Shouty Celebrity Chef Gordon Ramsay Will Open a Hell’s Kitchen on the Wharf This Fall

Vegas-born beef Wellington sensation Gordon Ramsay Hell’s Kitchen will plant its first East Coast flag along D.C.’s Southwest Waterfront this fall.

Michelin-starred chef Gordon Ramsay’s surf-and-turf restaurant, which pays tribute to his hit Hell’s Kitchen TV show on Fox, will slide into a scenic, two-story waterfront building (652 Wharf Street SW). The blockbuster arrival will be part of the Wharf’s second phase of restaurant and office projects all opening by October. The Wharf’s Hoffman-Madison development team confirmed Ramsay’s lease to Eater on Thursday, February 10.

Tierney Plumb/Eater DC

The D.C. edition of Gordon Ramsay Hell’s Kitchen will be the first that’s unaffiliated with a casino. Following its flashy Vegas debut inside Caesars Palace in 2018, a second location opened in the fellow Nevada gambling town of Lake Tahoe in 2020. That hotly anticipated arrival was pounded with more than 12,000 reservations the month leading up to its opening, reported Reno Gazette Journal. An additional Hell’s Kitchen is headed to Harrah’s Resort Southern California this year, per Eater San Diego.

The menus circulate famed dishes from Ramsay’s long-running global reality series, which includes a best-selling beef Wellington, pan-seared scallops, lobster risotto, crisp skin salmon, shellfish towers, and sticky toffee pudding, but it’s unclear what will be showcased in D.C. Eater reached out to his team for comment.

Ramsay will be instant Wharf neighbors with another celebrity chef whose focus is on an entirely different type of cuisine. Celebrated Chinese chef Philippe Chow, whose showy pair of NYC hot spots serves Peking duck and other family-style favorites, recently announced plans to expand to the Wharf this fall. Chow’s waterfront real estate, nearly half the size as Ramsay’s nearby restaurant, will sit at the base of the luxury Amaris condo complex.

“We are deliberate on trying to create a place that’s different and not predictable, so consequently, when you get a big name you want to make sure it fits,” John Asadoorian tells Eater, whose brokerage group represents the Wharf.

Other recently announced tenants for Phase 2 include fast-casual options for burgers (Lucky Buns); buttery Maine lobster rolls (Mason’s Famous); nostalgic sweets (Kilwins Chocolates & Ice Cream); Manhattans with a hair cut (Scissors & Scotch); and Latin street foods (Bartaco).

Ramsay’s tight-lipped restaurant group has kept its Wharf lease under wraps, however. The cat got out of the bag today, when Washington Business Journal first spotted Gordon Ramsay North America’s plans submitted to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts. The 16,000-square-foot building will sport “indoor and outdoor ‘summer garden’ restaurant space” and is one of two retail structures constructed atop a new concrete pier, notes WBJ.

While Hell’s Kitchen marks Ramsay’s first big splash in D.C., the chef is no stranger to the local dining scene. He was one of chef Jeremiah Langhorne’s first customers at The Dabney back in 2015.

Hell’s Kitchen will be joined in D.C. by a previously announced Penn Quarter outpost of Gordon Ramsay Fish & Chips, which has locations in Las Vegas and Orlando. His group also runs Gordon Ramsay Burger, Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill, Gordon Ramsay Steak, and Ramsay’s Kitchen. There’s also a Hell’s Kitchen overseas in Caesars Bluewaters Dubai.

• Blimey! Gordon Ramsay is bringing his Hell’s Kitchen restaurant to D.C. [WBJ]
• NYC’s Famed Chinese Chef Philippe Chow Secures a Spot on the Wharf [EDC]
• Hell’s Kitchen from chef Gordon Ramsay opens Jan. 8 at Lake Tahoe; he might visit in March [RGJ]
• Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay to open restaurant in D.C. [WBJ]
• Gordan Ramsay Dines at The Dabney [EDC]
• NYC’s Famed Chinese Chef Philippe Chow Secures a Spot on the Wharf [EDC]
• Chef Gordon Ramsay Opening Hell’s Kitchen Restaurant at Harrah’s Resort [ESD]