WASHINGTON — It’s not easy to impress the palates of Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons and the other judges on Bravo’s “Top Chef.” But in the most recent season of the Emmy-winning show, D.C. chef Marjorie Meek-Bradley did just that with one simple dish: milk bread.
“It’s honestly like a mix between a King’s Hawaiian roll and brioche. It’s made with a little bit of brown sugar, which gives it the sweetness, and there’s quite a bit of butter in there,” Meek-Bradley said.
The rolls are then steamed before they’re baked, resulting in a soft and moist texture.
The executive chef at Ripple and Roofers Union whipped out her milk bread recipe a few times while competing on the show, and now she’s making it widely accessible for D.C. diners at her new fast-casual spot, Smoked & Stacked in Shaw.
There, the focus of the menu is pastrami served on milk bread.
Meek-Bradley says the idea for her new concept came to her while she was on “Top Chef.”
“We had a fast-casual challenge and my mind went straight to pastrami and milk bread,” she said.
Only, she had to go with something else since she could not make pastrami in a day. However, when she came back to D.C. after filming Season 13, the opportunity to open an eatery with ownership presented itself, and Meek-Bradley jumped.
“It’s kind of been an adventure, but it’s been really cool. It’s a different side of things than I’ve done before,” she said.
Case-in-point: When I came in for the interview, Meek-Bradley was taking orders and running the cash register after an employee called out sick. At Ripple and Roofers Union, she’s mostly behind-the-scenes.
Pastrami, which is simply brined, smoked and steamed brisket, shows up on the menu in a number of places — from the restaurant’s New Yorker breakfast sandwich (pastrami, fried egg, comté cheese and hot pepper jelly) to its signature Stacked sandwich (pastrami, milk bread, slaw and dijon).
“It’s just a really nice, kind of salty, smoky … it’s a little bit like beef-ham,” Meek-Bradley said about the meat that she cures, smokes and steams in-house.
Meek-Bradley, who lived in New York for a few years, says she wanted to open a pastrami-focused eatery because it’s not easy to find in the D.C. area, compared to her former home.
“I love pastrami, I love breakfast sandwiches, which is the other thing we feature here, and felt like there are not a lot of options in D.C. There are definitely some great ones, but not in this part of town,” she said.
Smoked & Stacked is the latest in a streak of new restaurant openings near the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Buttercream Bakeshop, All Purpose, Espita Mezcaleria, The Dabney and Columbia Room all opened this past year.
“I figured if there’s a hole, why not fill it?” Meek-Bradley said about her restaurant’s unique offering.
If pastrami isn’t your thing, there are other options at Smoked & Stacked, such as the Cali Girl (cured salmon, fried egg, avocado and alfalfa sprouts), Something’s Missing (gluten-free bread, scrambled eggs and sautéed greens) and the Chicky Chick (smoked chicken, lettuce, tomato, onion and mayo).
You can definitely catch a glimpse of Meek-Badley working her magic in the kitchen and dining room at Smoked & Stacked, but the odds of seeing her again on “Top Chef” are still up in the air.
“It was such a good experience. There’s a side of me that says, ‘Absolutely not.’ But there’s a side of me that hates to lose,” she said.
Smoked & Stacked is open daily for breakfast and lunch at 1239 9th Street NW.
