Chef Haidar Karoum’s first solo restaurant arrives Friday, January 5
The food at Chloe, the debut restaurant award-winning chef turned restaurateur Haidar Karoum is formally unveiling Friday, January 5, bounces between the Middle East and Mid-Atlantic at will.
“I didn’t want to get stuck in one type of genre — it’s a culmination of all my experiences not just in the kitchen but also from traveling, my childhood, friendships, cookbooks,” Karoum says of the self-styled eatery he’s planted in bustling Navy Yard (1331 Fourth Street SE).
Featured dishes ($11 to $26) include roasted chicken with Vietnamese-style greens and a toasted chili-lime sauce; grilled Berkshire pork chop with escarole and Calabrian chilies; and roasted kaleidoscope carrots and parsnips with vadouvan labne and crispy amaranth. His Lebanese roots will also manifest via his dad’s favorite snack: crispy cauliflower with lemon, tahini, toasted pine nuts, and mint. Seafood options are also sprinkled across the menu, with broiled local oysters, crudo, Alaskan halibut, and Maine scallops currently in play.
Some dishes are inspired by summers spent in the south of Germany and Copenhagen, though he doesn’t want to play up personal ties too much.
