This week, President Obama won’t be the only transplant from Chicago to have set up shop on Pennsylvania Avenue.
If you go
Roti
1747 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
www.roti.com
Sandwiches, salads and kabobs start at $6.50.
Down the block from the White House is the new fast-casual restaurant Roti Mediterranean Grill, which opens Monday. Roti (pronounced row-tee) has four establishments in the Windy City area. President and co-founder Bill Post has headed other companies in the D.C. area and said he felt the area to be a good fit for the restaurant’s expansion. “I think the city has gotten better,” Post said, looking back on the 25 years he’s been involved in the area. “Much better than when I first operated here. It’s very vibrant. It’s very multidimensional in its ethnic orientation. We feel this is a perfect spot for Roti.”
Corporate Chef Barry Brooks has worked with Post for five years, and the menu at Roti is all about the Mediterranean. The sandwiches are the main draw. Choose falafel, steak or chicken; and a number of topping such as hummus, baba ghanoush, couscous and sauces. Hearty salads are also popular and Mediterranean plates such as kabobs round out the menu.
Ingredients such as the hummus are freshly made, and the bread is baked daily. The menu at D.C. is similar to the one in Chicago.
“I’ve always felt that geography is important,” Brooks said. “Our concepts here are pretty much traditionalist in terms of, if you walk into Chicago, you’re going to have the same experience in Chicago as you’re going to have in D.C.”
Roti is opened for breakfast and lunch, and hopes to pull in tourists as well as suits. The World Back sits across the street.
In addition to freshness, nutrition is also an emphasis for Roti. The Web site has a tab where patrons can calculate the nutritional value of what they created (who’d have thought a steak pita filled with feta cheese and kalamata olives had so much sodium?).
“This is very healthy stuff, comparatively speaking,” Brooks said, before adding moderation plays a key.
“Nutrition speaks for itself,” Post added. “Roti food is truly food you can believe in. This is food that you can love, and it loves you back.”
Roti opens Monday. On Wednesday, the restaurant will offer a free lunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in partnership with D.C. Central Kitchen. In exchange for the free lunch, the restaurant asks patrons to donate to the local nonprofit.
