Ris Lacoste, famed D.C. area chef and former Executive Chef for Georgetown’s famed 1789 Restaurant will be opening her own restaurant in the summer of 2009.

Ris taught a few classes for me at Sur La Table when I was the culinary manager there. Ris has a passion for food that is so infectious. She really bonded with the students and brought the student’s infatuation with food and used that to magically enhance the flavor of the dishes they made that night. I remember watching Ris from the back of the classroom and seeing every student with their eyes glued to Ris, absorbing all they could.

Sadly I never had the opportunity to dine at 1789 while Ris was there, but I can imagine that every plate that left the kitchen had a little piece of her passion. When Ris opens her new restaurant next year, I will definitely be on a plane to DC to congratulate her in person.

Prior to her post as Executive chef at 1789, Ris worked with famed chef Bob Kinkead for years starting in Cambridge, MA then coming to DC in 1987 to open Twenty One Federal with Kinkead and then helped to open Kinkead’s in 1993. Ris attened the famed La Varenne in Burgundy.