In its heyday, the Jockey Club was one of Washington’s great see-and-be-seen restaurants. Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando, and Joe DiMaggio visited the dark, clubby dining room, as did eight presidents dating back to John F. Kennedy. Nancy Reagan was such a regular they named the chicken tarragon sal ad after her. But the restaurant’s three-decade run came to an end in 2001, when it closed for renovations and didn’t reopen. Then, in 2009, the Jockey Club came back, with a throwback menu of Dover sole and soufflés and even the same maitre d’. That iteration lasted just two years. Now the famed spot has come back yet again, and it’s more exclusive than ever. The public can’t go there at all, in fact: The new Jockey Club has been quietly operating at its original location, which has been converted from a high-end hotel into a luxury assisted living facility for seniors called Inspīr. Only the residents and their guests are invited to dine there. Chef Richard McCreadie, who oversaw the second iteration of the Jockey Club, is back in the kitchen. Coincidentally, McCreadie had left the restaurant to oversee dining operations at a luxury senior living residence in Bethesda called Fox Hill. Then a few years ago, McCreadie and his wife were visiting the nearby Phillips Collection when he noticed the building that had housed the Jockey Club was under construction. He’d never heard of Inspīr, but went online and looked it up. “And it’s like, I can’t believe this. This is going to be a high-end retirement community,” McCreadie says. An inquiry turned into a job offer to oversee their food. Given McCreadie’s history with the Jockey Club, the company decided to bring it back. The new Jockey Club has a much brighter, more modern look, plus a six-seat chef’s counter. Photograph courtesy Inspir. The new dining room looks nothing like the original; The red leather banquettes and cherry wood paneling have been replaced with white marble and plush, velvety aqua-blue dining chairs, plus a new six-seat chef’s counter overlooking an open kitchen. Some things haven’t changed. The restaurant is still serving its famed Senegalese lemon soup with curry chicken and golden raisins, as well as Tournedos Rossini, and, of course, Nancy Reagan’s chicken salad. The chef plans to bring back tableside Caesar salads and Dover sole soon. “A lot of retirement homes use a cafeteria style, where everything’s cooked ahead of time,” McCreadie says. “We wanted this to be like a regular restaurant.” McCreadie has modernized some recipes and added new dishes, like a butternut squash schnitzel. But the biggest difference in the food? “We don’t use as much salt,” he says. Also, some residents require their food to be cut up for them. The captive audience means the Jockey Club can count on being packed every night, and regulars are truly regulars. Instead of Yelp, residents have a culinary committee to give feedback on the menu. And unlike most restaurants, the place clears out by 8:30 PM. “The hours are saner,” McCreadie says. “That’s the difference: There’s no late nights.”The post DC’s Famed Jockey Club Is Back—Inside a Luxury Assisted Living Facility first appeared on Washingtonian. ...read more read less