Butterworth’s

How D.C. Restaurants Are Embracing Evolving MAGA Tastes

"On a steamy evening up on Capitol Hill I found Butterworth's to be a buzzy, much-publicized MAGA hangout where dishes like a veal shank with grits and Castelvetrano olives sit alongside smooth pâtés touched with brandy and red wine, a large helping of homemade merguez over mashed potatoes, and Bannon’s favorite risottolike Carolina Gold rice folded with mushrooms and taleggio. The room feels like a clubhouse — quirky, slightly homey decor (a portrait of Queen Elizabeth, an antique coat rack) — and the crowd ranges from pale-faced intern bros and Palm Beach–style matrons to mid-level Republican functionaries and influencers; hats are famously not allowed. Raheem Kassam, a co-owner, has helped turn the place into a semi-private dining club, and chef-partner Bart Hutchins, who sources vegetables and chickens from Amish farmers, uses beef tallow in his fryer and does in-house beef and whole-hog butchering, plating crab in kedgeree, soft-shell crab with fresh peas, roasted marrow bones, tomato-watermelon salad with pickled watermelon rinds, and puff-pastry–accented lobsters; cocktails include a Filthy Monkey martini variation. Despite the rowdy, politicized clientele, the liberal-leaning staff seem unbothered by the politics, and the restaurant’s rapid adoption by MAGA regulars surprised even its own team." - Adam Platt