At this point, it’s no surprise. Restaurateur and humanitarian José Andrés seems to arrive magically in the midst of disaster—whether a hurricane, earthquake, or angry mob—like Batman to the signal. Except this Batman comes with pizza.
Wednesday night, after insurrectionists invaded the Capitol Building and the Mayor issued an emergency order and curfew, Andrés left his Bethesda home with daughter Ines and swung by Domino’s for 120 pizzas to deliver to law enforcement securing downtown.
Hi everybody…what can I say…today was a tragic day for America. I’m here in Bethesda, picking up 120 pizzas to bring to downtown DC to the heroic women & men keeping our city safe tonight. I’m meeting my @WCKitchen team which is also bringing our kitchen truck to support… pic.twitter.com/FmoPedVYeu
— Please wear a mask! Do it for the World please… (@chefjoseandres) January 7, 2021
“Hopefully in a strange, complicated night we can make sure those men and women are being taken care of,” says Andrés in a video.
Next stop: the kitchen. Andrés’ humanitarian organization World Central Kitchen activated a response, making and delivering hot meals for DC, Maryland, and Virginia police who were called in to protect the city and the National Guard (on the menu: vermicelli with sausage, potatoes, and vegetables). Andrés himself was captured at the stove at 1 AM frying up egg sandwiches.
1am and @chefjoseandres is frying up eggs for sandwiches. The @WCKitchen team also prepared vermicelli pasta with sausage, potato and vegetables for everyone working through the night here in DC following today’s mob insurrection. pic.twitter.com/xvtcrUbSmt
— Nate Mook (@natemook) January 7, 2021
His final stop around 3 AM, after all the meals were delivered: the National Archives.
“In these buildings is where the most important documents of the creation of this nation live,” says Andrés, standing outside in the cold. “We, the people.”
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.
