Boss Shepherd's, Chef Jeremy Waybright's Classic American on 13th and E Street at Federal Triangle - Closed

[BookGuy]

This is a new restaurant which appears to be under the Warner Theater.  Although it boasts a Pennsylvania Avenue address, although that esteemed Avenue is a block further south, it is actually located at Thirteenth and E, NW, with the entrance on Thirteenth.  You go down a nice flight of stairs into a well-decordated room.  I took my goddaughter there last week and the fifteen year old enjoyed a clam chowder that was actually full of clams.  I opted for the fried chicken that the Post food critic had recommeded.  I liked the chicken very much as did goddaighter who had one of my pieces and pronunced it as better than Joe's where she had chicken last month.  She finished off with chocolate chip cookies and milk and, when she had one cookie left, they put it in a neat little box for her to take home.

I will go back, of course, and I do wonder why these new restaurants are not reviewed more frequently.  Boss is a nice place and certainly better than Chef Jeff's across the street.  Perhaps the entrance is too hard to find.

[DonRocks]

The Northeast corner of 13th and E Street has been several things over recent decades. I first remember it being developed as our city's second Dean & DeLuca, although instead of being a store, it was just a high-quality, quick-serve lunch spot. Working in the Rios Building nearby, it was the best lunch option in Federal Triangle by far (these were the days when you could park your car in the little parking lot off of Constitution Avenue, right in front of The Washington Monument - that lot is long-since grassed over).

 

Unfortunately, Dean & DeLuca closed down, and the space eventually became John Harvard's Brewery & Ale House, a Massachusetts-based rendition of Elephant & Castle, which was remarkable only for being so unremarkable.

 

Then came Bluepoint, an attempt at Surf & Turf, but the basement location "around the corner" from the action did not serve tourists well, and the cuisine was not special enough to lure the lobbyist crowd up Pennsylvania Avenue.

 

On July 21, 2014, Boss Shepherd's opened in this location. To me, the name sounds like something that might be a bar in Petworth, but as soon as I walked down the half-flight of stairs and entered the restaurant, I turned to my companion and said, "Toto, we're not at Kansas Avenue." Do you see what I did there?

 

Boss Shepherd's is more Woodward Table than it is Drafting Table. The dining room looks wonderful, and you could be at home here in a suit, or a decent pair of jeans. On the far wall, there's a lovely bar, and that's where I made my home on this evening. The word is not out about Boss Shepherd's yet, and so the restaurant and bar were both nearly empty - sitting in front of one of the two flat-screens, I had Roger Federer all to myself in a civilized atmosphere that shows great promise.

 

I sat down, and began watching the tennis match. In no way do these two flat-screens intrude upon the rest of the restaurant - it's a large space, and diners won't even really notice them, but this place will do a brisk happy hour from 4-7 PM, and bar patrons will be glad they're here. I ordered a draft of Atlas Brew Works District Common ($7), and settled into my bar stool.

 

Fried Chicken ($24), a delicious, 12-hour-brined half chicken, served with pan-baked buttermilk biscuits cut from a sheet, and fairy-tail eggplant only on paper; they'd probably run out of this heirloom variety of eggplant, but came up with another farmer's market-quality vegetable. I'd much rather see a restaurant run out of a daily delivery, and be able to replace it with something comparable, than to stick with a rigid menu and serve lesser produce. This dish was served with three ramekins of sauces: honey, for my biscuits; a very neutral, smoked egg-yolk sauce, for my white-meat chicken; and a mild-to-moderate chili-pepper sauce. There are plenty of entrees on this menu that sound enticing, but you will not go wrong in ordering this fried chicken.

 

On the side, I got Braised Greens with Virginia Ham ($6) because nothing goes better with fried chicken than collard greens, but I was surprised to see just how underseasoned they were - with the ham, I thought they would have more than enough salt, but they didn't. Texturally, the greens were correct, and all they needed was for me to take that ramekin of chili-pepper sauce, and turn it upside-down, right into the center of the bowl. Now, just a little salt and pepper added to my egg-yolk sauce, and I have a perfect southern dinner.

