Edward Lee to open restaurant in D.C. area

Edward Lee will open Succotash this May in National Harbor, Md., an "up and coming area of D.C.," according to the celebrated chef and owner of 610 Magnolia and MilkWood in Louisville.

Lee joins Michael Reginbogin and Jason Berry of KNEAD Hospitality + Design in the venture, and will serve as culinary director of the Southern-inspired restaurant. Though he's a partner in the business and the menu will feature his recipes, he's quick to point out that he's not the day-to-day chef — and he's not leaving Louisville.

"I know people are going to start the rumor mill and say 'he's leaving,' " Lee says. "But I own two restaurants in Louisville … I would be an idiot to leave that. I have a young daughter, I love my life here, but having said that I'm ambitious and I see opportunities." Lee says he's turned down several chances to open restaurants in other cities in recent years when it wasn't quite right yet.

Part of his job for the last two years, he says, has been preparing his restaurants for something like this. "I'm comfortable leaving for six weeks … I've got a great team, so nothing suffers," he says. "I've been making sure we're totally stacked with talent. We've done that and the opportunity came along."

And this is a chance, Lee says, to "take what I've learned over the past decade and bring it to a wider audience."

"I've been here 11 or 12 years, and in that time, the entire American South — I've been a student of it," says Lee. "I've traveled more in the South than most people I know have. I've put in the time and work to study and cook with the best chefs in the South. I just love it."

And he sees a receptive audience in the D.C. area. "I feel like Louisville and Maryland both sort of have a foot in the South and a foot in other cultures," Lee says. "People in Maryland are open-minded like in Louisville. Because they straddle two or three cultures, they're more accepting. We're minutes away from Virginia and the coast where people really do believe it's part of the South and they have strong opinions. At the same time … it's not anchored in the traditions of the South. I enjoyed being in Louisville being a hybrid Southern dude, not having to live by strict Southern rules. I'm not a Southern food ambassador — I cook what I like to eat."

As for the neighborhood, Lee says, "these guys (Reginbogin and Berry) said this area will blow up. Other big name chefs are going in, they said, 'Do you want to take a chance and go be first one in?' I'm from the East Coast, I said, 'You know, it gets me a 45-minute train ride to see my family.' It's not New York City, but I don't want to open a restaurant in New York City."

Succotash will feature Southern comfort food made with Kentucky ingredients like Colonel Newsom's Aged Country Ham, Weisenberger White Grits, Bourbon Barrel Foods Sorghum and Jefferson's Bourbon. The restaurant's design will be reminiscent of architecture in Savannah, New Orleans, rural Mississippi and Kentucky.

Lee hopes to return to Louisville by summer to work on his next restaurant here. "If everything goes well, we want to open the nonprofit (with youth from the chef's Smoketown culinary apprentice program) at the end of summer," he says. "I'm investing my own money and time and energy in this nonprofit restaurant, which is to me the most passionate thing I'll do in my whole life."

More information: http://chefedwardlee.com/.

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