The best dinners in DC happen when two chefs decide to cook for each other.
The Favor Returned
Last year, Chef Harley Peet extended the invitation — Kevin Tien traveled to Easton, Maryland, cooked at Bas Rouge, and left his mark. Now the address has changed. On Wednesday, April 8, 2026, Tien — James Beard Award finalist, North America’s 50 Best honoree, and Michelin-recognized chef-owner of Moon Rabbit — opens his Chinatown kitchen to Peet, the 2024 James Beard Award winner for Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic. The first James Beard win in Maryland’s Eastern Shore history walks through the door, and the collaboration begins. This is what happens when two chefs at the peak of their craft decide to cook together — not for competition, but for conversation.
Two Kitchens, One Extraordinary Menu
What makes this pairing so purposeful runs far deeper than friendship or mutual admiration. Peet’s kitchen at Bas Rouge is built on the bedrock Escoffier codified — the discipline, the precision, the reverence for classical European technique — all reinterpreted through Eastern Shore ingredients into something entirely its own. Tien channels that same spirit through Moon Rabbit’s Vietnamese lens, with fermented flavors, herbaceous layers, and the vigorous conviction of a chef honoring his heritage at the highest level. Together, their alternating courses don’t merely complement each other — they complete each other!
What’s On the Table
Passed hors d’oeuvres open with Fermented Forbidden Rice Milk Bread, Foie Gras Strawberry, Wagyu Beef Tartar & Bone Marrow Tartlet with caviar, and Scallop Sashimi nuoc mam gung, among others. The four-course collaboration moves from Peet’s Japanese Softshell Escabeche — Eastern Shore softshell crab, daikon, cashew tofu cream — to Tien’s Bamboo Rice & Tamago with tempura oyster and smoked trout roe, then a Viet Herbed Ravioli with preserved quail egg yolks and umami brodo, and Peet’s Seared Eastern Bay Rockfish with stuffed morel and langoustine sauce. Pastry Chef Susan Bae — recipient of North America’s 50 Best inaugural 2025 Best Pastry Chef award — closes the evening with a Camembert Cheesecake built on pickled green strawberry and fresh herbs. Seats are $125++ per guest. Reserve your table here.
Don’t Miss This One
Dinners like this are rare — when two chefs of this caliber choose to share a kitchen, the result is something DC’s dining scene will be talking about long after the last course is cleared! The Washington Lobbyist exists to put you in the room for exactly these moments. Follow us for DC’s best dining events, chef collaborations, and restaurant news — and secure your reservation before this one sells out.
Moon Rabbit | 715 D St NW, Washington, DC 20004 | Average dinner: $90–$130 per person | (202) 854-0007.