 

When I finished my beer, my super-nice, old-school bartender Fitz asked me if I'd like another, but I noticed two barrels of whiskey, and asked about them. Well, don't lock too much stock into these barrels because you're not actually getting a barrel pour; because of DC law, the barrels are lined, and individual bottles are poured into them, so it's more for an effect than anything else. Still, I ordered a glass from one of them - a Catoctin Creek Copper Fox Rye ($14), and Fitz didn't bother with pretense; he poured it from a bottle. In one motion, I brought the glass to my nose, and took a little whiff just as I took a sip, and just as my eyebrows started going up. "This is water!" I said, in my best David Foster Wallace accent. He looked down at my glass, then back up at me, and for just a split-second, just the tiniest split-second, he bore the countenance of, 'Okay, I have a crazy bar patron on my hands,' before I said, "No, really, try it and see. You know what? It's ice tea!" And as soon as I said that, he knew *exactly* what the situation was, and both he and a barback tried not to laugh (the other gentleman was having an exceptionally difficult time not laughing). Apparently, for decoration, the manager had put some iced tea into the bottles, and kept them near the front door (or something like that), and they had mistakenly brought over one of those decorative bottles to the bar. Also for a split second, I had thought that I was having a stroke, or something of the sort (have you ever been expecting one taste, and got something completely different from it? This was that moment, and it's invariably confusing whenever it happens.) I was actually *glad* it happened because in the interim, Fitz had given me a taste of something I really liked. Well, I changed my order to a glass of George Dickel 9 Year Barrel Select ($14), and the planets were once again orbiting in the right direction.

 

The DC area has seen hundreds of new restaurants open in the past year and a half, but how often have we seen brand new restaurant groups form? Creative Eats is a new group formed by several power players: Paul Cohn, Greg Casten, and Bill Jarvis. Founder Paul Cohn was with Capital Restaurant Concepts (J. Paul's, etc.) for thirty years (!), Partner Greg Casten is an owner of ProFish (which is your seafood pipeline), and Bill Jarvis is an attorney and long-time supporter of the hospitality industry. Partner, GM, and Sommelier Daniel Mahdavian most recently opened B Too, and AGM David Cohn came from Georgia Brown's. This is a pretty serious lineup of heavy-hitters running Boss Shepherd's, and you shouldn't be surprised to see more - perhaps a lot more - of this restaurant group in the future.

[Tweaked]

These guys are going to have a tough time.  Too expensive for the tourist trade ($10-$15 starters, mid to upper $20s for entrees); too infrequent events at the Warner; aren't competing against Chef Geoff's for Happy Hour who offer $8.95 Super Mugs, $8.95 pizzas, $6.50 burgers; plus this area is pretty dead after work and on weekends; and, as you can see from this awful, grainy photo taken from my office, their front entrance has one tiny little green awning.

It is a very handsome space, but Boss Shepherd's really needs to do some advertising/outreach to their neighbors. The building across the street just completed a major renovation and have brought in some high end, expense account DC offices (Pfizer's DC office moved in).  My building has some big trade associations. And other than Central, there's not much competition.

And not to beat up on them too much...but...I just went on a little walk about to do some errands, and it's easier to see the Mastro's awning (opening soon in the old M&S Grill space) from two blocks away and up a hill, than it is to see the Boss Shepherd's awning from across the street.

[Bob Wells]

The sign in the window says something like "Boss Shepherd is back!" 99 percent of the passers-by will say "who is Boss Shepherd?"

I will add that my firm is right up the street between F and G, and I have not heard a single person in my office (which has many gourmets/foodies/chowhounds/gourmands/etc) mention this place.

[BookGuy]

It would also help if the web site showed the menu.  It did not on the Boss site nor on Open Table.

I think that the place is capable of being successful considering the large number of well-heeled visitors to DC who might like the ambiance.  We just have to know that it is there.

[Barbara]

I find it curious that they would use the same name as a restaurant/bar that occupied a spot on 17th Street for decades--it was always a fairly inexpensive neighborhood joint. Still, it wouldn't hurt if they explained who Boss Shepherd was to the tourists.

[Mark Dedrick]

I'm curious to try this place. I will say that I've worked about a block away from there for nine years and haven't been in that space since I started. 

