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Ella and Frank Secretly Seduce at The Riggsby

With five restaurants in Washington already, Boston-based James Beard Award-winning restauranteur/chef Michael Schlow is a star in the kitchen. But a great restaurant experience involves all five senses - sight, smell, touch, hearing and taste, Schlow says. After friends of The Dish noticed the remarkable jazz soundtrack playing on a recent Friday night, we caught up with Chef Michael at The Riggsby at the Kimpton Carlyle Hotel in Dupont Circle.

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The Georgetown Dish
The Georgetown Dish

Why do your restaurants have specially-designed soundtracks?

I believe there is a connection between food and music. When I'm cooking, there's a song in my head. I also think that music, like scent, has this amazing ability to create a new memory or pull you back to another place or time. Music draws us in and makes us remember something or someone. There's a visceral, emotional reaction. Also, everything we do here is personal. My wife designed the wallpaper.

Does it affect the food?

If you're having a meal and I played five different types of music – you would have five different experiences.

Do people come in for the music?

I don’t know, but it helps create a certain energy and they stay for it.

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The Riggsby
The Riggsby

The soundtrack at The Riggsby is wonderful.

Thank you. The Riggsby is a specific concept. I wanted it to feel trapped in another time - but not a specific decade - a little bit of all of them. I wanted the soundtrack to feel like somebody had created the greatest juke box ever over a number of decades (the 20s, 30s, 40s etc.). I wanted it to be nostalgic, but not boring.

How did you put it together?

I use a technology called Five-Motion. If it was your birthday and I knew you loved Frank Sinatra, I could have him singing when you came in. It’s that specific. I'll put in nine hours of music for a two-hour timeslot. So you won’t hear the same songs. It depends on the time of day and what we're doing. I love working on it.

Why do you like jazz?

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The Riggsby
The Riggsby

When I hear jazz, I hear glasses clinking. Everyone is having a good time, embracing life. There's something beautiful and romantic and lush about it. It's sexy. I associate with a time when there was more conversation and cocktails – conviviality. People would gather and listen to music and then talk and eat. Having dinner at 11 was totally OK. We long for those days - at least elements of them.

Is the soundtrack specifically for the evenings?

At breakfast, there is some jazz, but it could be next to a Bob Dylan. Or Neil Young. It's more eclectic. In the afternoon and evening it goes to all jazz.

Do you play an instrument?

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The Georgetown Dish
The Georgetown Dish

I’ve taken piano, drums, guitar lessons. None of them can I actually play. But it's a secret passion I'd love to pursue.

You should.

Maybe I will. “Rock star chef.”

Really.

Hmmm…