Can We Trade You For A Spice Market?

As I tweeted on Monday, the much-buzzed about restaurant in the new W Hotel, helmed by mega-star chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten (pictured), will be a J&G Steakhouse. Which is great, because I was just thinking that this city could really use a steakhouse.

I kid. But don't get me wrong. I'm sure it will be beautiful, the steaks delicious, the creamed spinach top-notch, and I will eat there. But if there's still time, can we trade you for a Spice Market, Jean-Georges?

It just seems that celebrity chefs keep tossing us red meat like we're caged lions, despite the fact that DC shed its steakhouse town reputation long ago. Charlie Palmer brought us Charlie Palmer Steak, Laurent Tourondel gave us BLT Steak, Michael Mina entered the fray in December with Bourbon Steak, and now we're poised to receive Vongerichten's second J&G Steakhouse (the first is in Arizona).

We're not alone. In a blog post titled "Why the steakhouse trend passed by San Francisco," San Francisco Chronicle critic Michael Bauer wrote this: "Just about every big-name, chef including Charlie Palmer, Tom Colicchio, Michael Mina and Jean-Georges Vongerichten has gone into the steakhouse business. Steakhouses appeal to a broad range of tastes, and top-flight chefs like to open steakhouses because labor costs are generally lower and it's easier to make a profit."

Fine, it's an economic decision. But give us a more ambitious concept, and I promise we'll come spend our hard-earned money. Pretty please with a porterhouse on top?