How One particular of D.C.’s Coziest Italian Dining establishments Thrives Devoid of Letting People today Inside of

On a Zoom call, Mike Friedman seems every little bit a chef with his quick-sleeved whites, black beanie, and a neatly trimmed beard that frames a repeated smile. But just about a yr into the novel coronavirus disaster, the driving pressure behind the Crimson Hen sounds a lot more like the inventive director at an ad company when he explains how the Bloomingdale neighborhood fixture identified for its heat assistance, wooden-burning grill, and wealthy Italian little plates has managed to chug along even with retaining its dining area closed for the past 10 months.

“My career variety of morphed into far more of this: tradition, information, and inventive,” Friedman says. “I phone it the three Cs.”

Though D.C. permitted indoor eating at a constrained capability from late June till a late December pause — a ban that will continue to be by way of at least January 21 — Friedman suggests he and his partners at the Purple Hen and two All-Reason pizzerias by no means felt relaxed bringing guests back inside. Apart from AP’s riverfront site in Navy Garden, none of his eating places could accommodate outdoor dining. By the time Red Hen experienced an opportunity to insert a streetside patio, the restaurant had set up ample of a takeout and shipping and delivery organization that Friedman claims it designed greater monetary perception to stick to the new company design than invest in features like heaters, tents, and wind boundaries.

Even though the Pink Hen exerted tiny hard work on takeout right before the pandemic, Friedman suggests he’s retained his community regulars coming back again by functioning by way of a collection of pop-ups themed all over distinct locations of Italy. Every single time there’s a new menu, the Red Hen has new dishes to splash across its social media internet pages and flag to shoppers on its e-mail distribution checklist.

The Crimson Hen [official]

An “Island Summer” showcasing fregola pasta, anchovies, and loads of citrus to signify Sicily and Sardinia led to a “Friuli Regatta” in the tumble, when concentrating on the northeastern Friuli-Venezia Giulia location that borders Slovenia pushed the cafe to deliver on much more pores and skin-speak to wines. A winter Après ski menu created all around northern alpine areas of Piedmont, Lombardy, Alto Adige and the Valle d’Aosta has come and gone. Starting off Thursday, January 14, the Crimson Hen will begin offering meals and wine with an “Under the Tuscan Sun” topic.

“Let’s continue to keep supplying them new and thrilling points,” Friedman says, pointing to the accomplishment of a modern chicken Parm rollout at All-Purpose.

All through every pop-up, the restaurant maintains a menu of “Red Hen” classics like whipped ricotta crostini, rigatoni with fennel sausage ragu, and a cacio e pepe bucatini that made use of to be an off-menu unique.

For just about every new slate of pop-up dishes, Friedman acknowledges he has to make some concessions for takeout and delivery. For occasion, he would have liked to offer Bistecca alla Fiorentina, a hulking Tuscan T-bone, but he was involved about how it would journey and how significantly he would have to cost. As a substitute, Pink Hen is marketing a braised and grilled small rib ($28) that delivers the very same flavors with a garlic-rosemary butter and fried fingerling potatoes tossed in lemon and Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Other highlights of the Tuscan menu contain a cylindrical garganelli pasta in a duck ragu full of red wine, prosciutto, rosemary, and bread crumbs. Tuscan rooster liver mousse with fig conserva is a riff on a Purple Hen staple. By including a caramelized scallop dish with polenta, toasted pine nuts, and salsa verde, Friedman is supporting just one of his favourite purveyors, Nancy Wynne of Morningstar Seafood off the islands of Maine. For dessert, Purple Hen has ongoing to participate in with diverse flavors of gelato, most not long ago adding a mint chip to the mix.

The Pink Hen [official]

Friedman, who formerly concentrated on Lebanese and Mediterranean cuisines for José Andrés at Zaytinya, states he’s also toying with a departure from Italian pop-ups entirely. A “Red Hen Bon Voyage” sequence could give a takeout trip via France, Lebanon, Greece, or Spain. Even though his cooking is entire of soul, blending his Jewish upbringing with the Southern Italian foods he loved as a kid in New York and New Jersey, he’s usually tinkering with new concepts driven by the prospective to attract digital “likes.”

“I don’t have restaurants any more I have websites,” he claims. “I want to develop traction on these internet sites, so I create articles.”