Photo credit: intern Andrew Dubbs
“A group of friends got together to host this party,” said Kevin Chaffee at a cocktail reception to celebrate Autumn at Malmaison.
Those friends included John Arundel, Quinn & Pari Bradlee, Mathew & Ashley Bronczek, Austin Bryan, Renaud & Anais de Viel Castel, Xavier Equiha, Carole Feld, Philippa Hughes, Mary Anne Huntsman, Winston Bao Lord, Eric Motley, Christopher Reiter & Juleanna Glover, Christina Sevilla, Septime Webre and James Woodyard – i.e. enough of a cross section of Washingtonians to ensure that the spacious venue was packed. It was!
Masood Omari, Abigail Adams Greenway and Kevin Chaffee
Malmaison is located at the base of Georgetown’s historic waterfront, which means the guessing game was on. What was here before was the question that long time Georgetowners were trying to remember – The River Club? A warehouse? The Bayou? – it was anyone’s guess. In reality, it’s a refurbished industrial warehouse reminiscent of NYC’s Meatpacking district.
The Georgetown waterfront was once a thriving commercial destination lined with wharfs and sea-going vessels and later industrial plants. “A nationally-designated historic district, Georgetown was founded in 1751, nearly half a century before the District of Columbia, as a bustling port city on the banks of the Potomac. Lined with quaint cobblestone streets and 18th and 19th century architecture, the neighborhood is a delightful mix of the past and present.” Malmaison is present.
3401 K Street
As for the history of Malmaison, it opened in June and features elegant French dining, a modern restaurant, pastry shop, and event lounge that serves the culinary talents of legendary French chef Gerard Pangaud (2-star Michelin) and Pastry Chef Serge Torres (Le Cirque NYC). Try the duck!
We even ran into a former waiter from the famous (or infamous) Jockey Club located in the then Fairfax Hotel on Dupont Circle, former home to Vice President Al Gore – Suite 809 we hear.
Pastry Chef Serge Torres and Chef and French chef Gerard Pangaud
Family patriach Zubair Popal gave us a personal rendition of the Popal family history.
“We’re originally from Afghanistan,” he said. “We moved to The United States in 1987. The reason we moved to D.C. was obviously because of education for my kids who were very important for us. We did research and found out Virginia and D.C. are the best places to live for higher education, so we came to D.C. and my son started classes in Georgetown after graduating from High School. The more frequently we came to visit, the more we became more interested in Georgetown. We found it very interesting, a European styled place.”
“We had been traveling quite a lot before that. I used to work for Inter-Continental Hotels. I started in Afghanistan and worked mostly in the Persian Gulf. When I moved here, I was no longer with Inter-Continental. I had to leave but couldn’t get a transfer here with an Afghani passport. Eventually, I came here myself.
Social Secretary to The British Embassy Amanda Downs and Bob Hagestad
We were thinking about opening a restaurant in D.C. (2003 timeline). We were thinking about doing a French Cafe, a small cafe which opened as Bonaparte. Between 2003 and 2007 we decided to open a little bit bigger version of Bonaparte and that became Napoleon in Adams Morgan area. Then, well, Napolean and Bonaparte are very much related to each other because Malmaison was the chateau of Napolean and his wife Josephine, twenty miles outside of Paris. Whenever Napolean and his wife wanted to get out of Paris to get away from everything, to relax, they used to go to Malmaison. So, we basically got the name from that.”
Heather Podesta and friend
“By the time we got to this location, it was a sports club. Before that, it was a warehouse for storing ice I think. We did our soft opening in June.”
His son Omar will now take the family lead.
What to expect at Malmaison? C’est Magnifique!
