Restaurateur Tony Cibel — 1937 to 2024
By • January 8, 2024 0 1204
Restaurateur Tony Cibel — best known in Georgetown for Tony & Joe’s Seafood Place and Nick’s Riverside Grill at Washington Harbour — died Jan. 4 at the age of 86.
Anyone who met and knew Cibel was aware that here was a man who lived a life in full. Georgetowners will well remember him and how he made things better for so many — and helped transform the Georgetown waterfront.
“Tony Cibel is one of the last giants in the restaurant industry,” said Jack Evans, former Council member. “He started as a young man at the Barrel House on 14th Street and is well known for Tony and Joe’s on the Georgetown waterfront. He was a real people person, making you feel like a part of his family. I knew him well for 35 years and will miss his smiling face and laughter.”
The following is part of Cibel’s obituary as provided by his family.
“Anthony Brundidge Cibel, known to all his friends and family as Tony, is survived by his wife of 40 years, Lynn Kraft Cibel of Washington and three sons, Theodore J. Cibel of Maryland, Nicholas J. Cibel of Washington, D.C., and Dean A. Cibel of Maryland, and their mother Patsy Cokinos of Maryland, two sisters, Marthann Secrist of Massachusetts and Nancy Conway of Washington, D.C., and Ft Lauderdale, and five grandchildren — all of whom he adored. Tony also had a brother, Irving James Cibel Jr. who passed in 2019.
“Tony, who considered himself a lifelong Washingtonian, was born on June 5, 1937, in Cambridge, Mass, to Martha Worden and Irving J Cibel, and moved to Washington DC in the 6th grade. Tony attended Woodrow Wilson High school. He was a volunteer for the Bethesda Chevy Chase Rescue Squad. Tony loved living life to its fullest and had many wonderful friends and famous business’s, some of which remain Washington Icons today! Tony was proud of being a 65-year Washington D.C.-based businessman and loved the restaurant business. Besides his family, there was nothing Tony enjoyed more than “rubbing elbows” with his patrons and friends.
“After working in the family dry cleaning business — Golden Bell, whose main warehouse was the building where Le Diplomat Restaurant sits today, Tony began selling Dance and Karate lessons for Art Linkletter. From there he knew he wanted to be his own boss and this along with advice from famous restauranteur, and the best man at his first wedding, Blackie Auger led to a partnership with Joe Rinaldi when they opened the Soul Palace on 17th St NE DC. This is where his real career began as he discovered his love of putting people and food together and having a night of laughs and song and merriment.
“Tony really enjoyed his friends. Among others, he counted Frank Sinatra, Ted Williams and Frank Howard as friends. He lived a glamorous life and never missed an opportunity to say hello to anyone – interaction was his favorite thing! And the people loved him for it.
“This showed through his successful businesses which include:
“The historic Barrel House Liquors, where his good friend Fishbait Miller, renowned Doorkeeper of the U.S. House of Representatives, purchased all of the Capitol’s liquor;
“He and Joes Rinaldi bought the Dancing Crab in 1981, a Washington Institution, where Red Auberbach would spend every Thursday for Willie Joe James’s famous Fried Chicken. Tony, Sonny Jurgenson, John Riggins and the late Glen Brenner enjoyed one another’s stories at the secret bar upstairs Malt Shop, which was the scene of the famous Monday Night Football segment with Howard Cosell (Skins-Giants, 1983) or celebrated the making of “A Few Good Men” with Tom Cruise, Demi Moore and Rob Reiner;
“He and Joe teamed up again at Tony and Joe’s Seafood Place, where his self-named “Wall of Fame Wall” is filled with pictures of his guests with ambassadors, presidents, movie stars, and local legends: Guest included a long list of stars, including Clint Eastwood, William Shatner, Andy Garcia, Lilly Tomlin, Magic Johnson, Bob Geldoff, Graham Nash, Dave Chappelle, Mike Tyson and so many sports players from the D.C. area teams (He was especially friendly with Norv Turner often traveling on the team plane to games during his tenure).
“Working with visionary developer Herb Miller, Tony was instrumental in the transition of Georgetown’s waterfront to what it is today. All of this showed Tony’s guts as, when no one believed a cement plant could be the site of a great restaurant, Tony saw the opportunity and executed TWO restaurants that remain Washington icons after 35 years.
“Then, with beloved son Nick, he opened Nick’s Riverside Grill, a family endeavor that has been booming for over 30 years.
“Tony was courageous, once defending his store by shooting a would-be robber who was holding his cashier at gunpoint. He partnered with nephew Greg Casten opening ProFish and Ivy City Smokehouse in a neglected neighborhood. Their most recent venture, the Point DC is another example of such business guts, strategically located in the burgeoning D.C. neighborhood at Buzzard’s Point …”
Services will be held 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., Friday, Jan. 12, at Gawler’s Funeral Home, 5130 Wisconsin Ave. NW. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Makom, formerly the JFGH, at 1500 E. Jefferson St. Rockville, Maryland 20852, 240-283-6000.
Restaurateur Tony Cibel outside Tony & Joe’s Seafood Place and Nick’s Riverside Grill at Washington Harbour with Washington Capitals’ star goal scorer Alex Ovechkin — and the Stanley Cup in 2018. Courtesy Tony & Joe’s.
