Subsequent-gen meals corridor Surprise simply revealed plans to open three D.C. places this 12 months alone. Every one incorporates a handful of celebrity-backed stalls, with dishes from the likes of Michael Symon, Marcus Samuelsson, Bobby Flay, Nancy Silverton, and José Andrés.
A Surprise spokesperson tells Eater the meals halls will open off U Road (1925 14th Road NW), in Cleveland Park (3519 Connecticut Avenue NW), and within the West Finish, in what’s presently Eat Brgz (1200 New Hampshire Avenue NW), on monitor to shut quickly. Surprise’s D.C. growth tear will proceed from there, with plans to double its retailer rely sooner or later.
Surprise recruits celebrity cooks to lend their names and recipes, in addition to co-develop unique ideas only for them (in NY, as an example, that features Andrés’ Spanish tapas spot Jota). Surprise’s kitchens fluctuate in measurement, and the most important can produce meals from as much as 25 restaurant manufacturers at a time. Diners can order every little thing from a pizza from Brooklyn’s well-known Di Fara or a Samuelsson-certified fried rooster sandwich on one tab. Prospects may get takeout or just stroll in to order and eat — identical to an precise sit-down spot. Surprise’s culinary crew makes every little thing on-site.
Deep-pocketed Surprise comes from serial entrepreneur Marc Lore, who made his billions as Walmart’s e-commerce exec earlier than happening to disrupt the restaurant supply market. Final fall, Surprise solidified its super-app standing within the area by shopping for established meals ordering platform GrubHub for $600 million. Surprise touts a door-to-door supply time of half-hour or much less.
In simply two years, Surprise has shortly supersized to 35 places unfold throughout New York Metropolis, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania, so increasing down the East Coast to D.C. subsequent is smart. Its first storefront in Connecticut debuts this week, provides a rep. Surprise will announce restaurant lineups for D.C. places nearer to openings, together with partnerships with native cooks.
As for the tip of the period for Eat Brgz — the Capitol Hill-born counter for experimental mix-in burgers since 2019 that counted Michelle Obama as an early fan — the West Finish location is on monitor to shut inside weeks, confirms founder Brandon Gaynor (or till the meals and alcohol sells out). The Jap Market unique will shut Friday, January 31 (250 seventh Road SE).
With a whopping million burgers bought to this point between Capitol Hill, West Finish, and a short-lived Chinatown location, Gaynor says the time felt proper to exit the each day grind of working a restaurant.
“We developed a lot from COVID as greater than only a fast-casual,” says Gaynor. Subsequent Eat Brgz locales launched a full bar and expanded menu past burgers that included breakfast, Aperol spritz “bushes,” and fried rooster tender towers that went viral on-line. “That is the toughest a part of being an proprietor — you by no means need to stop,” says Gaynor, who’s making a profession swap to check retail funding at Columbia College in New York.
Surprise solely took over the lease of Eat Brgz’s West Finish location, which sits at a main Northwest nexus ripe for supply. Its hovering, 67-seat eating room with a patio was additionally an interesting issue. Eat Brgz’s Capitol Hill digs are presently in the marketplace.
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