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Komi (restaurant)
Komi was a restaurant in Washington, D.C. operated by Chef Johnny Monis, serving Italian cuisine and Greek cuisine. Komi was located at 1509 17th St. NW in Washington, D.C.[1] It opened in 2003, serving wood-fired pizzas and an à la carte menu of soups, salads, and entrees for lunch and dinner.[2] In the winter of 2006, Chef Monis shut down the restaurant for two weeks, removing a majority of the tables and re-opening with a prix-fixe multi-course menu priced at $84, only available for dinner.[3] This new incarnation of Komi earned rave reviews, landing the No.1 spot on Washingtonian Magazine's Best Restaurants in DC in 2009.[4] It held this top spot through 2012, as it became one of the most acclaimed restaurants in the city.[5] President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama dined at Komi in May 2010.[6] Komi earned a Michelin star in the 2018 Michelin Guide for Washington, DC.[7] In his 2018 Fall Dining Guide, Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema named Komi to his ten-restaurant Hall of Fame.[8] By September, 2022, Komi had lost their Michelin star and "morphed into Happy Gyro, a… Greek deli-style takeout."[9] Chef Johnny MonisJohnny Monis was born and raised in Arlington, Virginia, where his family owned La Casa Pizzeria.[10] His parents were born on the Greek island of Chios, and Komi is named for a taverna-lined beach on Chios where the family vacationed.[5] Monis enrolled as a premed at James Madison University but dropped out to attend the College of the Culinary Arts at Johnson & Wales University in Charleston, South Carolina.[10] He did not finish culinary school, however, because he believed he was learning more by working at McCrady's Restaurant.[5] In 2001, Monis was hired to work at the Washington, D.C. restaurant Chef Geoff's, where he was quickly promoted and was named the executive chef of a new Chef Geoff's location downtown.[10] In 2003, Monis quit to open his own restaurant, Komi.[5] In April 2007, Food & Wine magazine named Monis one of the F&W 2007 Best New Chefs.[11] In 2013, Monis won a James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef, Mid-Atlantic.[12] In 2011, Monis opened a separate restaurant on the floor below Komi, the Thai-inspired Little Serow, which was named one of the best new restaurants in America by Bon Appétit magazine.[13] Awards
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38°54′36.3″N 77°2′17.9″W / 38.910083°N 77.038306°W |
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