[ohstate]

I'm was just thinking about checking out this place. Have tickets to a show at the Warner in November, so thought I might check it out then. 

[DC Deb]

Finally made it to dinner there tonight.  The service was very attentive and the dining room is lovely.  Pretty quiet on a Monday night.

We had the following:

chicken pot pie fritters--molten pot pie filling in a crispy shell; would definitely order again

fried chicken--the long brine does make it very juicy.  I think the chicken was double breaded.  Very crunchy.  The dipping sauces were so-so but the roasted fingerling potatoes were good.

shrimp and grits--4 good sized head on shrimp grilled with good char on small bed of creamy grits.  I actully didn't like the tomato jam on there.  It was too sweet with not enough acid and took away from the flavor of the shrimp.

collard greens with ham--tasty with big chunks of ham but could have used some vinegar to brighten it up

Guinness creme brulee with pretzel crisps--disappointed.  The custard part was not normal creme brulee.  You can tell it was not baked because there was no sticking to the ramekin.  Very slight Guinness flavor, really more like a chocolate mousse.

[cjsadler]

Steered a group here after seeing Sietsema put it on his Top 10 list in the Fall Dining Guide.  Had never heard of this place before that.

I feel like I've had some pretty good fried chicken at various spots in the south, but this might be the best I've ever had.  The smoked egg yolk sauce really put it over the top.  The biscuit it came with was terrible, though-- doughy and bland.

Besides the chicken, the other highlight was the "Egg Salad", a bed of delicious smoked, hard-boiled eggs (Takeaway for the evening: more places need to start smoking eggs) with pickled eggplant and greens.  Order this.

Misfires were the burger, which was as obviously made of quality meat, but very overcooked, and the pot pie fritters, which weren't nearly as good as the ones at Family Meal.

[Lydia R]

It would also help if the web site showed the menu.  It did not on the Boss site nor on Open Table.

Not sure when Boss Shepherd updated their website, but their menu's now online.

Hmm, lamb bacon...

[Lori Gardner]

Had dinner here last week and it was one of those occasions when service put a damper on the entire experience.  I thoroughly enjoyed the fried chicken - it was moist, crispy, nearly perfect.  Also had excellent trout with lemon caper brown butter sauce, and deliciously smoky grits.

But the service...long periods of waiting for wine and then for our order to be taken.  Incorrect dishes served.  We may have ordered dessert, but server took so long to ask that we just wanted to leave at that point. Management tried to help, but also failed to follow through.  Good food and incompetent service equals a fail.  No plans to return to Boss Shepard's. 

 

[Josh]

Had dinner here last week and it was one of those occasions when service put a damper on the entire experience.  I thoroughly enjoyed the fried chicken - it was moist, crispy, nearly perfect.  Also had excellent trout with lemon caper brown butter sauce, and deliciously smoky grits.

But the service...long periods of waiting for wine and then for our order to be taken.  Incorrect dishes served.  We may have ordered dessert, but server took so long to ask that we just wanted to leave at that point. Management tried to help, but also failed to follow through.  Good food and incompetent service equals a fail.  No plans to return to Boss Shepard's.

Sad to say that my experience at Boss Shepherd's has also been mixed.  My first and 2nd visits (at the bar) were great.  Friendly bartenders, great fried chicken, solid bourbon.  The 3rd visit, with out of town guests who are very into whiskey was just short of a disaster.  The food was excellent, but our service was abysmal.  Drink ordering was almost comical, as they were out of 4/5 bourbon/ryes that we tried to order.  Once drinks were ordered, long waits ensued before they came, one...by...one.  The waiter was very difficult to understand, and kept calling my wife and the other women at the table "Lady." (As in, "Do you want another drink Lady? What else you want Lady?).  It was like being waited on by Jerry Lewis.

I would still recommend the place, but probably only if you're sitting at the bar, and don't have your heart set on adventuring out into bourbons you've never had before.

[DonRocks]

I opted for the fried chicken that the Post food critic had recommeded. I liked the chicken very much as did goddaighter who had one of my pieces and pronunced it as better than Joe's where she had chicken last month.

