Chef Kwame Onwuachi outside the restaurant (Instagram)
Shaw Bijou has announced details about its long-awaited (and long-delayed) opening. Serving a tasting menu of “globally inspired” cuisine by the young Top Chef star Kwame Onwuachi, the restaurant will open its doors Nov. 1. And to get one of the 32 seats at the restaurant, you will have to purchase a $185 ticket.
That’s a hefty bill, though it’s about on par with other tasting menus around town. It’s cheaper than, say, the all-inclusive and much-lauded $250 tasting menu at Pineapple and Pearls, but the Shaw Bijou ticket doesn’t include tax, service or drinks. Tickets go on sale Aug. 29.
Diners who purchase a ticket can expect a tailored meal, and they will receive a call from the restaurant before the meal to ask questions about their preferences. The tasting menu will include 13* courses of food that the restaurant says will be “refined yet approachable.” The restaurant offered a sneak peek of one menu item:
Norweigian King crab with roasted garlic, Buerre monte and uni bottarga (Photo courtesy of Aaron Lyle)
Shaw Bijou says that sommelier David Blackburn will be picking the wine pairings, and Benjamin Long will be creating cocktails based on a combination of guests’ tastes and the food being served. There will also be a members-only bar with rare spirits and restaurant on the second floor of the restaurant, though details about that will be announced at a later date.
Onwuachi’s compelling personal story heavily figures into the cuisine. Onwuachi was raised in the Bronx, where his mom ran a catering company from their apartment, and he also lived in a remote village in Nigeria with his grandfather, who once taught at Howard University. He told First We Feast how his upbringing informs not only what he cooks but how he cooks it:
My mother’s Creole, and my father’s Jamaican and Nigerian, so I grew up eating so many different types of cuisine. My mother started catering out of the house, so in the beginning I was her first employee in our one bedroom apartment in the Bronx. My sister and I would help her stir sauces and fabricate vegetables and peel shrimp. Those memories translate to my food. I think that some of the best dishes usually tell a story because they have a soul, you know? You’re not just cooking for perfect seasoning, reaching the perfect level of acidity, and sweating; you’re cooking to share a story with someone. And people can usually tell that.
He was trained in classical French cuisine at the Culinary Institute of America. Though Onwuachi worked stints at New York’s Eleven Madison Park and Per Se, Shaw Bijou is the first restaurant where he will be executive chef.
Shaw Bijou will open Nov. 1 at 1544 9th St. NW. It will be open for ticket-holders Tuesday through Saturday from 5:30 until 10 p.m. Tickets go on sale Aug. 29. For more information, visit their website.
*Correction: Shaw Bijou says the restaurant will be serving 13 courses, not 17.
