I Don't Know Ris Lacoste

OK, so that's not the truth any longer ... at least not since July 1999. The first thing I thought of when Ris Lacoste called to tell me the great news about signing her lease for her 2275 L St NW restaurant that will open next spring was my 1999 column in the now defunct Restaurant Digest after she had won the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington Chef of the Year award. I didn't know her then and in my column I listed all the reasons why I should get to know this popular chef of 1789. In that column I retell the story of an interview I had done with then New Heights chef John Wabeck who had listed Ris as one of his mentors along his career path. My favorite quote came when I asked him what made the food of Ris Lacoste so special. I thought he gave me the perfect answer to a not so brilliant question, "Ris just makes food taste good."

The details of the restaurant will be revealed over the next few weeks and months as the design and construction that have been on hold for over two years get set into motion. The name of the restaurant is quite simply Ris, so perfectly appropriate.

So, I'll end this little post with a twist on the ending of my column over nine years ago when I said, "I don't know Ris Lacoste, but I wish I did." Today, I can say I know Ris Lacoste and that makes me so happy for her as she begins her newest culinary journey.

Yes!

(fotos: How appropriate are these two pictures of Ris Lacoste winning the first DC Central Kitchen Food Fight as she comes out fighting with her new restaurant on the horizon. In case you might not know that's Jose Andres with Ris in the picture with the fighter and Greggory Hill in the background of the cooking shot.)