On Friday, Tom Sietsema broke the news that New Heights chef Ron Tanaka was leaving the Woodley Park restaurant to pursue his own project. (Volt sous chef Takeshi Nishikawa is taking over at New Heights.)
Maple barman Sherman Golden confirmed to us that Tanaka is his partner at his new Shaw restaurant Thally. According to Golden, construction begins in January at 1316 Ninth Street, Northwest, and the casual neighborhood restaurant and bar should be open in spring 2013.
Tanaka will be cooking “contemporary American” dishes at Thally, which is named after an historic nearby stable called the Tally Ho. Golden says the partners are planning to hang an old advertisement for the stable near the entrance of the industrial-modern restaurant—architect and Maple owner Eric Gronning is designing the space—which will debut with dinner (lunch service is planned for 2014). There will also be patio seating out front. Golden says Tanaka is putting together his back-of-the-house staff, and will be testing dishes over the months to come. The idea is to create a neighborhood restaurant—like a bistro, but not with French food—that also has a great bar scene with a constantly changing selection of wines and beers on tap and in bottles. Stay tuned for more.
