Restaurateur Hollis Wells Silverman and her hospitality group Eastern Point Collective opened not one but three restaurants during the pandemic: California-inspired all-day spot The Duck & The Peach, breezy Italian osteria La Collina, and intimate gin bar The Wells.
In just a short amount of time, James Beard Award-nominated Silverman transformed a block of DC’s Capitol Hill into one of the hottest dining destinations in town. That won’t come as a surprise to those in the industry who knew her for helping build José Andrés’s ThinkFoodGroup from five to 16 restaurants while she was the company’s COO.
That meant that when she was ready to branch out on her own, Silverman knew exactly what she wanted. “Living in the neighborhood since 2006, I had a pretty good sense of what it needed,” she says. Now, you might start a night in the neighborhood with cocktails at The Wells, continue with pasta at La Collina, and end with dessert at The Duck & The Peach.
Read on to see how the Eastern Point Collective restaurants became neighborhood anchors, and book a spot at them all on OpenTable.
Transforming Capitol Hill
Silverman’s culinary journey began on the West Coast with a hospitality degree, a stint at San Francisco’s acclaimed Jardinière, and as a wine broker in San Diego. She then spent a decade building one of the city’s most influential restaurant empires in DC with ThinkFoodGroup, so she was uniquely positioned to take the next step.
When she spotted a development opportunity on Capitol Hill in 2020, she envisioned a dining destination that would transform the block. The Duck & The Peach opened first, channeling California with floor-to-ceiling windows, blonde wood, and an open kitchen where diners could watch the rotisserie spinning.
Next came La Collina, where string lights crisscross an expansive patio and communal tables meet whimsical car-inspired wall art inside—all inspired by Silverman’s college travels through Italy. The Wells, a 30-seat gin bar wrapped in green and copper tones, completed the transformation. “I want guests to feel like they’ve stepped out of DC when they walk in,” Silverman says.
Shared kitchens, shared success
All three restaurants are designed to work together, creating what Silverman calls “a complete neighborhood experience.” They share a kitchen, an innovative setup that executive chef Katarina Petonito has perfected. “We’re able to run two and a half restaurants with the amount of staff it would take to run just one,” Petonito says.
Each has a distinct identity and dishes that locals keep coming back for. At La Collina, where the menu is inspired by regions across Italy, the grilled branzino with chimichurri has become a standout. The Duck & The Peach, as you may have guessed, has a signature duck that takes three days of curing, hanging, and roasting before it comes to the table. And Petonito brings her Filipino heritage to The Wells with her take on the popular Boy Bawang snack featuring corn nuts in a barbecue rub with crispy cheese.
“When you share resources and talent across venues, you create opportunities for creativity that wouldn’t exist if each restaurant operated in isolation,” Silverman says.
A blueprint for change
Key to starting her own hospitality group was embracing a better work model for restaurant industry workers. Even before a City Council measure allowed restaurants to charge a 20% service fee, Silverman had implemented the policy at all three of her restaurants, so tips could be distributed equally between front and back of house.
Her group has other benefits that are rare in the industry. Staffers get parental leave after one year of employment and health coverage after 60 days. The policies have already made a difference: when her executive chef and pastry chef recently had babies, they were able to take paid time off. “I’ve seen a lot of people leave the industry because it was really hard with kids,” she says.
But at EPC, staff turnover is down and the restaurants are thriving. In the four years since opening her restaurants, Silverman has shown that taking care of workers and running successful restaurants go hand in hand.
“We’re trying to take this whole team mentality instead of just the individual person running their own business,” Silverman says. “You need the team in order to make sure the guests have a great experience.”
Christabel Lobo is a food and travel writer based between Washington, DC and Abu Dhabi. Her work has appeared in publications including Insider and Lonely Planet, among others.
