Located in Washington DC, two-Michelin-starred Jont is a boutique 16-seat counter restaurant serving a Japanese-inspired, 15-course tasting menu. Chef-owner Ryan Ratino constructs his dishes around some of the world’s rarest and most luxurious ingredients, from wagyu beef and foie gras to kaluga caviar, Miyazaki mango and the elusive ishidai fish. It’s a place where Ratino and his team claim to “challenge the seasons, navigate beyond the limits of time and break with tradition—getting playful with process and tricky with techniques at the intersection of place and possibility.”

The heart of Jônt

Situated directly above Ratino’s other DC restaurant, Bresca, Jont has an atmosphere that has been described as “almost sacred.” The décor may be minimal, but the dining experience is full-on: bold, beautiful, and like nothing else in Washington DC, or most other cities for that matter. Each of the 16 seats placed around the counter faces the kitchen, an implicit invitation to diners to focus on the food. The experimental 15-course tasting menu takes them on a gastronomic journey with some of the world’s rarest and most prestigious ingredients. Meanwhile, the mood—aided by a high-energy playlist and the constant movement of the dynamic young team of chefs and front-of-house staff working in smooth, efficient harmony—is endlessly thrilling.

Jont’s chef and owner Ryan Ratino was born in Medina, Ohio, and began cooking at an early age to help his busy mother, replicating the recipes he saw celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse prepare on his TV show. After studying at culinary school Le Cordon Bleu in Orlando, he remained in Florida to begin his career, working in award-winning restaurants such as Shula’s Steak House at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin resort and Todd English’s Bluezoo. He also spent several years in New York City, working at Michelin-starred Caviar Russe, Dovetail NYC, and Wylie Dufresne’s innovative restaurant wd~50. Here he was introduced to molecular gastronomy, which he says “adds creativity and dimension” to his cooking. His big break came with his appointment as Executive Chef of Washington DC restaurant Ripple, where he earned a Rammy Culinary Rising Star of the Year Award in 2017. When Ripple closed that year, he took the opportunity to open his own place, Bresca. Its success (garnering a Michelin star the year after opening) allowed him to open Jont, located in the same building, in 2020.

Since then, his empire has rapidly expanded—through his company Hive Hospitality— to include two new restaurants in Florida, with more to follow soon in California.

In 2022, Jont was included in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants Discovery list, while in 2023, Ratino was awarded the Michelin Young Chef Award for Washington DC.

The Chef

Ratino was born in Medina, Ohio and began cooking as a child, recreating the dishes he saw on celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse’s TV show. After graduating from Le Cordon Bleu in Orlando, Florida, he worked at a variety of top restaurants, from Shula’s Steak House at the award-winning Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin resort to Bluezoo, where he was rapidly promoted to Executive Chef, earning the restaurant a place in USA Today’s list of 10 Best Foodie Spots in Orlando. A stint at NYC molecular gastronomy restaurant wd~50 heavily influenced him. In 2016, Ratino became Executive Chef at Ripple in Washington DC, where he earned the local Rammy Culinary Rising Star of the Year Award in 2017.

The same year, Ratino opened his first DC restaurant, the bistro-style Bresca, which quickly won a Michelin star. Building on its success, in 2020 Ratino opened Jont, a 16-seat restaurant with a Japanese-influenced tasting menu, located above Bresca. Jont in turn was awarded two Michelin stars. Since then, his restaurant group, Hive Hospitality, has expanded quickly, opening two restaurants in Florida, with others set to launch in Los Angeles.

In addition to the Michelin stars awarded to his restaurants, the Michelin Guide recognized Ratino with the 2023 Young Chef Award for Washington DC.

Restaurants

Jont serves a progressive, ingredient-focused tasting menu highlighting simple but luxurious seasonal ingredients from around the world, influenced primarily by Japanese cuisine. It serves just 16 guests at a time, seated at a U-shaped counter behind which the team of chefs work in full view of the diners.

While Bresca has been awarded a Michelin star, Jont boasts two. In 2022, Jont was named a World’s 50 Best Discovery Restaurant.

Following the success of Jont, Ratino has continued to expand his restaurant empire through his company Hive Hospitality. In 2023, he returned to the state where his culinary career began, first opening the contemporary wood-fired restaurant Maass at the Four Seasons in Fort Lauderdale. His next stop was Orlando, where he opened Omo by Jont, an offshoot that adopts a similar approach to its DC predecessor but with a focus on Florida ingredients. The latest destination in the expansion of Ratino’s empire is California, with new restaurants opening in spaces previously occupied by The Bazaar and Somni at SLS Beverly Hills hotel in LA.

Recipes and dishes

Ratino is known for original dishes like dry-aged duck à la presse, which uses a 19th-century duck press to turn roasted duck bones into a rich Bordelaise-style sauce. His highly experimental menu at Jont is built primarily on Japanese seafood and meats, cooked over a wood fire and served with exquisite sauces.

One of its iconic dishes is Hokkaido king crab rice cooked in a donabe, which is paired with a sauce of cultured butter and kani-miso that’s made by roasting a whole crab over an open fire. Other favorites at Jont include live scallop and Dungeness crab with koshiibuki rice, as well as tarts with wagyu tartare, grilled sawara with beet, and pomegranate sauce.

Downstairs at Bresca, Ratino serves a neo-bistro-style menu made up of casual, contemporary recipes rooted in French techniques that make use of carefully sourced ingredients both from the mid-Atlantic and overseas. Typical dishes include brioche-stuffed chicken with sweetcorn, black truffle, and mushroom, or beef short rib with smoked onion and black garlic au poivre.

Meanwhile at Maass at The Four Seasons in Fort Lauderdale, diners will find dishes like a tomato appetizer bathed in seaweed vinegar, dried over the open wood-fire hearth, and steeped in tomato water before being served with a lemon verbena gelée, pearl onions, and sweet herbs.

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