Former 'Top Chef' Contender Unpacks His Knives in D.C.

It's all knocking around in his head, and he wanted to start the empire in the up-and-coming restaurant arena of Washington rather than the saturated, cutthroat market of New York.

"I think it is the next big food city," he says of the District, citing Michel Richard and José Andrés as chefs who have ushered in great change in the past five years. "I would like to be an ambassador of bringing young, hip restaurants here. I'm looking at D.C. as a blank canvas where I hope to practice my art form."

(A sneak peek at some of the art, consumable upon the July 7 opening: a farmhouse cheeseburger on a Pennsylvania Dutch bun for $5.89, the double-patty Big Stuff Bacon Meltdown for $7.69, country fries seasoned with rosemary and thyme for $2.79 and a toasted marshmallow milkshake made with house-made ice cream for $5.25.)

"What I'm taking away is it's much more of a restaurateur project for me," Mendelsohn says. "It's not a chefy-chefy kitchen where you're there at 7 a.m. slaving over sauces. It's a little more of a corporate world for me. I'm with my family, but there's so much to learn with opening something like this."

The restaurant is sleek, even though things are distressed to exude a farmhouse feel. The wood floors are distressed. The zinc countertops will be washed with acid so they look distressed.

Mendelsohn doesn't look distressed. Just busy. Out the door to get the permit. In the door to debate fryer temperatures with his mother, the red-haired Catherine Mendelsohn ("You want fries with that?," she mugs from behind the counter), who with her husband, "Big Harv" Mendelsohn, has managed restaurants from Montreal to Florida.

"Perfectly charming people," says neighbor James Nash, co-owner of Zack's Taverna. "I saw the episode where Spike made boxed lunches, so I'm excited about his food." (The $10 Lunch Bag Special will get you a farmhouse burger, hand-cut fries and a fountain soda.)

On this aforementioned gorgeous June day, the restaurant is not finished. The flat-screen TVs are in; the giant plastic cowbell chandelier contraption is not. Mendelsohn's sister, Micheline, director of marketing for Good Stuff, announces some good news.

"We just passed the health inspection," she says.

Another hurdle cleared in a challenge that has been more complicated than any on "Top Chef."