Community Corner

ShopHouse Opens Wednesday on Bethesda Avenue

ShopHouse—which is entirely gluten- and dairy-free—brings the quickly-cooked, flavorful foods of Southeast Asia to downtown Bethesda.

The wait is over for the new restaurant at 4820 Bethesda Ave.: ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen opens on Wednesday, Oct. 30, at 11 a.m.

The Southeast Asian restaurant was developed by Chipotle Mexican Grill, and offers Southeast Asian-inspired flavors in the "quick, convenient, customizable format perfected by Chipotle," according to a restaurant news release. Flavors of Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore inspire the menu, the website notes.

At ShopHouse, diners customize a meal by choosing a base (jasmine rice, brown rice, chilled rice noodles or salad), a protein (grilled chicken satay, steak laab, pork and chicken meatballs or organic tofu), wok-cooked fresh vegetables, a sauce (green curry, spicy red curry or tamarind vinaigrette), a garnish (green papaya slaw or pickled vegetables) and a topping (toppings include toasted rice, crushed peanuts, crispy garlic and sliced fresh Thai chilies), according to a restaurant news release.

If that sounds a bit like Chipotle, only with a Southeast Asian flavor, that's because the approach is very similar.

"I believe that Chipotle’s success isn’t necessarily based on burritos and tacos, but rather [on] a unique system that combines our passion for using great ingredients, classic cooking methods and an interactive service format that allows customers [to] pick and choose exactly what they want to eat," Chipotle's founder, chairman and co-CEO Steve Ells said in a statement. 

"Many different cuisines could fit into this model that will help to redefine fast food. I am excited that at ShopHouse we will bring to customers the authentic ingredients and flavors of Southeast Asia in a way that is entirely unique," he added.

The first ShopHouse location opened in Washington, DC, in 2011. Now, there are two DC ShopHouse locations in addition to the new one in Bethesda, as well as locations in Hollywood, CA, and Santa Monica, CA, the restaurant reported.

Chipotle's concept development director, Tim Wildin, helped develop ShopHouse from the beginning. Much of the menu is based on Wildin's family’s recipes and the food he grew up eating in Bangkok, including the curries and marinades that make up the foundation of the ShopHouse menu, according to the restaurant.

"The Thai side of my family is absolutely obsessed with food," Wildin said in a statement.

"I grew up eating traditional Thai food prepared by my mom and my aunt using traditional recipes and cooking techniques. When we were developing the menu for ShopHouse, we knew we wanted those exotic flavors as the basis for many of the dishes," he added.

The ShopHouse menu is gluten- and dairy-free, and focuses on high-quality, sustainable foods, according to the restaurant.

ShopHouse is named after the traditional Southeast Asian "shophouses," a typical architecture form in Southeast Asia in which families live upstairs above restaurants or markets that they operate on the ground floor, according to the restaurant.

ShopHouse will be open at 4820 Bethesda Ave. seven days a week, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.


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