J. Hollinger’s chef Mike Ellis is preparing and serving meals to residents displaced by the March 3 explosion and fire at the Friendly Gardens Apartments in Silver Spring, according to a report from Eater:
Soon after the explosion, Ellis says he got a call from the local Red Cross chapter asking him to make meals for affected tenants. So on Friday, March 4, he got up at 3 a.m. to start making lunch. Ellis’s partner is Silver Spring restaurateur Jerry Hollinger, whose The Daily Dish and The Dish & Dram kitchens will help handle meal prep. Ellis says he’s being tasked to make anywhere from 50 to 500 meals a day, on and off, for the next three weeks.
“We found out most of the displaced residents were Afghan refugees who eat halal meat. That was the twist at the eleventh hour,” Ellis said to Eater.
Billed as a “full-service chophouse,” J. Hollinger’s is slated to open this spring at the former home of The Classics at 8606 Colesville Rd. in downtown Silver Spring. Chef Ellis, who earned a Michelin star as chef de cuisine at Charlie Palmer’s Dry Creek Kitchen in Healdsburg, Calif., will be at the helm.
Eater named J. Hollinger’s as one of its “20 Anticipated Fall Restaurant Openings to Track Around D.C.” last October.
J. Hollinger’s is among a growing list of recent and upcoming restaurant openings in Silver Spring, including Tropical Smoothie Cafe, Underground Pizza Company, Tacosway Mexican Grill, Valenciana Wine Garden, Guavaberry Dominican Restaurant, Flip’d by IHOP, The Breakfast Club, Firepan Korean BBQ, Dunkin/Baskin-Robbins, Dog Haus Biergarten, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Black Lion Café, Willie T’s Seafood Shack/Be Right Burger, Kusshi Ko, Miss Toya’s Creole House, and the Commas food hall at Ellsworth Place.
Graphic courtesy J. Hollinger’s (h/t @justupthepike)