Town House Not Making a Home in Georgetown

Chef John Shields’s plans to move into Georgetown have fallen through. Shields told the Washington Post: “We couldn’t make the numbers work” for his projected space at 1050 Potomac St., NW.

The restaurant in the works was never named but was planned to be an extension of his Chilhowie, Va., restaurant, Town House, which closed two years ago. Shields and Karen Urie Shields, his wife and pastry chef, are still searching for space in Washington, but the couple is heading back to Virginia to offer dinners at Riverstead, the intimate inn that lodged Town House goers.

The chef duo originally hail from Chicago and are renowned for their work at Charlie Trotter’s and Alinea.

The couple’s first dinner at Riverstead will be held April 18 and will offer more than a dozen courses for $150, the Post reported. The dinners will no doubt be exclusive as the Victorian farmhouse that houses Riverstead. Built in 1903 and renovated in 2009, it can accommodate a mere 14 guests. Chilhowie is approximately five hours from Georgetown.

“We are still fully committed to getting the D.C. restaurant off the ground,” Shields told the Post, “but at least this will get us back in the mix.”