A celebrated D.C. chef behind one of many metropolis’s hottest eating places is about to place much more on his plate. Carlos Delgado, the Peruvian chef at Shaw’s adorned tasting room Causa, simply tacked on a brand new function in an unlikely place. Delgado solely tells Eater he’s the newly named culinary director of La Vie, the Wharf’s glowing Mediterranean restaurant with fairly the backstory (88 District Sq. SW).
La Vie helped christen the Southwest Waterfront improvement to a lot anticipation in 2018, however the glassy, high-end perch above the Potomac was virtually instantly ignored for its meals — all attributable to one eviscerating zero-star evaluate from Washington Submit meals critic Tom Sietsema. “It may be a pleasant restaurant — it must work on the backend and have folks come right here for the meals, not [just] the view,” says Delgado.
Delgado isn’t going wherever at Causa, nevertheless, the place he continues to rack up nationwide accolades. Quickly after opening in 2022, the tiny tasting room was named one among Eater’s Finest New Eating places in America, earned its first Michelin star, and now, Delgado is a 2025 James Beard Award finalist for Finest Chef: Mid-Atlantic.
So why would such top-tier expertise need to be affiliated with a restaurant tied to a tarnished previous? He says he views the brand new facet gig as a enjoyable problem and hopes the menu overhaul will reverse its popularity as a sheer “vacationer lure.”
Earlier than Causa, the Lima native was the longtime govt chef at Penn Quarter’s Peruvian mainstay China Chilcano in Penn Quarter, the place he honed his craft beneath José Andrés. Now Delgado needs mentor a rising chef who he sees a giant future for, too. Delgado recruited Aseem Charan to spearhead the day-to-day menu at La Vie as its chef de delicacies. The CIA grad most just lately labored at D.C.’s Greek mainstay Zaytinya, the place his boss was additionally Andrés.
“[Aseem] is killing it and on method his method up,” says Delgado.
Sietsema’s scathing La Vie writeup heard across the District had flagged the actual fact it opened and not using a head chef. Subsequently named ones (and tried menu makeovers) have come and gone, however Delgado’s involvement within the kitchen ought to mark a strong new period for seven-year-old La Vie.
La Vie will persist with its Mediterranean delicacies focus and proceed to journey round Southern Italy and Greece with an in-house pastry program. Delgado says the revamped menu — which begins at the moment — is simply “20-percent” completely different for now. The gradual modifications are partially, to not overload the kitchen. By mid-summer, La Vie diners can count on a totally completely different lineup than earlier than, with a heightened devotion to small handed plates. “Extra high quality, flavorful meals general that makes you need to eat right here once more,” he says.
Edits to begin embody making its fluffy pita bread in-house and fine-tuning its burrata with peak spring substances. The hovering, chandelier-adorned eating room additionally acquired a slight makeover this month forward of the menu reboot. Eaternity, La Vie’s restaurant group that additionally runs sushi spot Nary-Ya and barbecue eatery Kinfolk on the Wharf, is gearing as much as open a brand new Latin restaurant close to Navy Yard. Extra on that later.
