Rob Sonderman

The Philosophy Based in Washington, DC, Sonderman’s cooking has stayed close to the city where his career took shape. Before Little Engine, he was a former pitmaster at DCity Smokehouse in Washington, DC, a role rooted in smoke, long cooks, and the discipline of meat over time. He later co-founded and cooked at Federalist Pig in Washington, DC, where the barbecue used multiple hardwoods, along with rubs and sauces he created. The aim he described there was to deliver high-quality service and barbecue to the community and beyond, a plainspoken idea that helps explain the range of his work: technically careful, but made for regular appetite. Recognition followed that barbecue. Washingtonian Magazine named it DC’s best barbecue in 2018; OCTFME named the restaurant Location of the Month in 2019; it received a Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand Award in 2022; and that same year, Good Morning America gave it the Ultimate Pitmaster Award.

In Practice At Honeymoon Chicken in Washington, DC, where Sonderman became owner and chef in 2020, fried chicken became the center of the plate. The restaurant presents it as comfort food made with first-rate ingredients, techniques, and flavors, turning the dish from familiar pleasure into the main event. Its signature hot honey is used as a saucy dip for the fried chicken, a detail that says a great deal about his cooking: sweetness, heat, and texture are not treated as side notes. Fried chicken is one of his specialties, and the path from smokehouse to fryer to rotisserie shows a cook returning to bird, skin, spice, and timing from different angles. At Little Engine, that approach becomes especially precise. The rotisserie chicken is cured for 24 to 48 hours with salt, cumin, garlic, smoked paprika, and other spices, then rubbed with olive oil and more spices before roasting in an old-school rotisserie oven. The finish comes through dry rubs such as spicy chili crunch or Hazel’s magic dust. Named after Sonderman’s daughter, Hazel’s magic dust is sweet and smoky, made with brown sugar and smoked paprika. The wings follow another route to crunch. They are cured with spices, then coated in rice flour and cornstarch for a light gluten-free breading with a slight crunch, keeping the eating easy while the preparation stays deliberate.

In Their Words Asked about the movement from barbecue to the work at Little Engine, Sonderman put the connection in practical terms: “I think a lot of the same skills translate. I definitely miss a brisket every now and again, but I’m happy to not have to be managing cooking something for 14 to 16 hours.” That sentence carries both affection and relief. The old discipline remains, but the clock has changed; the same cook who managed hardwoods, sauces, and rubs now applies that knowledge to rotisserie heat, spice cures, dry rubs, wings, and fried chicken.