Electric Bull. 176 Maple Ave., W., Vienna.
Chef Victor Albisu has been focused in recent years on expanding his hit taqueria Taco Bamba to 15 locations and counting. Now, the former owner of South American grill Del Campo is returning to full-service restaurants with a boutique steakhouse called Electric Bull, coming to Vienna in the summer of 2025. The upscale casual restaurant will focus on classic and non-traditional steakhouse cuts, elevated egg dishes, and a plentiful raw bar—plus a virtual butcher counter where customers can order their own meats, marinades, and more.
“My career was really informed by my time spent in my mother’s butcher shop,” Albisu says of Plaza Latina Market in Falls Church, which his mom still runs today. His grandfather was also an avid hunter and butcher. “It’s been a very natural thing to return to it. I’m a bit of a carnivore. I try my very best to stick to a very clean, healthy, meat-eating diet.”
Albisu, who spent four years running the kitchen at DC’s now-closed BLT Steak, calls Electric Bull the “anti-steakhouse.” He explains that it will focus on “more interesting” cuts of beef like teres major, flat iron, hanger, or picaña steaks—although you’ll also find a ribeye too. The idea is inspired by a neighborhood parrilla, or South American grill, and will also include lamb ribs, sweetbreads, and a family chorizo recipe. At the same time, Albisu says he doesn’t want to be handcuffed to a particularly culture or cuisine: “I’m just going to go into this doing whatever I really want to do and having a good time doing it.” The same will go for the bar, which will feature an eclectic wine list and “great martinis.”
Although he’s bringing back grilled meats and chimichurri, Albisu brushes aside comparisons to Del Campo, his Penn Quarter restaurant which closed in 2018 and became high-end Mexican restaurant Poca Madre. “I don’t do a lot of looking back. I don’t want to redo anything I’ve done,” he says. “Back then, it was much more about me, and now, this is much more about the idea and the people around it.”
That said, at least one signature dish will make a comeback: skirt steak rolled with burnt onion and rosemary chimichurri, dijon mustard, and grated parmesan. Albisu won Beat Bobby Flay with the dish.
Electric Bull will also embrace all things raw, including tartares, carpaccios, ceviches, and crudos. Eggs will be another mainstay of the menu—scrambled, fried, in omelets, with steak, and gussied up with caviar and truffles.
“My mom used to joke she should have named me ‘Huevo’ when I was younger because of the amount of eggs I consume,” Albisu says. “I always think it’s a great accompaniment to the steak.”
As for the butcher counter, customers will be able to online-order a lot of the same cuts of meats and ingredients that are used in the restaurant, including dressings, marinades, and dry rubs. Both raw and cooked dishes will also be available for carryout.
The 80-seat dining room, located doors down from a Taco Bamba, will get a “moodier vibe” from designer Peter Hapstack, who was behind the look of the original Taco Bamba.
“We want people to feel like they’re going out for dinner and having a cool experience, all while delivering on a simple thing,” Albisu says. “It’s a grill. My favorite thing in the world is a grill.”
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.
