“Top Chef: All Stars” runner up and Graffiato owner Mike Isabella had been great at guarding the plans for his next restaurant concept, with his people smacking down any rumors on where his next eatery might be. But Isabella and Co. tripped up Saturday night, letting the cat out of the bag to a culinary celebrity.
He and Graffiato general manager James Horn were lucky enough to have Food Network star Giada De Laurentiis at one of their tables. Horn promptly gave her the scoop about the new restaurant, a Mexican joint called Bandolero to be located in Georgetown, gossip that De Laurentiis then shared with Yeas & Nays and other reporters at the Metropolitan Cooking & Entertaining Show the next day.
“Georgetown needs some better food, gosh darn it, and I hear that Mike’s going to open up a place there, a Spanish-Mexican food place,” she dished. (It’s actually just Mexican). “Did I just spill the beans on something I wasn’t supposed to spill the beans on?” she asked when the journalists in the room seemed to perk up. De Laurentiis said the new restaurant would be in Hook’s present location. “Well, the ink isn’t signed yet, but you could say it’s a rumor, it’s not bad press, it’s good press.”
It may have been good press, but it wasn’t press Isabella’s team was ready for. They wouldn’t confirm the “rumor,” called De Laurentiis’ comments a game of “telephone” and even asked that Yeas & Nays remove a tweet hinting at the incident (we didn’t).
On Monday afternoon, however, Washington Post food guy Tom Sietsema made it official reporting the rumor was real and that Isabella’s new concept would be opening as early as February.
