Tender Chicken and Hard Liquor Drive Debut Chicken and Whiskey

The hospitality strategists at Maryland-based Star Restaurant Group want D.C. to have first crack at their latest creation: Peruvian chicken wedded to a sea of stiff drinks, all presented beneath the banner of Chicken + Whiskey.

The experimental restaurant, which is slated to open at 1738 14th Street NW by “late June,” promises South American cooking with a twist. Alma Cocina Latina alum Enrique Limardo has been tasked with blending his native cuisine with locally beloved Peruvian chicken, complementing slow-roasted bird that’s been brined for 12 hours with fried corn cakes known as arepas. (There’s also supposed to be salads and sandwiches.)

The bedrock of the bar program is a whiskey list that’s supposed to be at least five dozen bottles deep. The place plans to get artsy by filling glasses with ice chipped from a 75-pound block mounted on the back bar.

Star’s local footprint includes consulting work on Heist nightclub, as well as helping to create The Walrus Oyster & Ale House in National Harbor.