Chaia

Chaia began in 2013 as a farmers’ market stall in Georgetown, selling vegetarian tacos built from the seasonal produce that the DC-area farmers’ markets produce through the growing season. The original farmers’ market concept, which demonstrated that vegetarian tacos could compete with meat-based tacos on flavor and satisfaction rather than only on health credentials, built enough of a following to support the transition to a permanent restaurant at 3207 Grace Street NW.

The taco format at Chaia organizes the menu by the seasonal produce that serves as the filling’s primary ingredient rather than by the meat category that most taco restaurants use as the organizing principle. A spring Chaia menu might feature a taco built around spring peas, asparagus, and a fresh herb preparation that the season’s farmers’ market provides; a fall menu builds around roasted root vegetables, squash, and the earthier produce of the late season. The seasonal commitment means the menu changes as the local agricultural calendar changes, which produces a restaurant where regular visitors find something new on every visit.

The tortillas, which Chaia makes in-house from masa in the traditional process of nixtamalization, are the foundation that the fillings sit on. A good tortilla has flavor and structural integrity independent of the filling, which is the standard that mass-produced tortillas rarely meet and that the nixtamal process, which cooks dried corn in an alkaline solution to release nutrients and develop flavor, produces. The Chaia tortilla is the reason the taco is compelling before the filling is added.

Chaia has expanded from the Georgetown Grace Street address to additional DC locations, which reflects the concept’s success in making vegetarian fast-casual dining a genuine choice for the customer who is not necessarily vegetarian but who wants the best taco available. The Grace Street location is the original, and it retains the format that the farmers’ market origin established.

Hours run Tuesday through Sunday from 11am to 9pm. The transition from farmers’ market stall to permanent restaurant is a challenging one in the food business, because the stall format operates without the overhead of a brick-and-mortar lease while generating the customer proof-of-concept that a restaurateur needs before committing to a space. Chaia’s success at the Georgetown farmers’ market demonstrated the demand for the product in the specific neighborhood context before the restaurant opened. The Grace Street address at 3207 is one block south of M Street and is shared with Blossom Daily at the M and Grace intersection, which gives the block a neighborhood character distinct from the main M Street commercial corridor. Chaia has expanded to additional DC locations from the Georgetown original, with restaurants in Chinatown and Dupont Circle that extend the vegetarian taco format to the city’s other high-traffic neighborhoods. The Georgetown Grace Street location is open Tuesday through Sunday from 11am to 9pm.