José Andrés says he’s jumping into the fast-food game, but when it comes to details, the restaurateur has remained tight-lipped. Even after a Craigslist DC ad from ThinkFoodGroup was posted seeking a chef to head “a new fast-casual concept,” a representative from the company told us they have “nothing to share about the concept at the moment.”
So would Andrés reveal clues to his 240,000-plus Twitter followers? The SLS Las Vegas resort threw its grand opening last weekend, which included the debut of two new Andrés restaurants: José Andrés’s Bazaar Meat, a carnivorous version of the original Bazaar, and the Asian-themed Ku Noodle. The chef made time to stop by LA’s 800 Degrees Pizza, also opening in the resort, and tweeted that the build-your-own, Neapolitan-style pie joint is “the future of fast food.”
sorry @McDonalds sorry @dominos the future of fast food is here @800degreespizza #belegendary pic.twitter.com/kAs7sK1DyC
— José Andrés (@chefjoseandres) August 23, 2014
Could Papa José’s be on the way? A fast-casual pizza spot would make sense for the chef, given his upcoming collaborative beer—because what goes better with pizza than beer?—and experimentation with various cuisines; look for China Chilcano, a Chinese-Peruvian eatery, opening in Penn Quarter this fall. Pizza con tomate with Serrano ham and Manchego cheese? Not a huge stretch.
Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.
