After a career spent cooking in French and American Michelin-starred restaurants and catering corporate parties for Citibank honchos, Elias Taddesse never saw himself flipping burgers. But he’s doing that and more at Mélange, his first brick-and-mortar, while also serving up fried chicken sandwiches, vegan burgers and sides such as French fries, sweet potato fries, and mixed greens.

Taddesse says this pivot allows him to “control what I want to cook and to tell my story.” He can do that now as chef and owner of Mélange, which opened earlier this month inside the Mt. Vernon Triangle space that formerly housed the popular Ray’s Hell Burger — a location that he insists was random as well.

“It just happened by circumstances,” Taddesse says. “It wasn’t planned or anything.”

Mélange means “mix” in French and encapsulates what Taddesse is all about. He hails from Addis Ababa, grew up in Minneapolis, and speaks fluent French, Amharic (Ethiopia’s official language), and English. He envisions his restaurant as a fine-dining spot where he’ll amplify contemporary French cuisine with traditional Ethiopian flavors.

He shelved those plans in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and instead operates Mélange as a fast-casual carryout and delivery shop with burgers, fried chicken sandwiches, and sides. Once it’s safe to do so, phase two of the business will incorporate tasting menus, a bar featuring avant-garde cocktails infused with East African spices, and dine-in service.

“It’s just a time to be safe and focus on things that can bring revenue before we can implement the second phase,” he says.

His $13 riff on a Nashville hot chicken sandwich offers a taste of things to come.

The National is a fried chicken version of Doro Wat, an Ethiopian chicken stew served with onions, garlic, ginger, and berbere, an Ethiopian spice. Taddesse uses all of the spices in doro wat to marinate the chicken, then makes a turmeric aioli he folds in with cabbage. It’s usually served with a hard boiled or fried egg that goes on top of the chicken.

Meanwhile, The Original fried chicken sandwich ($12) is inspired by the McDonald’s 99-cent McChicken that Taddesse craved when he was in high school. His take incorporates smoked Duke’s mayonnaise, buttermilk fried chicken, shredded lettuce, and pickles.

Taddesse cut his teeth in the District in the popup world before founding Salt N’ Pepper Burgers, which was first based at Union Market and, later, the Wet Dog Tavern beer garden. He named it after the gray and black hair in his beard.

Salt N’ Pepper served up three burgers, all of which you’ll find at Mélange: The Classic, served with American cheese, iceberg lettuce, tomato, pickled red onions, and brown butter aioli; The Italian, which comes with smoked mozzarella, tomato confit, arugula, and spicy basil aioli; and The Double Decker, featuring American cheese, pickles, onions, shredded lettuce, and a special sauce.

The patties are made with a custom beef mixture developed by Harvey’s Market, a Union Market District mainstay, and sourced from Roseda Farms in Monkton, Maryland.

Taddesse says his favorite of his burgers is, simply, The Classic: “I don’t try to go too far. When you think of Michelin star chefs and what they try to do [to] burgers, they put in so many different ingredients, but I don’t do all that.”

Taddesse got his start in food as a server at a Mediterranean restaurant in Minneapolis. At the encouragement of its chef, Yann Giacomoni, he moved to Lyon, France to earn a degree in hospitality and culinary art at the Institut Paul Bocuse. He went on to work at Michelin-starred restaurants in France and New York, including Restaurant Villa des Lys inside the Hôtel Barrière Le Majestic in Cannes; La Maison Troisgros in Roanne; and Adour Alain Ducasse inside the Manhattan St. Regis Hotel, where he worked 14- to 16-hour days.

From there, Taddesse moved on to new French cuisine restaurant Corton, working under the tutelage of executive chef Paul Liebrandt, who was at its helm when it earned two Michelin stars for four years in a row. In the high-pressure kitchen, Taddesse, who worked there from 2009 to 2011, was responsible for managing the fish station logistics, sauce work, butchering, executing new menu items with Liebrandt’s mentorship, and more.

“That’s when I really became from a cook to a chef in a way because Paul never really accepted any standard, he literally took me by the arms and made sure I learned,” Taddesse says. “It was a hard kitchen to work in, but I understood that if I learn to organize my stuff and learn from him it would lead to better opportunities.”

It did.

He landed more executive kitchen positions, including as executive chef at the luxurious Caviar Russe, which earned its first Michelin star during his one-year tenure.

“After that experience, I knew that I wanted to pursue something of my own and that’s what led to me getting into the burger business,” he says.

So Taddesse left New York in 2016 and headed to Ethiopia on a break. There, he was invited to throw down at a local burger cook-off with a 14-judge panel. In his telling, he crushed the competition.

“It was literally like 13 to one,” he says. “I destroyed them.”

That convinced him he was onto something, so Taddesse set his sights on launching the concept in Ethiopia. But following political unrest in the country, he moved to D.C. — where his business partner at the time lived. He started making the rounds, cooking for parties and popups, before founding Salt N’ Pepper Burgers. That turned into Mélange.

Despite the ongoing pandemic forcing many restaurants across the country to close, Taddesse has forged ahead with opening Mélange because it’s always been his dream to own a restaurant. He’d been in talks about the restaurant prior to the coronavirus and spent more than three years introducing himself to the District and working on the burger concept. Waiting until after the pandemic to open wasn’t a thought.

“I had in mind we would launch this year regardless,” Taddesse says. “I feel like it’s my time, regardless of whether it’s COVID or not. I’ve done my time, and I’ve worked hard enough.”

Mélange is located at 449 K St. NW and is open 12 p.m.-7 p.m. Sunday-Tuesday; 12 p.m.-8 p.m. Wednesday; 12 p.m.-10 p.m. Thursday; 12 p.m.-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday.