WASHINGTON — It’s no coincidence that the door to The Riggsby is cut in the shape of a keyhole. When diners step through its arches, they enter an experience that’s been locked away for decades.
Red leather booths, white table cloths and dark-painted walls fill the 75-seat restaurant inside The Carlyle Hotel at 1731 New Hampshire Avenue in Northwest.
Manhattans, Negronis and Old Fashioneds are mixed behind the wood-paneled bar; vintage Life magazines decorate a gold coffee table in the lounge.
But it’s not just the décor at The Riggsby that channels a midcentury dining experience — the restaurant’s menu reflects an older era as well.
“This is a throwback. We don’t have any small plates here,” says the restaurant’s chef and owner, Michael Schlow.
There are bar snacks, such as deviled eggs and homemade potato chips, and a generous selection of first-course options, such as oysters, beef carpaccio and a classic chopped salad with homemade Thousand Island dressing.
“I know it’s not fancy, but it tastes so good. I want to eat it every day,” Schlow says about the salad.
Entrée options include everything from an all-American burger to a heritage pork chop, roasted chicken, fresh spaghetti, seared scallops and an herb- and pepper-crusted cote de boeuf.
The Riggsby is the second D.C. restaurant for Schlow, who opened the Latin-inspired Tico on 14th Street last year. But the former “Top Chef Masters” contestant says the two restaurants couldn’t be more different.
Tico has 5,000 square feet, with high ceilings and an energy that reflects its location in the bustling U Street Corridor; the Riggsby is smaller and more intimate, tucked away in a residential part of the city.
Schlow says his goal for the restaurant was to create a go-to neighborhood spot that looks as if it’d been there for a long time — a place where his parents’ generation might have dined.
“And I think we accomplished that,” he says. “I hope guests feel that way — that when they walk through the door … they’re truly transported to something of a bygone era, a place that really doesn’t exist anymore.”
All the art on the walls was either made or curated by Schlow’s wife, Adrienne, a mixed-media artist. And Schlow selected the music himself, to further enhance the old-time ambience.
Dishes at The Riggsby are not deconstructed, nor are they reinvented. Schlow says he’s sticking to serving the classics in a comfortable setting.
So far, it seems his approach is working. A young diner who recently ordered the barrel-cut New York strip filet with béarnaise sauce and homemade french fries told Schlow, “I want to take my french fries and I want to bathe them in this béarnaise sauce for the rest of my life.”
Schlow was entertained by the young critic. “A connoisseur of béarnaise at 11 years old — I love it.”
And while The Riggsby has talented and knowledgeable mixologists behind the bar, as well as a sommelier on staff, Schlow says the drink program is not meant to be intimidating.
“It’s not that kind of place where you’re going to get a dissertation about where the bourbon came from,” he says, adding that the friendly bartenders are there to pour you, or mix you, what you like to drink. In addition to the tried-and-true cocktails, Schlow says, The Riggsby has new creations as well.
“It really is a flexible restaurant that I hope people find, more than anything, to be that neighborhood spot that you wish was in everybody’s neighborhood. I hope it resonates for a really long time.”
