Mashama Bailey and Johno Morisano are bringing their Savannah-born hospitality group to Washington, DC, with two Southern restaurants planned inside the JW Marriott near the White House. Diner Bar by the Grey is set to open in December, with a sister restaurant called The Grey on Penn following in spring 2027, according to the two restaurateurs’ plans.
The project pairs Bailey and Morisano’s Grey Spaces with Danny Meyer’s Union Square Events, according to Robb Report. Diner Bar by the Grey is described as a 100-seat, all-day restaurant planned for 1331 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, per the same outlet. The space will replace 1331 Bar & Lounge, and the JW Marriott Washington, DC’s owner is making a multi-million-dollar investment in the property as part of the overhaul, according to Washingtonian.
Bailey and Morisano aren’t new to the diner format. Diner Bar by the Grey is a spinoff of the Diner Bar at the Grey in Savannah, which first opened in 2019 as a way for guests to experience the acclaimed restaurant without a reservation or a formal dining experience, per Connect Savannah. That Savannah menu featured chicken biscuits and gravy, beef tartare on house-baked sourdough, spicy fried oysters, and raw oysters sourced from up and down the eastern seaboard, the same outlet reported.
What’s on the Menu in DC
In Washington, the new Diner Bar is planned to serve breakfast, lunch, dinner, and late-night bar snacks, per Washingtonian. Morning options are expected to include buttermilk pancakes, a southern fry-up with eggs, beef sausage, baked beans and potatoes, and chicken and waffles, while the day’s offerings will also include fried red rice balls, fish and grits with creole gravy, and a barbecued salmon biscuit sandwich, according to Robb Report.
Later in the day, the menu shifts toward the Diner Bar Burger — built with comeback sauce, caramelized onions, cheddar and American cheeses on a potato bun — alongside the Miss America, a fried bologna and cheese sandwich, Washingtonian reports. A crab-cake-inspired fritter is planned as a bar snack, and buttermilk chess pie rounds out the dessert list, per the same report. As evening sets in, the restaurant is expected to lean into cocktail-lounge mode, with the bar serving oysters, cocktails and wines alongside drinks like a frozen gin rickey, a gin martini with a sidecar, and a cocktail called Double Occupancy made with citrus, fennel and green apple.
A Clubhouse Look Inside the JW Marriott
Diner Bar by the Grey is designed with a clubhouse-like feel, incorporating art deco accents and curvy architecture, according to Washingtonian. The space is expected to echo the original Grey’s deep blue color scheme, round mirrors, and tufted bar tiles, with bar-area windows looking out onto the JW Marriott’s grand atrium, the outlet reports.
Construction on The Grey on Penn, the second restaurant, is expected to begin once Diner Bar opens. Morisano has described The Grey on Penn as “casual fine-dining” and “a bit more adventurous culinarily,” according to Washingtonian, distinguishing it from the all-day diner concept next door. Robb Report similarly describes The Grey on Penn as a more evening-focused restaurant set to debut next spring. Morisano has also said the goal for both restaurants is to serve locals as much as hotel guests, per Washingtonian.
From a Savannah Bus Terminal to the Nation’s Capital
Bailey and Morisano opened their flagship, The Grey, in 2014 inside a restored 1938 Greyhound bus terminal in Savannah, according to Fine Dining Lovers. Washingtonian notes the restaurant has gone on to receive widespread acclaim in the years since. Part of that building’s history lives on in the new project’s name: the terminal’s newsstand and lunch counter, Union News Cafe, opened in 1938, per Washingtonian.
Bailey has built a decorated career since The Grey’s debut, winning the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southeast in 2019 and Outstanding Chef in 2022, according to Fine Dining Lovers. She also appeared on Time’s list of the 100 most influential people in 2026, Washingtonian reports. The chef worked earlier in her career for Gabrielle Hamilton’s restaurant Prune, and she has said her cooking is shaped by Southern food traditions passed down through her mother while she was growing up in New York City, per Washingtonian.
Bailey and Morisano’s reach now extends beyond Savannah: the pair also run a restaurant in Paris and opened Diner Bar in 2022 as one of two restaurants off the lobby of Thompson Austin, according to Fine Dining Lovers. The Austin location serves Southern-inspired dishes like rabbit dirty rice and deviled eggs topped with smoked fish and trout roe, the outlet notes. Washington, DC, wasn’t actually Bailey and Morisano’s first target in the capital region — the pair had previously considered opening a restaurant in Union Market before the pandemic but were outbid for the space, according to Washingtonian.
Southern Food, Reimagined for DC
Bailey has described her cooking philosophy as “Southern food on the move,” telling Robb Report that the cuisine “has always moved with people, and along the way it has adapted, evolved and taken on new influences.” She said the Washington restaurants offer a chance to “explore what Southern food looks like in Washington today while still staying connected to where we come from,” per the same report.
For Diner Bar specifically, Bailey described the intended feel as “super casual, easy, approachable,” according to Washingtonian. That approachability is meant to be the throughline between the all-day diner and its more ambitious sibling next door, with The Grey on Penn expected to push further into inventive territory once it opens in spring 2027.
Dining and Cooking