About Restaurant Openings Around DC
A guide to the newest places to eat and drink.
Moon Rabbit. 927 F St, NW.
Modern Vietnamese restaurant Moon Rabbit sent shockwaves across the DC dining scene when it suddenly closed in the Wharf’s InterContinental Hotel last spring. But this week, chef Kevin Tien is reviving the restaurant in a new Penn Quarter home with a completely new menu, aiming to push his ambitions for Vietnamese cuisine.
Tien declined to discuss the closure of the original Moon Rabbit because he says he signed a non-disclosure agreement. A recent profile of the chef in Esquire says he was “unceremoniously fired,” but the lengthy story offered no further explanation or context. The restaurant’s closure occurred as hotel employees were gearing up to unionize, though hotel reps denied allegations that the abrupt shutdown was meant to squash workers’ organizing. (After much public backlash, the hotel ultimately voluntarily recognized the union.)
What Tien will say is that the hotel locale meant curating the menu to a clientele that was “maybe not as adventurous when it comes to the DC dining scene.” Now, though, he says he feels unencumbered: “I get to go 150-percent where I want to take Vietnamese food. This is how I want to change it.”
The restaurant officially debuted Monday—at the start of Restaurant Week—with a $65 three-course menu that includes a range of options, plus duck-fat brioche with condensed-milk whipped butter to start. All the dishes, plus many more, will land on the regular menu in the coming weeks.
Tien says he plans to feature a number of pastas inspired by the many traditional Vietnamese soups—beyond the obvious pho. For example, a Vietnamese beef stew will be translated into a “lasagnette” with braised short rib layered into the folds of a really long, wide sheet of pasta. Meanwhile, Tien will pay homage to hot pot with a crispy fish dish stuffed with fish balls and accompanied by a broth that tastes like hot pot on the side. Another seafood dish on the opening Restaurant Week menu features barbecue-spiced cod with a tom yum coconut broth and mustard greens.
The menu will also offer family-style dishes showcasing proteins aged and cured in-house, whether it’s sour pork sausage or aged flounder. (Prices for these shareable feasts will scale depending on the number of people partaking.) Fermentation in general will be a big project at the restaurant with various pickles, misos made out of sweet potato, and other housemade sauces. Among the debut dishes: squash in a fermented red curry with curry leaves and a crispy Vietnamese sesame-peanut candy known as keo lac vung. Tien says he’s also working on a fermented kombucha-style limeade—riffing off soda chanh, a Vietnamese lime drink—that will be used in a crudo dish.
Tien encourages diners to ask if the kitchen has any “secret” menu items. The team will constantly be testing out new dishes and may send out a preview of whatever they’re working on.
The cocktail menu from bar director Thi Nguyen will also lean savory with ingredients such as fish sauce, shrimp salt, and sesame oil. One vodka-based drink dubbed “Out of Dipping Sauce” includes passionfruit liqueur and a nuoc cham syrup. The cocktails also highlight many Asian spirits, including some Vietnamese-owned brands.
Tien says he looked at at least 20 different properties before settling on the former home of Co.Co. Sala. Tien has tried to make the dining room feel like a “second home,” decked out in personal mementos (hello, Pokemon) and photos of his own family and the families of his staff. Tien says the vast majority of his staff from the Wharf have rejoined him at Moon Rabbit 2.0. The space also gives him another platform for Chefs Stopping AAPI Hate, an organization Tien co-founded with chef Tim Ma to combat racism and violence against the Asian American Pacific Islander community.
Meanwhile, Tien is expanding his fast-casual imprint. Beyond his fried chicken sandwich spots, Hot Lola’s, he recently opened Doki Doki BBQ, specializing in grilled and smoked meats at Bryant St. Market in Edgewood, and Doki Doki Sushi, serving traditional and fusion rolls and small plates at the Heights food hall in Friendship Heights. Next, Tien says he’d also like to give his pastry chef Susan Bae a bigger platform with a pastry-and-Vietnamese-coffee shop. At Moon Rabbit, she’s got a green-curry sponge cake with avocado sorbet and fish sauce caramel. She’s also looking to finally introduce diners to a dessert with funky-tasting durian—”a flavor profile that some consider adventurous,” Tien says.
Jessica Sidman covers the people and trends behind D.C.’s food and drink scene. Before joining Washingtonian in July 2016, she was Food Editor and Young & Hungry columnist at Washington City Paper. She is a Colorado native and University of Pennsylvania grad.
