Washington, D.C. chef and restaurateur Mike Isabella and chef/partner Jennifer Carroll announce Requin, their French Mediterranean collaboration, will maintain its current 5,100-square-foot location at Mosaic District in Merrifield, Virginia. Though it opened as a temporary pop-up concept in December, Requin has enjoyed several months of success in the area and will continue to fill a niche with Carroll’s contemporary spin on French Mediterranean flavors, available for weekday lunch, weekend brunch and dinner. A second location of Requin is underway at The Wharf in D.C.’s Southwest Waterfront redevelopment and is set to open in mid-2017.
“We’ve loved contributing to the energy and community vibe of Mosaic District, and look forward to making this our forever home,” Carroll says. “There are changes afoot in our design and menu that speak to our overall vision for Requin, and we’re excited to share those with our guests.”
“We have had one of our busiest openings in the company with Kapnos Kouzina in Bethesda,” Isabella adds. “While we had always planned to open a second location in Mosaic District, Requin has been so successful Jennifer and I decided to keep it running permanently, not just as a pop-up. Our popular Greek restaurants are now open in D.C., Maryland and Virginia, and by making Requin a permanent resident at Mosaic District, we will continue to offer our one-of-a-kind French Mediterranean concept without a break before the D.C. location opens in 2017.”
Requin launched with dinner-only service late last year, and has since expanded its offerings to include weekday lunch and weekend brunch. Carroll’s seasonal approach to the menu of shareable small plates and family-style dishes remains a cornerstone of the dining experience, expressed in such items as celery root pastrami; warm jumbo lump crab puff pastry accented with peas, radish and mint; and grilled whole fish that changes with market availability and comes served with broccolini, shallot confit, and smoky tomato butter. Other updates on the docket include a dedicated pre-theater menu featuring quick-from-the-kitchen plates like artichoke and white bean rillettes, grilled swordfish and profiteroles.
With the guidance of Natalie Park Design Studio, Requin will debut a refreshed look in the dining room, complete with new paint, window treatments, lighting, bar seating, reupholstered banquettes and dividers to create more privacy between tables. Now available adjacent to the restaurant is space for up to a dozen on a sun-drenched patio, with capacity for more than 100 coming later this summer to Requin’s rooftop.
Chef Carroll, the newest member of the Mike Isabella Concepts team, is the chef/partner at Requin. Previously, Carroll worked with the Marcus Samuelsson Group at the Red Rooster in Harlem and the Bermuda pop-up Samuelsson at Hamilton Princess. She also served under Eric Ripert as sous chef at his acclaimed Le Bernardin in New York and later as chef de cuisine at 10 Arts Bistro & Lounge in Philadelphia. Carroll appeared alongside Mike Isabella on season six of Top Chef, as well as on Top Chef: All-Stars, Top Chef Duels and Life After Top Chef.
Isabella is the chef/owner of Graffiato, Kapnos and G in Washington, D.C., Kapnos Taverna, Yona and Pepita Cantina in Arlington, Va., Kapnos Kouzina in Bethesda, Md., and a second location of Graffiato in Richmond, Va. His forthcoming projects include Isabella Eatery, a 10-concept food emporium, and additional locations of Kapnos Taverna and Requin.
