and they make you a meal,鈥� said General Manager Gregory Vakiner.
The hospitality-heavy dining experience does not come cheap. The price per person is $185 and that does not include drinks or gratuity.
reports the minimum wine pairing will cost $50, bringing the total bill up to at least $300 per person. This makes the meal more expensive than Aaron Silverman鈥檚 Pineapple and Pearls ($250, but includes drinks, taxes and gratuity), which was recently awarded two stars in D.C.鈥檚 Michelin Guide.
鈥淲e鈥檝e definitely got something to prove, but I think that once people taste the food and get the experience that there will be no question about what they鈥檙e going to get here,鈥� Vakiner said.
The food and the service are not the only two things given careful attention at The Shaw Bijou. When it comes to the restaurant鈥檚 design, no detail was overlooked and no expense was spared, down to the plates, which are made by the local ceramics company .
Furniture maker Caleb Woodard was brought on to construct everything from the carved wooden doors to the table bases.
鈥淭he little brass accents in the shop to the silverware cabinet, the lights hanging in the foyer,鈥� Woodard added. 鈥淲e鈥檙e just trying to do stuff that nobody鈥檚 seen before; be creative, don鈥檛 take the cheap way out and just go buy something.鈥�
Even the kitchen looks more like one you鈥檇 find in a home than a restaurant, with less stainless steel and more stone, wood and other natural elements. Onwuachi鈥檚 200-plus spice collection is displayed on a wooden shelf in clear glass jars.
Vakiner says opening The Shaw Bijou has been a dream of his and Onwuachi鈥檚 for a long time. The business partners, both 26, met at the Culinary Institute of America where they were 鈥渇oes before friends.鈥� Eventually they went on to live together and work together at the three-star Michelin Eleven Madison Park.
鈥淒oing dining at this level is something that we feel super, super, super passionate about. We feel like we鈥檝e cut our chops and gotten ourselves to this point,鈥� Vakiner said.
The Shaw Bijou, 1544 9th St. NW, opens for dinner Nov. 1. Reservation tickets can be purchased on for $185 a person.
