500 Words #71 –
DC’d in DC

“They’re grabbing my guys! Talking to you now I’m looking @ 1/2 dozen National Guard out my window.”

I thought I’d share a more personal perspective of how the once unbelievable is fast becoming common. The military fighting in the words of General Bonespurs, a war on “the enemy within” which I believe means me and my friends.

With that in mind I called one of them, my buddy John Mooney, a respected colleague who is chef/partner in restaurants both in DC and N Y. We first met @ the Taj Mumbai where he was exec chef for multiple Beard award winner Michel Nischan’s wellness focused restaurant “Pure”, and later worked together in Dublin’s newly remade/remodeled Grande Dame 5 star Shelbourne Hotel
where he was the Exec Chef. He called and asked if I’d like to come help him as part of the reopening task force and if so, to just bring my white gloves and fix anything I saw in need of fixing, in short, giving me carte blanc. It was there I became the “loud mouthed yank” as the Irish Times noted in their opening weekend review.

He (like me) is a dinosaur that knows his shit and suffers no fools. I was curious if the military presence is affecting his businesses so asked.

JM- In DC yes, NY, no.

AL The White House would have you believe business is booming. That people who’d abandoned restaurants due to crime are going out again after many years. What’s up there? What’s going on?

Inauguration years are historically boom time. Not this one. In fact, I just came from my landlord… We’re down 100k YTD. By year’s end it could be as much as 10%-compounded with the highest minimum wage ($17.95) and restaurant sales tax (10%) in the nation. Closing out September just last pm I can tell you it was one of our worst months ever (12 yrs).

There’s so many factors. They closed Congress, I mean they’re out. If you watch the news you’d think the economy is booming. That restaurants are doing good is absolute bullshit. There are some openings, I mean there’s always going to be a couple spots that hit but for a lot of people it’s just insane.

The republicans left town but the Democrats are still there.

I have history that we bank on in inaugural years. I can look back and see in my records… Sometimes we’ve done 2x what we do in a normal year, as if a floodgate opens but that did not happen this year and puts us in a bad situation. Between labor and now this we need to reanalyze everything, maybe a facelift or reconcept? It’s crazy.

Lets just take NY, DC, Chicago… the amount of prime corner spaces available is more than I’ve ever seen. Not just restaurants, retail spaces that have failed as well. In a bad economy restaurants fold quicker than anybody. Rents are insane and interest rates are high.

How much has your rent gone up in your 12 years in DC?

About 25% and we have very good relationships with our landlords… like family.

And labor?

Over 30.

How do you plan around the chaos?

For one thing you don’t panic/knee jerk react. Remain chill. I just try to respond and ride it out. Everything is like a pivot. I mean, I’ve been through 9/11 (NY store is in the W.Village), Hurricane Sandy, Covid, a blackout… We just keep on going.

Like Alexander the Great who’s been said to have lived by these 3 words: Anticipate. React. Adapt. Worked for him. Sounds like improvisation to me.

There’s always the initial “Oh what are we going to do?”.

What’s the slant on being an occupied city? Any harassment or fear or anything like that?

My chef Carlos has been with me from day 1. His wife worked for me… They have 2 older boys and 2 younger boys. Their 20 yr old got picked up at a 7/11 getting coffee. It’s been about a month now. They still have him. He’s done everything to comply and gone through the proper channels but is being charged with illegal entry. Then on top of it the legal representation on these cases… just full of scams. They wanted a 7K retainer. I said no and got some recs from some paraglegals I know and ended up paying 2 grand, you know, money to go through the process which was reasonable.

We had 3 guys picked up at a bus stop a couple months ago. 2 got out but their 1 buddy is still in. He’s got no wife, no children and we tried to get access but no luck. They ship you 3-4-5 hours away from DC. The sharing of the information is almost impossible. They move him like once a week to different facilities. We tried to get a hold of him. I had a lawyer try to contact him and was told they can’t share information because he’s already represented. Then we got to talk to him on the phone and asked if he got a lawyer and he says no.

It’s smoke and mirrors.

How would you describe the tenor on the street, and then how is that carrying over into your restaurant?

We’re 2 miles from the White House. The presence of military and law enforcement is everywhere. I’m in my restaurant at midnight- the only one there and there’s FBI agents in bulletproof vests pulling on my fucking door. There’s ICE, DEA… Now if a cop makes a stop they have to call ICE to assist.

Sounds like arrest by committee.

My understanding is all these detention centers… they’re getting paid by the body.

Right. The for profit prisons. There’s people in the administration that have been investing in them knowing there’d be a payday soon enough.

If you look in any direction from my restaurant there’s cops stationed everywhere. Patrolling in cars, roadblocks, checkpoints everywhere… At night there’s cops crawling all over the place. I live 2 1/2 miles away. I ride my motorcycle through side streets to get home and there can be anywhere from 2-4 checkpoints. Cops sitting in cars with their lights on etc…

It sounds like it’s having a chilling effect. One of “I’m not going to risk it and I’ll stay home” which is not exactly conducive to business. Are there any upsides? Do you agree with any of the policies that have been instituted or better yet, are there things you would like to see done instead?

One thing i will say. The crime in DC was so bad. Like i had a shootout on my patio but nothing ever came of it. I gave the description of the kid and gun to the police. I mean I was 10 feet away. Nothing came of that. Multiple carjackings, gunfire. Kids stealing cars and running lights and racing at 100 miles an hour… like 3 times a day. Zero regard for the law. It was fucking crazy. Like the wild wild west.

I didn’t mind the cops cracking down on those assholes. But their overwhelming presence- You gotta be careful what you wish for. Honestly, the cops were powerless. When I told that cop the kid just went around the corner and this was what he was wearing… That cop just looked blank. Then I’m thinking what the fuck’s the matter with that guy? Then I think, you know, this guy might have it right? What’s he gonna do, go chase down a kid with a gun in his hand who’s just used it? I mean I just witnessed a shooting and they were on the scene in 1 minute but there’s no sense of urgency. But I tried to see it from his perspective and they’re just fucking powerless… and way above the pay grade too so I had to sympathize with him. I was annoyed at first.

So are you saying that in spite of that type of crime going on and that being the status quo, that you’re down in addition to that?

Yeah.

How different is it today than when you opened?

The business just keeps getting harder and harder. We’re getting squeezed in every direction. August is historically slow but September things start coming back. 1 bad month you can deal with but 2 may be enough to sink you.

I got into ownership/leadership because I wanted to make it a different place, have insurance, benefits… but they just keep sucking the life out of the industry. Mom and pop restaurants are nearly gone… commodities are about to go through the roof again. There’s not a lot of room for dudes like me (us) anymore. Considering what it requires and the risk/reward? It doesn’t make a lot of sense anymore.

We still love it but only because we’re stupid.

All this and no congressional representation either.