Kobe steak, whole suckling pig confit and open-faced dumplings are on the menu for D.C. residents about to get their first taste of Wolfgang Puck cuisine. Wolfgang Puck’s The Source restaurant is scheduled to open Thursday in the future home of the Newseum. The three-level restaurant will feature a more casual restaurant on the ground floor, a fine-dining option on the second and a private area upstairs, executive chef Scott Drewno said.
“The overall theme is modern American with an Asian influence,” Drewno said, adding the Asian influence is more pronounced in the upstairs restaurant.
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Diners upstairs will be able to try dishes such as whole lobster in a Chinese garlic sauce and Chinese duckling accented with wild huckleberries, Drewno said. In the more casual restaurant, Puck’s well-known pizzas will appear on the menu, as well as such options as Kobe beef sliders. The restaurant will incorporate local ingredients like Maryland blue crab as well, Drewno said. The downstairs restaurant mostly will serve dishes to share, ranging from $12 to $18, while some of the more-expensive entrees will average in the $30s, Drewno said.
The Source will have a modern feel, with its focal point being a two-story wine wall that holds 2,220 bottles.
“This is a totally new concept, not like any other of [Puck’s] restaurants,” said Drewno, who worked at Puck’s Chinois and Spago in Las Vegas before working in New York restaurants for six years.
Drewno said he worked directly with Puck on conceptualizing the menu and visited all the restaurateur’s eateries, guest cooking at some, before finalizing what was served.
“Once you’ve gained Wolfgang’s confidence, he grants you some autonomy,” he said.
The Source is Drewno’s first restaurant in the Washington area.
“I love it; I think it’s a blossoming restaurant scene,” he said. “I don’t think it’s saturated in any way.”
