D.C.’s Hottest New Restaurant Resides Inside a Pilates Studio

The first sit-down restaurant from Iva and Alex Gotzev, owners of Dupont Circle’s pilates studio Toolbox DC and coffee shop Zeleno, Eunoia is in many ways a continuation of the couple’s commitment to feeding the whole body. This time, though, they’re doing so with a chef with a serious culinary pedigree.

Eunoia’s seasonally evolving, vegetable-obsessed menu is the brainchild of chef Josa Maldonado, who originally hails from Mexico City. “I started cooking by just helping my mom in the kitchen,” Maldonado tells Eater, but quickly discovered a passion for the craft. By 17, he had his first job in a professional kitchen as a dishwasher, and to say that his career has taken off since then would be an understatement; Maldonado’s Michelin-starred credentials include roles at Mexico City’s Pujol, Napa Valley’s French Laundry, and Copenhagen’s Jatak.

His continent-hopping resume crescendos at D.C.’s hotly anticipated Eunoia, where Maldonado – who’s now fully in control – is able to reimagine familiar, family-style dishes from his hometown in inventive and entirely unexpected ways. For example, there’s the smoked-and-pressed striped bass with guajillo adobo, farmhouse cheese, and yellow corn tortilla. You’d never guess it, but this is Maldonado’s take on a quesadilla. Or, take the Virginia pork shoulder dish. Spiced with anato, red onion, and habanero, it’s a creative reinterpretation of Yucatán’s beloved cochinita pibil.

But it was at one of Maldonado’s first jobs that he first developed his love for combining classic Mexican dishes with Japanese techniques and ingredients. “After I graduated from culinary school, I worked at a hotel restaurant in California that really started my journey with Asian cuisine,” he says. During his time at Pujol, chef and owner Enrique Olvera leveraged Maldonado’s global expertise in creating one of Mexico’s first corn-centric omakase menus. And when he moved to Copenhagen for Jatak, chef Jonathan Tam’s Chinese Vietnamese background further influenced Maldonado’s unique style in the kitchen.

You’ll find plenty of Japanese influences on the menu as well, from the seaweed that helps to flavor Maldonado’s mole to the kombu that provides a depth of flavor to the branzino, and even the cranberry bean shoyu that seasons the zucchini (alongside Parmigiano-Reggiano). And as a nod to the Gotzevs’ Balkan background, you’ll find ingredients like acorn flour breadcrumbs, as well as feta cheese and yogurt creme fraiche imported from home.

The Greek word “eunoia” refers to balance and mental health, two tenets that Maldonado holds near and dear to his cooking ethos. It also helps that the Toolbox pilates studio (with a separate entrance) can be found on the mezzanine level of the restaurant, which sit within the luxury i5 Union Market apartment building.

“We focus not only on whole foods and vegetables, but also on the balance of ingredients, starting a meal with vegetables, then fats, then protein, then carbs,” he says. This order, Maldonado explains, helps the body to receive the meal better, resulting in a lighter (but still full) feeling at its conclusion.

“I’m cooking the way that I like to eat,” Maldonado says, which also means that Eunoia will continue to evolve as ingredients come in and out of season. From May to September, a menu section dubbed the Garden calls for fresh fruits, vegetables, herbs, and fermented elements. From October to February, the Forest will take over, with umami-packed mushrooms and gamier meats; and from February to May, the Sea section highlights fresh seafood from the Chesapeake Bay.

Cocktails conceived by Susheria alum Christopher Carpousis honor Bulgaria’s apricot export, and its wine list not only offer pours from wine capitals across Italy, but also Mexico and Bulgaria.

“I want diners to be surprised when they come to Eunoia,” Maldonado says. “That’s part of why we’ve described the menu just with ingredients, so you don’t know exactly what to expect.”