Eric Ziebold

Early years

Ziebold, who was born in Iowa, began working in restaurants as a teenager after school at Café Maude with mentor chef Matt Nichols. Ziebold spent more time in the restaurant than in class while attending college at the University of Northern Iowa, and decided to transfer to the Culinary Institute of America. After spending some time at Wolfgang Puck's Spago in Beverly Hills, California, and Jeffrey Buben's Vidalia in Washington, D.C., in 1996 Ziebold joined Thomas Keller's The French Laundry in the Napa Valley in California. Ziebold stayed at The French Laundry until 2003, when he moved briefly to New York City to open Keller's new restaurant, Per Se.

CityZen, Sou'Wester, Muze

Ziebold left New York for Washington, D.C. in early 2004 and opened the critically acclaimed CityZen at the Mandarin Oriental Washington. Ziebold was named one of the "10 most influential chefs working in America" by Forbes in 2007 alongside Dan Barber, Tom Colicchio, and Grant Achatz. CityZen was named best new restaurant of the year by the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington in June 2005.

In 2009, Ziebold revamped the Mandarin Oriental's daily restaurant, Café MoZU, changing the cuisine from Asian-themed to American Southern and making the dining experience less formal. The new restaurant, Sou'Wester, opened on September 8, 2009. (Ziebold wanted to call the restaurant South by Southwest, but the South by Southwest film festival protested and Ziebold was forced to choose Sou'Wester.) Ziebold added executive chef duties at Sou'Wester to his portfolio, but installed former CityZen sous-chef Rachel Harriman as the chef de cuisine. Tom Sietsma, food critic of The Washington Post, was strongly critical of the cooking.

Ziebold closed Sou'Wester in December 2013, and replaced it with another informal restaurant, Muze. Ziebold remained executive chef, but installed Mark McDonnell, formerly a chef at local restaurant Rogue 24, as the new chef de cuisine to oversee a more Asian-infused cuisine. Food critic Sietsma found the food a solid improvement, although several dishes were less than impressive.

CityZen closed permanently on December 6, 2014, after Ziebold left to open a new venue in downtown D.C. Rather than merely install a new chef, the hotel decided to close CityZen and allow the new chef to create a new restaurant.

Kinship and Métier

Ziebold announced in December 2014 that his new restaurant, named Kinship, would open in September 2015. The 80-seat restaurant, located at 1015 7th Street NW in the Mount Vernon Square neighborhood, Ziebold said the menu would be divided into four sections: "Ingredients" (seasonal dishes), "Craft" (dishes which required extreme skill or technique), "History" (classic dishes), and "Decadence" (treats and desserts). The menu will be à la carte.

A second restaurant, which Ziebold had not yet named, is intended to occupy the below-ground space beneath Kinship. Accessible via an elevator, the second dining establishment will include a small lounge with a fireplace and a 36-seat dining room (open only for dinner). Intended to be an extremely high-end luxury dining experience, the second restaurant will have a $150 tasting menu, table-side cooking, and "enhanced" coffee service.

Interior designer Darryl Carter will create both interiors.

Ziebold announced in August 2015 that his second restaurant would be named Métier, and he was aiming for a late 2015 opening.

Kinship had a "soft opening" on December 26, 2015, and had its grand opening on January 4, 2016.

Awards