Finding a recipe for recovery: Coronavirus’ impact on DC-area chefs, restaurant industry

The coronavirus pandemic has thrown a lot of curveballs over the last few months. Many of us have struggled and have had to figure out how to adapt. The same is true for the D.C.-area restaurant industry.

In recent weeks, WTOP has talked to some of the top chefs in the region — James Beard Award and RAMMY Award nominees among them — about how everything they’ve planned for is being reshaped by COVID-19 and how they’re adjusting both in the kitchen and at home.

In a five-part series titled “Finding a recipe for recovery,” WTOP will get a look into their kitchens to talk about how they’re navigating a new normal going forward and how they’re coping with the anxieties so many people have experienced – including what they turn to when stress eating.

In this edition, WTOP talked with numerous chefs, such as Christian Irabién of Muchas Gracias and Paola Velez of Kith/Kin, about the impact the coronavirus has had on their businesses and what they’ve learned from this process.

Read other parts of this series:

Part 1: Coronavirus’ impact on DC-area chefs, restaurant industry
Part 2: What DC area chefs are stress eating right now
Part 3: What the DC region’s chefs can’t wait to eat again
Part 4: Ways you can improve your cooking at home
Part 5: What does the future of dining look like?

More Coronavirus news


John Domen

John started working at WTOP in 2016 after having grown up in Maryland listening to the station as a child. While he got his on-air start at small stations in Pennsylvania and Delaware, he's spent most of his career in the D.C. area, having been heard on several local stations before coming to WTOP.

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