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Wednesday, September 23, 2009

An edited excerpt from the Going Out Gurus blog (voices.washingtonpost.com/goingoutgurus):

Columbia Firehouse Lets Its Chef Go

"The last thing I wanted to become was that 10 percent statistic," says Orlando Hitzig, who until Sept. 13 was the chef at the new Columbia Firehouse in Old Town Alexandria. He is now unemployed.

When Hitzig met with two of the principals of the Neighborhood Restaurant Group, which owns the establishment, he thought they were going to discuss the chophouse part of the equation. Instead, he was let go.

"My costs were in line, and the reviews were good," says a surprised Hitzig.

So there'd been no sign that he wasn't long for Columbia? "I think they might have been skeptical from the beginning" about hiring a chef who also had been a restaurant owner, says Hitzig. (Previously, he cooked for and ran the late Mark and Orlando's in Dupont Circle.)

Michael Babin, a co-owner of NRG, says only, "While Orlando is a good guy, it wasn't the right fit."

Babin is looking for a new head chef at the Firehouse.

-- Tom Sietsema