A historic pub in Easton is officially reopened — and a Baltimore-born chef is at the helm of its culinary operations.
Washington Street Pub, located at 20 N. Washington Street, opened its doors on Wednesday after years of closure with a new look and new ownership, as well as a new chef: Daniel Pochron, who grew up in Baltimore. The pub is now owned by Blueprint Hospitality, a group that owns several other Easton restaurants, including fine-dining institution Bas Rouge, market-restaurant hybrid The Wardroom and dessert shop Bonheur.
Pochron, who boasts a storied fine dining background across the DMV area and moved to Easton 27 years ago, remembered immediately feeling a connection with the pub when he first visited with his family.
“It was fully packed, and I just loved the feel of the restaurant and its bones,” he said. “It seems like everybody in Easton has a story about the Washington Street Pub.”
The restaurant now has two levels of new, plush green gingham rugs, illustrated placemats and an oyster bar with ample seating. But the biggest upgrade has been in the “quality of the food,” Pochron said.
“I think it just wasn’t consistent. People loved it because of the nostalgia, but getting into the 2000s and above, people were getting really disappointed,” he said. “That’s what the best thing is: to bring this old glory back to life here in Easton.”
The revitalized menu includes a Pochron-recipe meatloaf that has followed him throughout his restaurant career, pub chips fried in beef tallow and, as an homage to his Baltimore roots, what he asserts is “the best crab cake on the Eastern Shore.”
“I do love Baltimore. It was a great place to grow up — and I love crabs,” Pochron said. “If I’m from Baltimore and I can’t do a good crab cake, then there’s an issue.”
For Blueprint Hospitality, which is known for its fine-dining concepts, founder Paul Prager said, despite its new luxe design, it was important to keep the pub authentic and accessible. As such, many menu items are priced in the mid-teens.
“We wanted to do something for the town,” he said. “It was particularly a concern that we should create a venue at a price point that would make it available to everybody, and that we hire a chef and a manager that was local, and that’s what we did.”
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