Mark Weiss
Photo: courtesy of the Whisk Group
Mark Weiss honed his hospitality skills overseeing Ritz-Carlton's international operations before launching his own company, the Whisk Group. Its first independent venture, a gastropub called Againn (Gaelic for “with us”), is slated to open next month at 1099 New York Ave. NW, and Weiss took time to chat with Zagat Buzz about the project.
Zagat Buzz: What made you choose DC as the site of the Whisk Group’s first restaurant?
Mark Weiss: Well, I have been living in the DC area for the past several years while I worked for the Ritz-Carlton Group. But more important is the fact that this area is emerging as a major food and beverage market. There is a lot of excitement about restaurants – the area’s strong economy is attracting talented chefs. Interesting concepts are being launched here, like Brasserie Beck’s reinvention of the idiom.
ZB: Why a British-inspired gastropub?
MW: I opened a couple of pubs under the RC umbrella, including one in Dublin. And many years ago, I helped my parents open one in New Zealand, where I was raised. It seems a fun idea to re-concept the traditional pub into a modern idiom. Thus Againn will mix the modern – a sleek glass facade – with an old-world zinc bar, dark paneling and black-and-white tile floors. The food will use the best possible ingredients and techniques to enhance the flavors of favorites like shepherd’s pie and oysters Kilpatrick.
ZB: You’ve said that DC has a “wonderful happy-hour culture.” Was that a factor in your planning?
MW: DC is a professional city where people work differently compared to, say, Hong Kong, where people get up late, or Dubai, where they work on rigid nine-to-five schedules. Here people work long, flexible hours, often meeting people for drinks and a bite and then going back to their offices. Lots of business and networking happens in restaurants. We won’t close between lunch and dinner and we’ll offer a huge opportunity for happy hour, with lots of space for mingling. There will be a raw bar and a long bar, with a happy-hour menu featuring seafood and a reinvented toasted cheese in a cast-iron skillet. Of course, our operation will be 50% restaurant, with two private dining rooms and entrees running from $17–$25.
ZB: Pubs are about drinking as well as eating – tell us about that aspect of the operation. I hear you are planning to have reservable, personalized lockers for customers’ whiskey bottles.
MW: We’ll start with some 75 beers, 18 on tap, and we're hiring a beer master. Our walk-in wine cellar will have 1,000 bottles. However, our focus on scotch is another story. My travels in Asia made me familiar with that area’s huge culture of single malts – regular restaurant clientele store their cognac or whiskey in special lockers and offer drinks to their dining companions. I thought it would be a lovely design element to incorporate a wall of individual wooden lockers, each with a glass wall that was lit from within, to illuminate the bottle. There will be a discreet nametag on each locker, but, this being DC, generic labeling is possible.
– Olga Boikess