Ann Cashion is a

James Beard Award The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists in the United States. They are scheduled around James Beard's May 5 birthday. The media award ...

-winning chef and restaurateur in

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

Cashion is a native of

Jackson, Mississippi Jackson, officially the City of Jackson, is the capital of and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city is also one of two county seats of Hinds County, along with Raymond. The city had a population of 153,701 at t ...

, and she graduated from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

in 1976. She enrolled in graduate school at Stanford University for two years before dropping out to pursue a culinary career, starting in a bakery in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...

. She apprenticed in Italy and France before coming to Washington, D.C. in 1984. Cashion worked at '' Restaurant Nora'', was head chef at ''Austin Grill'', and was executive chef at ''Jaleo'', where she hired

José Andrés José Ramón Andrés Puerta (born 13 July 1969) is a Spanish chef, and founder of World Central Kitchen (WCK), a non-profit devoted to providing meals in the wake of natural disasters. A Spanish-born and raised cook, he is often credited with b ...

. In 1995, she opened her own restaurant, ''Cashion's Eat Place'', in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of D.C. The restaurant was voted "Best New Restaurant" by the readership of ''Gourmet'' and was listed in ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' food columnist Phyllis Richman's 50 favorites. ''Eat Place'' had many prominent patrons, including chefs Jean-Louis Palladin and

Ferran Adrià Ferran Adrià i Acosta (; born 14 May 1962) is a Spanish chef. He was the head chef of the ''El Bulli'' restaurant in Roses, Girona, Roses on the Costa Brava and is considered one of the best chefs in the world. He has often collaborated with h ...

, and President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

. In 1997, Ann Cashion was honored as the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington's "Chef of the Year," and she was invited to cook at the James Beard House. With partner John Fulchino, Cashion opened a second restaurant, ''Johnny's Half Shell'', in 1999. The small 35-seat restaurant in the

Dupont Circle Dupont Circle (or DuPont Circle) is a traffic circle, park, neighborhood and historic district in Northwest Washington, D.C. The Dupont Circle neighborhood is bounded approximately by 16th Street NW to the east, 22nd Street NW t ...

neighborhood was recognized by ''Gourmet'' as one of “America’s best new restaurants.” In 2004, Cashion won the

James Beard Foundation Award The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists in the United States. They are scheduled around James Beard's May 5 birthday. The media award ...

for Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic. Cashion and Fulchino sold ''Cashion's Eat Place'' in 2007 to two of its longtime employees, after which it continued to operate under the same name until 2016, when it closed. ''Johnny's Half Shell'' relocated to the Capitol Hill neighborhood in 2006; the new space could seat over 400, and it became a popular restaurant for Congressional fundraisers. In 2007, Cashion opened ''Taqueria Nacional'' next-door to ''Half Shell'', and '' Bon Appétit'' named it one of the five best Mexican restaurants in the United States. ''Taqueria'' moved to the Logan Circle neighborhood in 2013, and ''Johnny's Half Shell'' moved to Adams Morgan in 2016, taking over the space originally occupied by ''Cashion's Eat Place''. ''Taqueria'' opened in Mount Pleasant in 2019, and the Logan Circle location closed in 2020. ''Johnny's Half Shell'' closed in 2020, when indoor dining was shut down due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. Cashion was one of the chefs featured in the 1997 book, ''Women of Taste''. When '' Bon Appétit'' named Washington, D.C. its 2016 restaurant city of the year, Cashion was identified as one of the city's "incredible chefs."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cashion, Ann 1954 births Living people Harvard University alumni American chefs James Beard Foundation Award winners American women chefs 21st-century American women