Manhattan’s Sushi Nakazawa is opening a D.C. outpost at the Trump International Hotel. (Photo by Tessa Hartley)

It’s kind of hard to tell who is dripping with more disdain for D.C.: restaurateur Alessandro Borgognone, his interviewer at New York Magazine, or his landlord/the country’s president-elect.

The Trump International Hotel announced earlier this week that Borgognone’s revered Manhattan restaurant Sushi Nakazawa would be opening in its vacant second restaurant space.

The political climate has “nothing to do on how we conduct business,” Borgognone told The Washington Post.

The hotel had scrambled to replace two high-profile restaurants after celebrity chefs Jose Andrés and Geoffrey Zakarian pulled out of their deals in the wake Donald Trump’s racist comments about Hispanics. When the hotel finally opened, it had only found one willing to be affiliated with the brand: BLT Prime.

But Borgognone is giving it a go, telling New York Magazine that he enjoys adventure. And apparently that includes wading into an apparent food backwater filled with Caesar salads.

“With D.C., I had reached a point where I saw so much bad that I was actually looking for the good. I couldn’t find it,” Borgognone said of his misbegotten culinary adventures in our fair city.

But no matter, he’ll fix it. He’s the only one who can.

When asked about his competition, Borgognone responded: “We don’t have any. I don’t know if I’m using the right words. I don’t sound humble. But I am. It’s just, you know, can you name an amazing sushi restaurant in D.C.?” (yes)

Meanwhile, his interviewer, Richard Morgan, used to write about Congress and is an obvious expert on the D.C. culinary scene. See this trenchant analysis that accounts for D.C.’s 12 Michelin-starred restaurants (including Sushi Taro):

“I used to live in D.C. as a congressional reporter, and their problem is they love fusion spots too much, even though they’re mostly just culturally muddled. There’s great Ethiopian food, there’s Mama Ayesha’s and Las Canteras, but mostly it’s confusion, heavy on the fusion. So they retreat. A lot of Caesar salads in D.C. The Palm is the Jean-Georges of D.C., which is sad.”

Mustering up the bluster of his landlord, Borgognone says it isn’t even a risk to open up in a hotel that is practically a daily site of protests. “It’s not about risk. It’s about confidence. And greatness. I’m going to get to serve— we call it ‘service’ but it really is a duty—and I’m going to get to serve in our nation’s capital. That’s pretty great”

But Morgan managed to beat him in the nonsensical hyperbole game.”You’re making “great” great again!”

Update: For his part, Jose Andres is willing to give the new restaurant a mulligan, tweeting that “we know that what your Alessandro said about D.C. Happen after a big night of Sake! We forgive you. Welcome to D.C.”