Paul Pelt, executive chef of D.C.’s beloved Tabard Inn restaurant, may look like a rock star or jazz musician, but this is one man who has focused his adult life on the kitchen and its many charms. A native of Chicago, Pelt moved to D.C. to live on Capitol Hill with his dad during his formative years, and hasn’t spent much time away from the city since then. While Pelt may wistfully dream of traveling to far-off lands to explore other cuisines, he is really dedicated to the culinary arts here in the nation’s capital, spending most of his waking life pouring over cookbooks and dreaming up memorable fare.
While his dad may have preferred listening to music to cooking, the two still cooked together. By the time Pelt reached adolescence, working at local restaurants, even if just bussing tables, did not seem foreign at all. He remembers one of his first jobs, when he started doing prep work, his boss the chef told him that a line cook would not be in. ” ‘You have to cook,’ ” he said the chef told him. ” ‘And don’t mess up or you are out of here.’ ”
