The Neighborhood Restaurant Group & Chef Hamilton Johnson are pleased to introduce Mallard, a warm, convivial & hospitality-driven restaurant near Logan Circle featuring the chef’s reverent yet playful take on the diverse food cultures of the American South.No stranger to Low Country & Southern cooking, Hamilton grew up in Inman, South Carolina with an appreciation for Southern foodways by cooking alongside his mother and father in the family kitchen. After spending his formative years as a chef in a handful of Charleston’s storied kitchens, Johnson made the move to D.C. and quickly found his way to Vidalia, the District’s much-missed bastion of modern Southern cooking, where he spent eight years and served as Chef de Cuisine.The name Mallard was inspired by Hamilton’s father’s hobby of carving wooden decoys, a cultural touchstone that felt familiar to NRG founder Michael Babin, who hails from south Louisiana. “Hamilton and I are both from places where wildlife, hunting, and fishing traditions connect tightly with cooking, eating, drinking, and socializing. Mallard will celebrate that social element of food and cooking - we’re building it to be unpretentious, fun, and delicious.”The best way to stay abreast of all things Mallard is to join our mailing list for upcoming announcements, menus, reservation information and more - and don’t worry, we promise not to bomb you with emails! The best is yet to come, and we warmly invite you to join us on this journey.
