Taylor Gourmet, the beloved hoagie chain that abruptly closed all of its 17 DC-area locations and filed for bankruptcy last fall, is ready to make a comeback. New owner Steve Kalifa has resurrected the shop (1750 Pennsylvania Ave., NW) near the White House—it opens today at 11 AM with a free t-shirt giveaway.
Kalifa’s company Source Cuisine acquired Taylor Gourmet’s assets—which includes everything from logos to customer emails to recipes—in March. The company beat out several bidders in a bankruptcy auction (including Taylor Gourmet founder Casey Patten, who launched the business in 2008). At the time Kalifa told Washingtonian that he planned to raise over $2.5 million to revive the business, which includes forthcoming locations in Dupont Circle and the Pike and Rose development in North Bethesda.
Meanwhile, Patten has opened Grazie Grazie at the Wharf, a Philly-style sandwich shop specializing in hoagies, grinders, salads, and cheesesteaks that closely resembles his original business. There are more than a few playful crossovers: Taylor’s caprese-style “Love Park” salad is dubbed “Amore Park” at Grazie, and Grazie’s “8+1 Italian” pokes at Taylor’s “9th Street Italian.”
Kalifa tapped Nishan Amenu to oversee the new Taylor’s menu, which purposely looks like the old Taylor’s menu—all the way down to the yellow-and-black color scheme and staples like the Locust Street turkey sub and Ben Franklin chicken-cutlet sandwich. New to the lineup are build-your-own sandwiches and salads. As Kalifa told Washingtonian:
“People love the food. People love the concept. We’re not going to change a lot.”
Taylor Gourmet, 1750 Pennsylvania Avenue, Northwest.
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.
