page_title: Old Ebbitt Grill
section_title: 1990s
hierarchical_section_title: Old Ebbitt Grill / Old Ebbitt Grill: 1984 to present / 1990s
caption_attribution_description: The bar of Old Ebbitt Grill.
context_page_description: Old Ebbitt Grill is a historic bar and restaurant located at 675 15th Street NW in Washington, D.C., in the United States. It is Washington's oldest bar and restaurant, and as of 2012 was owned by Clyde's Restaurant Group. It opened as an unnamed restaurant in the Ebbitt House Hotel. The Hotel distinguished itself as the first hotel in Washington to remain open all summer instead of closing when Congress adjourned. In 1827, the Hotel was razed and rebuilt in the same location. Ebbitt House Hotel was razed in 1925 to make way for the National Press Building, built in 1926. The restaurant was incorporated by Anders Lofstrand, Sr., as a stand-alone business. It moved into new quarters at 1427 F Street NW. After Lofstrand's death in 1955, the restaurant was purchased by Peter Bechas in 1961. The restaurant was sold at a tax sale in June 1970, and was purchased by Clyde's Restaurant Group. The 1427 F Street NW location was demolished in 1983 during redevelopment, and Old Ebbitt Grill moved into its current quarters at 675 15th Street NW.
  For many years as part of Ebbitt House, the bar/restaurant had no stand-alone name or identity.
context_section_description: In the early 1990s, Old Ebbitt Grill was financially one of the best-performing restaurants in the city. In July 1992, the Washington Business Journal said the 390-seat Old Ebbitt Grill grossed more money than any other restaurant in the D.C. metropolitan area. It spent $17,000 a month on table linens. The Washington Post's Phyllis Richman claimed the combination of superb hamburgers with seasonal foods such as fresh Alaskan halibut, corn on the cob in the summer, and locally grown vegetables and berries, was what drew customers. In May 1994, Old Ebbitt Grill added a take-out service, Ebbitt Express, in the atrium section of its restaurant.
  In 1995, business dropped after Pennsylvania Avenue NW was closed to street traffic and curbside parking was eliminated in front of the restaurant on 15th Street NW for security reasons following the bombing by a white American domestic terrorist of the Oklahoma Federal Building. Some of the business was made up by Ebbitt Express, which by December 1997 was serving 600 meals a day—twice as many as projected.
  Old Ebbitt Grill's oyster bar closed in 1992 after diners fell ill from eating raw oysters infected with the deadly Vibrio vulnificus bacteria. The restaurant established a procedure for an independent laboratory to test its oysters for the bacteria prior to consumption. In November 1994, Old Ebbitt Grill reopened its oyster bar to much press attention. Washington Post food critic Eve Zibart, writing in August 1995, said that its highly polished woodwork, counter facing the ice bed and shuckers, and excellent selection of oysters made it a "first-class raw bar". Shortly after the oyster bar reopened, Old Ebbitt Grill lost its long-time chef, Juan Bosio. The restaurant hired Robert McGowan, formerly a chef at Sardi's in New York City.
caption: The famous mahogany bar at Old Ebbitt Grill
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