Goodbye Hawaiian diner, hello Jewish deli. Hogo‘s new guest chef, Renee Peres, begins serving white fish and brisket sandwiches at the rum bar tonight.
Peres works in real estate but has hosted a number of Jewish deli food pop-ups around town over the past year. She says her grandfather owned a grocery store in southeast D.C. that was part of the co-op of Jewish-owned shops called District Grocery Stores, which Dupont’s new DGS Delicatessen is named after. Peres previously worked in P.R. for chefs like Nora Pouillon of Restaurant Nora and baker Mark Furstenberg.
On her menu at Hogo, you’ll find “noshes,” including pickled beets, cauliflower, carrots, and cucumbers as well as gribenes cracklins (fried chicken skin). Peres is also preparing brisket sandwiches, white fish salad, pickled tongue sandwiches, schnitzel, stuffed cabbage, and kreplach (Polish dumplings). Vegetarian-friendly sides include baba ghanoush, Israeli salad, and kasha varnishkes, a dish made with farfalle noodles, buckwheat, and onions.
Hogo owner Tom Brown and his brother, mixologist Derek Brown, are working on some kitschy cocktails to go along with the food, including a take on the pickleback and something using Manischewitz wine. There will also be plenty of Hebrew beer.
Peres will cook at Hogo until the end of the month. Up next in the rotating kitchen is Aaron Silverman, who’s opening Rose’s Luxury on Barracks Row this spring.