Fried Chicken ($24), a delicious, 12-hour-brined half chicken, served with pan-baked buttermilk biscuits cut from a sheet, and fairy-tail eggplant only on paper; they'd probably run out of this heirloom variety of eggplant, but came up with another farmer's market-quality vegetable. I'd much rather see a restaurant run out of a daily delivery, and be able to replace it with something comparable, than to stick with a rigid menu and serve lesser produce. This dish was served with three ramekins of sauces: honey, for my biscuits; a very neutral, smoked egg-yolk sauce, for my white-meat chicken; and a mild-to-moderate chili-pepper sauce. There are plenty of entrees on this menu that sound enticing, but you will not go wrong in ordering this fried chicken.

fried chicken--the long brine does make it very juicy.  I think the chicken was double breaded.  Very crunchy.

I feel like I've had some pretty good fried chicken at various spots in the south, but this might be the best I've ever had.  The smoked egg yolk sauce really put it over the top.

I thoroughly enjoyed the fried chicken - it was moist, crispy, nearly perfect.

Friendly bartenders, great fried chicken, solid bourbon.

Well, it sounds like this is a place that should sell buckets of fried chicken to go during lunch.

I had initialized Boss Shepherd's above Central in the Federal Triangle area in the Dining Guide, but there have been enough credible criticisms where I'm going to flip the two.

[DPop]

Well, it sounds like this is a place that should sell buckets of fried chicken to go during lunch.

I had initialized Boss Shepherd's above Central in the Federal Triangle area in the Dining Guide, but there have been enough credible criticisms where I'm going to flip the two.

Based on my 3 visits, I think that comment is dead on.  I had the fried chicken the first 2 times and just loved the dish despite it being very expensive for a 3 piece chicken dish with a biscuit.  I had the Chicken Pot Pie Fritters and the Hamburg today and they were both dry and disappointing.  At these prices there are simply too many good lunch options within a .5 mile radius to justify going here unless it's for a quick fried chicken lunch.

[fuzzy510]

Based on my 3 visits, I think that comment is dead on.  I had the fried chicken the first 2 times and just loved the dish despite it being very expensive for a 3 piece chicken dish with a biscuit.  I had the Chicken Pot Pie Fritters and the Hamburg today and they were both dry and disappointing.  At these prices there are simply too many good lunch options within a .5 mile radius to justify going here unless it's for a quick fried chicken lunch.

And even then, I can't see myself running back too many times for three pieces of fried chicken and a biscuit with a total price tag of about $30.  I really enjoyed it when I went for the first time.  And despite working very close by, I haven't been back.

[Mark Dedrick]

I work right around the corner from Boss Shepherds, and I quite enjoy it. The fried chicken is good, but I've only ordered it once. But pretty much everything else I've gotten has been very nice. In particular I like it for lunch. The food is accessible, which makes it appropriate for a wide range of people, and the food is way better than Old Ebbitt/Hamilton/Chef Geoff's. This may not sound like a ringing endorsement, but I'm glad it's there and I'll definitely be back. 

[darkstar965]

Well, it sounds like this is a place that should sell buckets of fried chicken to go during lunch.

I had initialized Boss Shepherd's above Central in the Federal Triangle area in the Dining Guide, but there have been enough credible criticisms where I'm going to flip the two.

Does anyone know if they'll do a phone order for the fried chicken? I ask because I recently came across another (popular) restaurant with takeouty-style food that will only take a to-go order in person. That seemed utterly bizarre to me; that they force you to wait all the extra time once there.

[DonRocks]

Does anyone know if they'll do a phone order for the fried chicken? I ask because I recently came across another (popular) restaurant with takeouty-style food that will only take a to-go order in person. That seemed utterly bizarre to me; that they force you to wait all the extra time once there.

Well, believe it or not, Central was doing roadside buckets of fried chicken for awhile. With Michel Richard as the Colonel and everything! (Well, not really, but it's a funny image.)

[porcupine]

Had dinner here last week and it was one of those occasions when service put a damper on the entire experience.  I thoroughly enjoyed the fried chicken - it was moist, crispy, nearly perfect.

After a show at the E St Cinema Mr P and I stopped in for a late nosh (not a full meal), and had exactly the opposite experience.  Although the chicken was wonderfully crispy, it wasn't very flavorful, and I didn't care for the spicy/sweet combination of the sauces.  Also, that might have been the worst restaurant biscuit I've ever had.

