Mashama Bailey and Danny Meyer Are Taking Over a Flagship Hotel's Kitchens

Two of the most respected operations in American dining are merging their playbooks inside one flagship hotel. Robb Report reported that Mashama Bailey and Johno Morisano of Grey Spaces — the team behind The Grey in Savannah — are teaming with Danny Meyer's Union Square Events to open two restaurants inside the JW Marriott Washington, DC, at 1331 Pennsylvania Avenue NW. Hoodline reported the same pairing on November 6, with the Savannah team taking over both of the hotel's restaurant kitchens.

This is a top-of-market chef move. On one side is Bailey, whose cooking at The Grey — the restaurant she and Morisano built inside a restored 1938 Greyhound bus terminal — made her one of the most decorated chefs in the country. On the other is Meyer, whose Union Square Events is the catering and venues arm of the group behind some of New York's most influential dining rooms. The JW Marriott is not handing them a corner of the lobby. It is handing them the whole food program, in stages.

Diner Bar first, in December's slot

Robb Report reported that the first opening is Diner Bar by the Grey — 100 seats, all-day, opening later this year. Washingtonian reported that Diner Bar replaces the hotel's 1331 Bar & Lounge and will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, plus a late-night bar snack menu. The name is not new: it carries over from the bar area at The Grey in Savannah, itself a nod to the old Union News Cafe lunch counter in the bus terminal. Bailey told Washingtonian the DC version aims to capture that spirit — “super casual, easy, approachable.”

Some Savannah signatures travel north — Washingtonian reported fried red rice balls, fish and grits with Creole gravy, and buttermilk chess pie among them — but most of the menu is being built for DC, from a barbecued salmon biscuit sandwich and chicken and waffles at breakfast to a “Miss America” fried bologna and cheese sandwich and a crab fritter at the bar. After dark, the room leans cocktail lounge, with a frozen gin rickey and a gin drink called Double Occupancy on Washingtonian's list.

The evening room follows next spring

The second restaurant is The Grey on Penn, the evening concept, opening next spring. Robb Report reported that the culinary teams for the two restaurants have not yet been announced. Morisano described The Grey on Penn to Washingtonian as “casual fine-dining” and “a bit more adventurous culinarily” than Diner Bar, and its buildout begins once Diner Bar is open.

The design language is the Grey Spaces playbook carried north. Robb Report reported rich blues, warm woods, brass and Art Deco touches nodding to the Savannah original — and the hotel's own renderings show exactly that: deep-blue walls, globe chandeliers, round mirrors and tufted bar tiles in a room built to feel like the terminal's glamorous descendant, not a hotel restaurant that happens to have a famous chef's name on the door.

In her press statement, carried in Robb Report's coverage, Bailey framed the move as bringing her Port City Southern cooking to Washington — the food she built her name on in Savannah, re-rooted in the capital. That is the real story inside the hotel deal: two hospitality empires that both built their reputations on how a room treats people, now running the same kitchens. Diner Bar opens later this year. The Grey on Penn follows next spring. Pennsylvania Avenue is about to eat very differently.