Robert Curtis

The Climb

Robert Curtis trained at Johnson & Wales University.

Today

Curtis holds the Executive Chef role at BOURBON STEAK in Washington, DC. The title brings his career back to a place already present in his history, with the 2013 sous-chef post and the later executive appointment forming a clear before-and-after within one named restaurant. The work he describes is close to the steak itself. “I have been working on creating a signature spice rub for our Steaks.” It is a concise statement, but it says a great deal about where his attention lands: seasoning, heat, and the specific language of a house style built through repeated tasting. That focus also echoes his earlier line about spices and open flame. For Curtis, the idea of decadence is not necessarily excess; in the words he gives, it can sit inside simplicity, shared at a table and shaped by a cook’s control over fire and flavor.

Signature

Robert's signature dishes include schnitzel.

In Their Words “I fell in love with spices, cooking on an open flame, sharing meals that were decadent in their simplicity.”

Recognition

Curtis’s professional recognition is legible through appointment: Sous-Chef in 2013, then Executive Chef at Hazel, and now Executive Chef at the Washington, DC restaurant where he had already cooked earlier in his career. No earned award is needed to make that progression clear. The named roles show a chef moving from a sous-chef post into executive leadership, with Washington, DC as the through-line and BOURBON STEAK as the defining current address.