Jack Rose Gets a Boost of Southern Charm
It must be next to impossible to find a chef that can stand up to one of the most impressive beverage programs in the city. Scratch that—the country. Jack Rose Dining Saloon has 1,600 bottles of hand-selected whiskies as well as top cocktails and beers. The next man to try his hand at pairing food with this intimidating selection is chef Russell Jones, whom we snapped chatting about his background. Russell most recently cooked at Restaurant Eve, but now that he’s at Jack Rose, he can serve Southern food that’s close to his heart.
The menu’s packed with dishes that hit the deep fryer like fried chicken skins, shrimp hush puppies, fried oysters, and fried green tomatoes (pictured). Russell hails from South Carolina—a state that’s starting to get real trendy in DC. Bourbon Steak just hired a new executive chef, Joe Palma, who comes from Charleston. Then there’s Barrel, a new bourbon bar in Eastern Market headed up by executive chef Garret Fleming, also from South Carolina. It looks like DC will be eating a lot more hush puppies, which is never a bad thing.