Taqueria Las Gemelas in Latin food hall La Cosecha was the first restaurant that Joe Biden visited as President. In addition to grabbing some tacos to-go for Cinco de Mayo, POTUS was also there to promote the first grant approved by the Small Business Administration’s new $28.6 billion Restaurant Revitalization Fund, which provided restaurants with money to cover pandemic-related revenue loss. Nearly three years later, however, owners Josh and Kelly Phillips have closed the taqueria and its neighboring sister Mexican restaurant Destino.
Josh Phillips says the restaurants’ original business plans—conceived pre-pandemic—revolved around daytime business, events, and catering driven by office towers that never really materialized in the neighborhood. “What ended up in this neighborhood is turning out to be wonderful, it’s just not what we were designed to cater to,” Phillips says in a text message. “We pivoted every which way possible and we had a lot of support from the community, our team, our landlords, etc. but it’s a similar story you hear from a lot of businesses. Everything got more expensive and we just couldn’t make it work. There’s no negative here. Just a lot of hard-working passionate people that ultimately couldn’t squeeze blood out of stone.”
Las Gemelas and Destino—initially called Las Gemelas Cocina Mexicana—debuted in March of 2021 after pandemic-related delays. “Opening this place was big challenge. We opened up severely underfunded,” Phillips said at the time of Biden’s visit. He said the $600,000 government grant would help cover operating expenses as well as building out outdoor patio space.
The full-service restaurant in particular underwent several pivots during its short lifespan. It initially opened as an all-day coastal Mexican cafe with beach-y seafood dishes and mezcal cocktails. Several months later, it rebranded as Destino with a more ambitious modern Mexican menu. Then last fall, the owners brought in a new chef with a Michelin-level resume, Vincent Badiee, to revamp the menu again. The restaurant had just recently launched a tasting menu option at $85 per person.
The Phillips continue to operate smashburger-and-cheesesteak spot Ghostburger in Shaw, where Badiee plans to roll over some ideas and “get weird in the best ways possible.” The team has also licensed the Ghostburger brand to a hospitality management and franchising company that opened an offshoot of the concept, Philly Jawn, in Dubai last fall.
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.
