Listening to Anthony Lombardo describe it, his multi-course try-out meal at 1789 Restaurant in D.C. came together in barely two hours. Imagine making fresh artichoke soup, grilled vegetable salad with arugula and pecans, seared lamb loin with corn puree; roast veal with halibut and a corn consomme — and as a final addition, making and stuffing lamb sausages in such a short time. No wonder the savvy Clyde’s staff hired him on the spot to be their new executive chef.
Raised in Sterling Heights, a suburb of Detroit, Lombardo says he comes from a very large Italian family that valued coming together to eat. “Every Sunday was a family feast,” he said. “But I was always in the kitchen with my mom making gnocchi.”
He took his first restaurant job when still an adolescent, washing dishes in a local steakhouse. But the job transformed him. “I loved food, and once in a restaurant, I started to love the business,” he said. “In six months, I became the restaurant’s main grill cook.” No surprise then that after high school and working in several other local restaurants, he enrolled in the Culinary Institute of America.
| If you go |
| 1789 Restaurant |
| » Where: 1226 36th St. NW |
| » Info: 202-965-1789 |
| » Hours: Dinner, 6 to 10 p.m. Monday to Thursday, 6 to 11 p.m. Friday, 5:30 to 11 p.m. Saturday, 5:30 to 10 p.m. Sunday |
Once again, Lombardo says he felt even more in love with his chosen profession, becoming such an adept and focused student. During his time at the CIA, Lombardo externed in Chicago at the Everest Room with chef Jean Joho, where he learned much about working in a fine-dining French restaurant.
After graduation, Lombardo enrolled in Slow Food Italy’s cooking school, Istituto Superiore Di Gastronomia, in the Marche region of Italy. “It was a very international student body,” he explained. “I took away from my time there many techniques, but especially how not to waste anything in the kitchen. Italians utilize everything more; they use all animals whole and use it all.”
After working a few jobs back in the United States, Lombardo moved back to Italy and worked and lived with a butcher’s family in the town of Bra. After 16 months learning the fine art of butchering, Lombardo returned to the U.S. He worked in the Bacco Ristorante in Michigan, where his mentor chef/owner Luciano Del Signore. Lombardo then headed to D.C., where he eventually made his connection with the Clyde’s Restaurant Group.
Lombardo is in his element at 1789, taking up the challenge of creating over-the-top cuisine in one of D.C.’s finest destinations. And he is very happy. So, too, are his parents. “My parents were not sure at first about my career choice,” he said. “Long hours and all. But they are very proud of me,” noting that they were coming to town soon to try out their son’s cooking.