However, the service was wonderful (after a too-long initial wait).  I'd wanted the cornbread, but they'd run out of it; she offered a biscuit as a substitute.  (I had ordered the starter size fried chicken, which doesn't come with anything.)  There were a handful of little touches like that that make me want to give it another go, despite the fact that none of the food wowed us.

TS put this on his Top 10 list?  Really?!  whatever.

ps - I don't mean to be contradicting Lori, whose opinion I trust; I just found it amusing that my experience was so different.

[Thomas P]

After hearing the 500th person tell me what amazing fried chicken Boss Shepherd's has, I decided to drop by and give it a whirl. I've gotta say, they are serving some mighty fine fried chicken. Perfectly cooked, so tender and moist all the way through, and the breading has a perfect crunch and consistency. /I did, however, find the flavor to be a little lacking. Maybe I should have used the dipping sauces with the chicken, but I kind of think that a good piece of fried chicken (like a good piece of BBQ) shouldn't ever need sauce to add flavor./

All in all, really freaking great fried chicken /but the lack of flavor kept it from being sublime/.

[Kev29]

TS put this on his Top 10 list?  Really?!  whatever.

Well it is quiet and in Northwest

[darkstar965]

Well it is quiet and in Northwest

Technically NW. But really a different world from all the Red Line hoods beginning with DuPont north to the border?

[bettyjoan]

I had been meaning to check out Boss Shepherd's, and Jason and I decided to venture there on Friday night.  We got there as the (large) happy hour crowd was disbursing, so we snagged two seats at the bar quickly.  Service there was friendly and attentive - and our bartendress seemed to be giving the gents next to us a nice bourbon lesson/tasting, so I think if you're interested in that, the bar is the way to go (and I found the bar to be beautiful as well).  I found the by-the-glass wine list to have some nice options for me.

Baked clams from the bar menu and pot pie fritters to start - both good, but the fritters needed just a smidge more salt to really make them pop with flavor.  The fried chicken, on the other hand, was really spectacular.  Hot, crispy, really well-seasoned, and ridiculously juicy - some of the best I've ever had.  The dipping sauces - honey, homemade hot sauce, and a smoked egg yolk sauce (think hollandaise) - were actually better for the roasted potatoes and the biscuit than for the chicken, but they were appreciated nonetheless (my egg-hating husband even poured the hollandaise over his gnocchi, he liked it so much).  Jason's gnocchi with fried oysters was rich and tasty, but it definitely took a back seat to the chicken.

It's a bit pricey, but it's a nice option in the downtown void.

[cheezepowder]

The sign didn't say one way or another. There were a few people at the bar and the rest of the place was empty. Like I said in the earlier post, we tried to get the bartender's attention well before the expiration of happy hour and he ignored us. Got us our drinks and it was 7:02 on the POS. If the restaurant doesn't allow any grace period or discretion on behalf of their staff shame on them. If it was the bartender being rude then shame on him.

And as I stated above, the place should have some self respect and serve a German pretzel with mustard other than French's.

In contrast to your Tyber Bierhaus experience: I was at Boss Shepherd's during happy hour recently, and it was packed. I had a happy hour glass of wine, and the bartenders were so busy that I think I squeaked in a happy hour food item at the end of happy hour (7pm). It was maybe a minute or a few minutes after happy hour by that point, and the bartender offered me another glass of happy hour priced wine because of how busy they had been. I hadn't even asked. I was pleasantly surprised and definitely came away with a very positive view of Boss Shepherd's. (Sorry, I guess this should be in the Boss Shepherd's thread) [].

[Tweaked]

Closing August 31, 2017

[Mark Dedrick]

Too bad, when my office was over there this was one of my regular business lunch spots. Although I'm not surprised, it was typically close to empty whenever I'd stop in. 

[Bob Wells]

My office is a block away. People went after it opened, then it sort of faded out of view. It was in a weird niche for this area -- somewhere in between expense account and fast casual.

[Xochitl10]

Oh no! I have many fond memories of hanging out at the bar here. Sad that I have one less favorite place to go on my trips back to DC.