This past spring, restaurateur Aaron Gordon had an idea for a lifeboat. A handful of well-known D.C. chefs would converge under one roof, devote a 6,000-square-foot former restaurant solely to preparation for takeout and delivery, and use the separate back patio for socially distant dining. In a world decimated by COVID-19, Gordon says, it’s time to rethink how restaurants operate.

Enter Ghost Line DC, a takeout and delivery model now open in Glover Park that offers cuisine from familiar names under one umbrella: pizza, cupcakes, fried chicken, Indian bowls, ramen, and other forthcoming concepts. Ghost kitchens, also called “dark,” “virtual,” or “cloud” kitchens, are spreading out of necessity: In D.C., projections estimate 1 in 4 restaurants could permanently close as a result of the pandemic.

The delivery-only trend is already popular in China, and the United States has about 1,500 ghost kitchens to date, according to the Washington Post. (They’re spreading in D.C., too: There are now three ghost kitchens for cheesesteak alone, as Washington City Paper reports.) As delivery and takeout skyrocket, a model that forgoes a dining room allows restaurants to save on rent, utilities, and other costs, especially when joining forces with others. With less human interaction, it’s also a safety measure for staff and customers.

There is an air of mystery at ghost kitchens, and you can lose the experience of a traditional dining experience, but at this point, Gordon says, what choice do a lot of restaurants have? His brick-and-mortar pizza places, Little Beast in Chevy Chase and Red Light off of 14th Street, made the delivery switch fairly well because of “pure dumb luck” with food that travels, he says. But Gordon kept thinking about the former Town Hall vacancy he had seen in the fall while searching out a new location for his bakery, Bakers & Baristas.

“I’m the only dummy that actually signed a lease in middle of pandemic,” Gordon says. “A large part came from closing one shop and wanting to find a home for people who’d been with us for years. I had always wanted to do several concepts together, and it makes a lot of sense if you can share a kitchen, delivery people, seating, pitch in for rent and electricity.”

When Gordon approached local industry colleagues about the ghost food hall in April — when everything was closing, not opening — chefs like Rock Harper thought Gordon had lost his mind. But something about the project spoke to him.

“It’s a commitment to trying to do something new in order to show restaurants and chefs how we can do restaurants new and different moving forward that struck a chord,” says Harper. “This is not business as usual.”

Gordon ended up having to cap the number of interested chefs who wanted to join Ghost Line. In what used to be a dining room and kitchen, the restaurant is broken down into work stations and walk-in fridges that customers don’t see, with chefs and staff of different brand identities sharing counters, ingredients, and paper serving products. Many are working on cross-collaborations as they get familiar with each other’s dishes.

Ghost Line uses its own delivery drivers and orders through ToastTab, though Gordon says they may add on third-party apps for more visibility. There’s an entrance for walkup orders, and there’s an outdoor patio and bar behind a separate door for people who want to leave the house. Gordon has looked into renting another kitchen next door to be able to add more chefs but has slowed until the business gets underway and through the winter months.

But more concepts are to come. Chef Naomi Gallego, who has been a longtime collaborator on Little Beast’s Detroit-style pizza, will soon be rolling out a Tex Mex concept. Ryu Hirosoko, former lead chef at Sushi Nakazawa, will soon add sushi in tandem with Ramen by Uzu. Brunch will be an addition on Sundays, hopefully by early November. Gordon is also exploring clear igloos and a high tent to winterize the patio.

“We have lots of ideas and we’re just at the start,” says Gordon. “We’re trying to get through the winter unscathed or lightly scathed. It’s going to hurt everyone, no question, but we’re looking forward to next spring. This is a pretty good route to take—it’s not the only one by any means, but I think it’s one way restaurants could be going.”

Here’s some of what’s available to order:

Ghost Dog Egg Man

Ghost Dog Egg Man is a new iteration of Bakers & Baristas, the Penn Quarter cafe Gordon closed earlier this year — a proper coffee shop and sweet and savory handhelds for the morning crowd. Fans of the shop’s pastries, quiches, and drinks featuring Vigilante Coffee will be able to order what general manager and decade-long Gordon Food Group chef Kristen Brabrook calls the “greatest hits,” in addition to new breakfast foods. Get burritos and egg sandwiches on brioche buns with gussied-up ingredients like duck confit, sun-dried tomato pesto, and Calabrian chili aioli. Gordon thought of the name while listening to the radio, a mashup between a story about ghost dogs in the Amazon and The Beatles’ lyric “I am the egg man.” Stay tuned for the incorporation of in-house corned beef and pastrami to go between the buns.

