Before Eaton DC made its soft debut in early September, chef Tim Ma took a break from the chaos and went on a road trip. He made no plans for the drive around the Great Lakes with two of his children—a welcome opportunity, Ma says, to pick a radius, let Trip Advisor dictate, and clear his mind before his latest undertaking came to fruition.
Ma, best known for his acclaimed French-Chinese spot Kyirisan, has spent the last year and a half bringing the culinary vision of the “anti-Trump hotel” to life. He is the mind behind Eaton’s flagship restaurant and rooftop bar menus, room service offerings, catering and banquet options, and eats for a members-only coworking space.
Each dining outlet is unique, but all embody the hotel’s ethos of holistic wellness, progressive activism, and sustainability. Founder Katherine Lo, an entrepreneur with luxury hotels in her blood (her father Lo Ka Shui owns the Langham Hospitality Group), designed the Bohemian-chic space, which celebrated its grand opening this past weekend, as a haven for artists and changemakers.
Lo tapped Ma to lead Eaton’s food offerings after only one dinner meeting, he says. It’s a broader deviation from his usual small-scale style and creations—don’t come here expecting Kyrisian 2.0.
“We’re starting to see a trend of some of the most interesting and best restaurants ending up in hotels,” Ma says. “I cranked out 200 to 300 menu items for this place, a very daunting task when I first started. I have a history of these tiny, independent restaurants. But this was a cool new challenge, right up my alley.”
American Son: Vegetable-Forward Dishes, Worldwide Roots
The hotel’s 149-seat pièce de résistance aims to open in October with dishes culled from Ma’s version of comfort food through an immigrant lens. The restaurant’s name and photography decor are a nod to his childhood: As a second-generation Chinese-American growing up in Arkansas, Ma faced harassment on the way to school and bricks thrown at his windows. Over the years, his parents stopped speaking Chinese to him and began to introduce him as their “American son,” he says. “We’re taking American food apart and reassembling it through a mishmash of cultures.”
The result is an all-hours menu (boozy brunch and late-night options included) incorporating Asian and Middle Eastern flavors and a paired wine list. Think marinated blood-orange sirloin with braised red cabbages, fishes with kimchi or brown butter, mushroom toast garnished in a poached egg and truffles, and a smoked vegetable tower.
A wood-fired oven—a concept from before Ma came on board—will smoke large-format dishes, including a Korean BBQ-style spaghetti squash. Though the menu isn’t completely vegetarian, vegetables are “not an afterthought,” Ma said, but treated “like pieces of meat.”
Brunch makes room for heartier offerings, including a signature burger smothered in confit maitake, but still has Brussels sprouts tossed with lychee and sesame-ginger vinaigrette and an acai bowl with barley and bitter greens. Chocolate sponge cake with miso ganache and sake-soaked peaches, sorbet, and white chocolate round out a dessert menu crafted by James Beard-nominated pastry chef David Collier.
American Son will be open Sunday to Thursday for breakfast (7 a.m. to 10 a.m.), lunch (11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.), happy hour (3 p.m. to 6 p.m.), dinner (5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.), and late night (11 p.m. to 1 a.m.) On the weekdays, brunch will be 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., dinner is 5:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. and a late-night menu is 11 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Wild Days: Music, Tacos, and a Rooftop View
A patio-lined jungle of a venue meant for late nights and DJ sets serves up Ma’s pan-Asian tacos ($10) in the rooftop garden, which is pruned for American Son’s seasonal dishes. Order grilled portabella, duck confit, or marinated short rib with radish kimchi. Vegan options include meatless chicharrones with Impossible Burger chili and homemade guacamole.
Alexandra Bookless, formerly of The Passenger, envisioned the hotel’s beverages. For Wild Days, she wanted the cocktails ($14) to be “super crushable and refreshing.” Sip on apple margaritas rimmed in ancho celery salt or tequila mixed with strawberry-infused Campari and rosé.
Wild Days is open Monday through Thursday 4 p.m. to 1 a.m., Friday 4 p.m. to 2 a.m., Saturday 1 p.m. to 2 a.m. and Sunday 1 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Kintsugi: Third-Wave Coffee and Vegan Pastries
The hotel’s corner coffee shop, named for the Japanese art of mending broken pottery with gold, opened in early September to guests and the public. The café serves frothy matcha lattes and mushroom hot chocolate alongside standard caffeinated fare from Red Rooster Coffee and drinks from Misfit Juicery. Pastry chef Collier, of 1789 fame, created vegan and gluten-free goods (pop-tarts or monkey bread, anyone?) but didn’t forget doughnuts and croissants. The space is flooded with leafy plants, natural lighting, and wi-fi to encourage lingering.
Kintsugi is open Monday through Friday 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Allegory: Cozy Salon for Literary-Inspired Cocktails
Eaton’s downstairs bar is a dimly lit nook tucked behind an unmarked door in the library, with a slate of $16 cocktails influenced by its shelves’ curated titles. Bookless reimaged classics with exciting twists: “Kings & Elders” is a scotch and ginger fizz, sweetened with honey and mint and inspired by Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. The 2666, a nod to the novel of the same name, features tequila, mezcal, crème de cacao, and mole bitters. For lighter drinkers, there are spirit-free cocktails made with Seedlip, a drink designed to mimic alcohol, and citrus fruits. Bowls of sriracha almonds and olives are on the house.
Allegory is open Monday through Saturday 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Eaton DC is located at 1201 K St. NW.
