Blue Duck Tavern, The Place To Gather And Celebrate, Opens In Nations Capital

Washington, D.C. - In May 2006, the Blue Duck Tavern, serving wholesome American fare, will open its doors for lunch and dinner at 24 and M Streets, NW. The concept for the Blue Duck Tavern, designed by lifestyle visionary designer Tony Chi, founder/president of tonychi and associates based in New York City, reflects Chi's eye for detail. He creates a residential feel in the 106-seat restaurant through the open staff pantry and kitchen, complete with a wood-burning oven, as well as the showpiece commercial Molteni range, the first of its kind in Washington, D.C. Handcrafted furnishings and heavy, uncovered wood tables keep the restaurant warm and contemporary, inviting a convivial dining experience.

"My design for this exciting new restaurant brings together a dramatic and attractive modernism with classic American style," says Tony Chi. "The modern, masculine details of my design include polished glass, stainless steel and concrete for the interior, and for the exterior, a tall hedge maze that ends facing the 15-foot-tall black doors of the Blue Duck Tavern. These details will be combined with classic American touches of dark oak and blue burlap, which when mixed together with the chef's market-based menu, capture the region's unique cultural and natural attributes."

The menu of the Blue Duck Tavern will showcase the best of the season and region as Chef Brian McBride brings sharply focused, bold flavors to the table through simple, time-honored cooking methods. Chef McBride will cook three quarters of the menu in a wood-burning oven and will slow roast in wood embers, while using braising, preserving and smoking techniques to bring the true flavors of America's simple, wholesome foods to the table.

Ingredients for the Blue Duck Tavern will arrive daily from local purveyors and artisans. For example, from Pennsylvania, the restaurant will receive its eggs from a cooperative of Amish farms and its dairy products from a Mennonite source, Trickling Springs Creamery. The menu will note where every dish is raised geographically, as well as the farm it was raised on, before its journey to the table.

In Fall 2005, Chef McBride, who received excellent reviews for the award-winning cuisine at the former Melrose restaurant at the Park Hyatt Washington, spent time in restaurants in Singapore, Tokyo and Zurich perfecting his cooking in wood-burning ovens and completing the vision for the Blue Duck Tavern - ensuring it will become the neighborhood place to gather and celebrate in good taste.


tonychi and associates

tonychi and associates is a global design practice with hundreds of projects to its credit in the world's major capital cities and exclusive travel destinations. Based in New York, the firm was founded in 1984 by Tony Chi, a true modernist with a passion for impeccable style and design innovation. In the past two decades tonychi and associates have completed projects for the Hyatt Group in Osaka, Tokyo, Chicago, Taipei, Bangkok and Sydney with Hyatt projects in the pipeline in Shanghai and Beijing. Media inquiries for tonychi and associates, should be directed to Kylie Perkin at k.perkin@tonychi.com or t: +(61-7) 5476 7803.


The Blue Duck Tavern

The Blue Duck Tavern has been developed by the Park Hyatt Washington, reopening May 2006 after a $24 million "reconcepting" and redesign by tonychi and associates. The Blue Duck Tavern will be located at 24 & M Streets, NW, Washington, D.C. For additional information on the Blue Duck Tavern or Park Hyatt Washington, please contact Katie Rackoff, marketing communications manager, at (202) 419-6633 or krackoff@hyatt.com.