From reporter Tim Carman:
Acclaimed chef Kevin Tien’s modern Vietnamese restaurant, Moon Rabbit, is closing on the Wharf at the end of service on Monday, a sudden and surprising move that local union officials say was engineered by the luxury hotel that houses the restaurant to kill efforts to unionize hospitality workers there.
Before the closing was confirmed on Monday, Tien and the InterContinental Washington D.C. — The Wharf announced they were parting ways.
The partnership behind the hotel, including the developers of the $3.6 billion Wharf project, is “desperate to keep the union out of their hotel and did whatever that took, even if it meant parting ways with a star chef, even if it meant disrupting the livelihoods of dozens of workers and their families,” said Paul Schwalb, executive secretary and treasurer of Unite Here Local 25, a union of hospitality workers in the D.C. area.
One source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to talk, said that as part of the deal to walk away from the restaurant, Tien will keep the intellectual property around Moon Rabbit, including the name and his recipes. The same source and Local 25 said that an InterContinental chef from another property, probably the Willard, will step in to run breakfast for the time being in the space, and the Moon Rabbit signage will come down on Tuesday.
In a quote that was part of the joint statement with IHG Hotels and Resorts, Tien said, “I ultimately wanted to offer Moon Rabbit as a standalone concept and look forward to continuing to share Moon Rabbit with diners.” Tien was not available for further comment.
The closure comes as Tien continues to rack up accolades: He was a James Beard Award semifinalist this year for Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic. He is also a finalist for Chef of the Year — and Moon Rabbit is a nominee for Upscale Casual Restaurant of the Year — at this year’s Rammy Awards from the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington.