July Restaurant Spotlight: Kitchen 2404
I went over to Kitchen 2404 on Tuesday night and had a blast. It has great design features, and a great staff.
Here are some of the details:
Kitchen is a two-story restaurant in Glover Park serving Southern comfort foods and Southern themed drinks. It is owned by Mauricio Fraga-Rosenfeld and Fritz Brogan, the same owners behind Gin and Tonic. I had the pleasure of meeting Fritz on Tuesday! The design was lead by Washington DC Architect and Designer Christy Schlesinger.
My Visit: When you come up Wisconsin to Kitchen you know immediately you are in for a good time. The front windows are all open so you can see into the front bar. You get a taste for whats to come with the reclaimed wood on the front facade and if you listen closely you may even hear old blues style (or even country, at the right time) music playing inside. The last thing you need to do is catch a glimpse of the wrought iron, tractor seat style, bar stools and you hooked. The lighting is dim and intriguing, and you're ready to go inside.
When you enter, you may be greeted by Dave, the bartender, who I had the pleasure of meeting. Dave isn't just a great bartender, but this guy actually figured out a way to "widdle", and I use that word loosely because what we are talking about is a plastic straw. But Dave "widdled" a flute out of a plastic straw, and it ACTUALLY works, and doesn't sound half bad!
But I digress, when you enter you may be greeted by Dave, the bartender. But you will also be greeted with the instant feeling of being of a small town restaurant. The ambiance is priceless. The dramatic high ceilings of the front bar compliment your glimpse of the dining room just beyond with its low ceilings and reclaimed wood feature.
The tractor seat style bar stools beg to be sat in. So, if you're like me, you may choose to start there. Taking a seat at the bar, and hanging your purse up on the hook (yes, ladies this is a good restaurant, they have hangers for our purses!!! yey!). You place your elbows up on the cool to the touch, distressed metal bar top, and ask Dave "whats good?" Well there Happy Hour is GREAT, so I go with that. As I sip my wine, I begin to take in all that Kitchen has to offer.
Just above my head is a back lit wood ceiling feature that wraps the full ceiling and then dies down into the back bar. I am intrigued by the material contrast in this and the reclaimed barn wood feature that wraps down into the dining room. The brick walls are a painted beige and it creates the perfect background for the exposed silver duct work and art work, which is antique farm equipment.
My Visit: When you come up Wisconsin to Kitchen you know immediately you are in for a good time. The front windows are all open so you can see into the front bar. You get a taste for whats to come with the reclaimed wood on the front facade and if you listen closely you may even hear old blues style (or even country, at the right time) music playing inside. The last thing you need to do is catch a glimpse of the wrought iron, tractor seat style, bar stools and you hooked. The lighting is dim and intriguing, and you're ready to go inside.
When you enter, you may be greeted by Dave, the bartender, who I had the pleasure of meeting. Dave isn't just a great bartender, but this guy actually figured out a way to "widdle", and I use that word loosely because what we are talking about is a plastic straw. But Dave "widdled" a flute out of a plastic straw, and it ACTUALLY works, and doesn't sound half bad!
But I digress, when you enter you may be greeted by Dave, the bartender. But you will also be greeted with the instant feeling of being of a small town restaurant. The ambiance is priceless. The dramatic high ceilings of the front bar compliment your glimpse of the dining room just beyond with its low ceilings and reclaimed wood feature.
The tractor seat style bar stools beg to be sat in. So, if you're like me, you may choose to start there. Taking a seat at the bar, and hanging your purse up on the hook (yes, ladies this is a good restaurant, they have hangers for our purses!!! yey!). You place your elbows up on the cool to the touch, distressed metal bar top, and ask Dave "whats good?" Well there Happy Hour is GREAT, so I go with that. As I sip my wine, I begin to take in all that Kitchen has to offer.
Just above my head is a back lit wood ceiling feature that wraps the full ceiling and then dies down into the back bar. I am intrigued by the material contrast in this and the reclaimed barn wood feature that wraps down into the dining room. The brick walls are a painted beige and it creates the perfect background for the exposed silver duct work and art work, which is antique farm equipment.
I ask Dave to watch my seat and sneak back into the dining room to catch a look. While the bar area lends itself to a more social feeling, the dining area in very intimate and quiet. I see many couples and groups of friends enjoying a bite to eat. The perimeter of the dining room is wrapped in banquette seating. The banquette backs are an off white leather, and seats contrast that in camel. The dining tables are in a dark wood, and the dining chairs in off white, make me think of a modern take on a traditional colonial chair. Over sized mirrors create a sort of twinkle from the ceiling lights and tea lights on the tables. 
Don't forget to notice on your way to the second floor, or restroom, the walls on the stairs. It is a full chalk board. If your nice to Dave the bartender, and don't make fun of his flute, he may be able to provide you some chalk so you can add to it!
So after, I felt I had the full tour of the design elements of Kitchen, I asked the guys to tell me some good stuff for the blog!
First meet the guys on the right: 
Left to Right: We've got...Pat the Waiter, John the Waiter, Andrew the Manager, and Dave the Bartender
Pat the waiter said the burger, medium rare. John, the waiter said definitely the steak sandwich(6") with tater tots. Andrew, the manager said when he's famished the bacon cheese burger, when they don't have chicken fried steak. And good ole' Dave, the bartender, recommends the wings.
I had the crispy chicken tenders and tater tots (because I hadn't had them in years) and they were great!
If you could serve anyone who would it be???
Pat said Mark Twain...ummm.... haha. John said Megan Fox because I would sit down next to her and tell her we need to start dating. Andrew said John Daly, because we have drinks here named after him, and he'd be impressed. And Dave said, Rick Vaughan, because he is MY HERO!!!
What is the funniest experience you've had at Kitchen???
Although, the guys said there were too many to name, I managed to get out of them, that once they had a lady come in who was getting stranger and stranger as the night went on. She gave them a really hard time and then unfortunately they ran out of $1 bills, so when they had to give her change (which was over $3) in quarters, she threw them at her waiters face and stormed out!!
Well, luckily I was paying with plastic! But all kidding aside, I had a great time at Kitchen, the interior design was great, the food was great, and the team there is fabulous. They just opened in January, and are off to a great start.
I asked Jessica Gibson, the marketing director for Kitchen, what's next?? and she said "We are kicking off a new Menu mid-July with a new Executive Chef names Alex McCoy, who was featured on NBC's The Chopping Block." So... I will definitely make another trip over there then to see what's new, and you should too!
Thank you to Jessica, for setting up my visit, and to Pat, John, Andrew, Dave and Fritz for showing me around and showing me a little bit of "Kitchen" hospitality!
Check them out at: http://www.kitchen2404.com/
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