Queen Mother’s

Harper, the winner of Hell’s Kitchen Season 3, has always made his passion for fried chicken clear. He tried to convince Gordon to add the dish to Drafting Table and came close to opening a “Black-food focused” restaurant (without fried chicken) last year.

The four sandwiches on his opening menu — a Nashville hot with sweet heat; a namesake with pickles and a secret sauce; a honey butter; and a Korean version slathered in kimchi slaw — are made with his grandma and mom in mind, while adding culinary evolutions of his own. With fried chicken cropping up on so many menus by chefs from all backgrounds, Harper says the name is partly a recognition of being cognizant about where flavors originate from.

“My neighborhood knew my mom as mother,” says Harper. “It’s a nod to her, putting some respect on the creator of fried chicken’s name, to make sure I’m doing my part to pay homage to Black women and their contribution to cuisine. Anyone can cook anything and you only have so much time to tell a story. Even in American Black culture, we don’t fry chicken the same way. It’s not uniquely ours, but when you copy the culture and don’t give props, that’s when it becomes problematic.”

Part of Ghost Line’s appeal is that careful collaboration. Harper plans to do an Indian-style sandwich with Tokri’s Priya Ammu, possibly featuring chutney, mango pickles, and garam masala, and is playing with Southern buttermilk as a marinade, whole pieces of chicken for brunch, and potentially a fried chicken pizza. Waffle fries, potato salad, and sweet tea come on the side.

“We’re going for best chicken in D.C., but more important are the stories we’re telling and the ones we’re regaining,” Harper says.

Ramen by Uzu

Hiro Mitsui’s Union Market ramen stand made a move northwest, in part because of the ease. “Aaron put in all the equipment that we needed, so we could just focus in on a menu and how to sell good, portable food in this situation,” says Mitsui. (The Union Market location is also still serving.) Mitsui is working alongside sushi master Ryu Hirosoko to make his ramen dishes in addition to eats like seaweed salad, Japanese yellow curry rice bowls, okonomiyaki (a savory pancake slathered in kewpie mayo and Japanese BBQ sauce), and steam buns stuffed with fried potato shavings and chicken. Hirosoko’s own sushi concept is coming soon.

Tokri

After Priya Ammu took a hiatus from her DC Dosa shop at Union Market (“They’re best fresh,” she says, which ruled out delivery), Mitsui encouraged her to cook at Ghost Line. Tokri, which in Hindi refers to a basket vendors carry on their heads, lets Ammu introduce khichdi — the “ultimate Indian comfort food” — to the city.

“Indian cuisine is so varied that when people say ‘I like Indian food,’ it’s hard to know what they mean,” says Ammu. “From north to south to east to west, the language, culture, food, and people are like different countries. The one thing that does unite all of India is khichdi. If you travel to people’s homes, this is what they would serve you every day. ”

Tokri offers four versions of the one-pot meal, pulling flavors from her native Bombay as well as other areas: different variations on rice and lentils cooked with vegetables or greens, flavors like fennel, coconut milk, and cardamom, and served with eggplant or cauliflower sides, chutneys, and raita.

Little Beast, Red Velvet, & Glover Park Ice Cream and Milkshakes

Over a decade, executive pastry chef Brabrook has held roles at all Gordon Food Group ventures — Red Velvet, Little Beast, Bakers & Baristas, and Vivi Pizza — so it made sense that she would tie them together at Ghost Line. More than a dozen varieties of whole-pie Detroit-style pizza and thicker “D.C. Deck” pizzas by the slice are available. Non-pizza plates include whipped ricotta, meatballs, and braised short ribs.

“The whole thing is figuring out what travels well,” says Brabrook. “We have so many delicious options in our arsenal that we would love to pull out, but things arriving home the way you’d get them in restaurant is really tricky.”

Brabrook also oversees the sweet offerings at Ghost Line, including cupcakes — pumpkin is one fall flavor — and Moorenko’s ice cream served with waffle cones. With the rest of the chefs, she’s thinking about holiday cookie boxes and Thanksgiving takeout specials. To avoid food waste, when Ammu made extra tomato chutney, she threw it on a flatbread and cooled it off with honey and ricotta.

“Our in-house tagline is collaboration over competition,” says Brabrook. “Everyone enjoys working with each other. It’s a very different way for the industry to behave.”

Ghost Line is located at 2340 Wisconsin Avenue NW. Delivery is available within a two-mile radius. Open Sundays-Thursdays 10 a.m.-9 p.m. and Fridays and Saturdays 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Order online or call 202-347-7893.