Last month, the Nationals cut ties with Mike Isabella in the wake of news that the celebrity chef and four of his business partners were named in a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a former top manager at his company. While the team was already planning to replace two of Isabella’s concession concepts — Kapnos at the Park and Catchfly — at Nationals Park this season, the allegations prompted the Nationals to also remove Isabella’s popular G sandwich stand.
The space that G occupied behind Section 136 along the main concourse since 2014 was empty for last week’s exhibition game. At Thursday’s home opener against the Mets, the Nationals will debut an entirely new concept in its place. Grace’s Kitchen will offer a rotating menu of items developed by local female business owners, chefs, and restaurateurs; the featured female partners and dishes will change throughout the season.
Grace’s Kitchen is named after former First Lady Grace Coolidge, who was a much bigger baseball fan than her husband. In fact, Grace was the first person at the White House to receive the news that the 1924 Washington Senators had clinched the American League pennant. A year later, Calvin Coolidge became the first president to host a championship team at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. There’s no word on whether Racing President Calvin Coolidge, who retired to Florida after the 2016 season, will make an appearance at the new stand this season.
The first partners whose dishes will be offered at Grace’s Kitchen are restaurateur Jamie Leeds, who opened her first Hank’s Oyster Bar location in 2005, and former Top Chef contestant and Howard graduate Carla Hall, who co-hosts ABC’s food-centric lifestyle show “The Chew.” Leeds developed a shrimp po’ boy with cole slaw, while Hall helped cook up a Nashville hot chicken sandwich and mac ‘n cheese.
A portion of the proceeds from Grace’s Kitchen will benefit the Nationals Youth Baseball Academy Nutrition Program and the DC Central Kitchen.
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In an expanded lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court, lawyers representing Chloe Caras, a former manager for Isabella, allege Isabella’s company used nondisclosure agreements to prevent employees from speaking out about sexual harassment, and retaliated against employees who did so. Caras originally filed suit in D.C. Superior Court on March 16, and accused Isabella and his partners of “extraordinary sex-based hostility and abuse.”
“These allegations are false, petty, and lack context. I want to be clear: We do not condone the hostile work environment implied in these allegations,” Isabella said in a statement. “My team has worked incredibly hard building this successful restaurant group, and I will continue to focus on my employees, food and hospitality at this time.”
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