Washington's Venerable Restaurant, The Willard Room, Reopens
this Fall, Refreshed with New Look, Chef and Sommelier

BIOS OF CHEF AND SOMMELIER ARE ATTACHED, PLEASE SEE BELOW

Washington DC, September 7, 2006 -- Reopening following its annual August hiatus, The Willard Room re-emerges September 9, refreshed with an exciting new culinary team and new appearance featuring new chairs, with fabrics of varying shades of white, cream and gray, a major contrast to the former soft pale green and yellow shades. Chef de Cuisine, Nicolas Legret whose culinary skills have indulged discerning palates in such Michelin rated restaurants as Paris' Hotel Le Bristol and Hotel Le Crillon, brings this award-winning restaurant to new heights of culinary excellence with seasonal menus from far-reaching sources from such regions as the Mediterranean as well as American regional sources.

Chef Legret's dishes excite the palate by his combining of traditional cuisine of exotic locales with sublime flavor and textural infusions. Working with Chef Legret, Sommelier Caterina Abbruzzetti, is creating a 3,000-bottle wine cellar with over 250 different labels, as she assists Chef Legret in designing tasting menus with wine pairings and creative and entertaining suggestions. Indeed dining guests of The Willard Room will be entertained with the classic tableside service built into the fall menu with the fork and spoon insignia indicating these tantalizing offerings.

The Fall menu, repositioned to offer enhanced value for a distinctive culinary experience, will feature such items as, Maine Lobster poached with onion-ginger ravioli, baby spinach and lemongrass lobster broth (MP), Tableside served Salt-crusted Mediterranean Dorade with Eggplant caviar, parsley, green olives and Piperade jus. For exciting start, appetizers Sauteed Frog's Legs Meuniere with potato onion gnocchi and watercress mousseline ($16), or Roasted California Squab with Toasted Pistachio, date and orange ($14) are palate thrillers. Reservations are suggested. Please call (202) 637-7440.

INFUSING MICHELIN-RATED RESTAURANT EXPERTISE,
THE WILLARD ROOM WELCOMES CHEF DE CUISINE, NICOLAS LEGRET

Washington's revered fine dining restaurant, The Willard Room, welcomes Chef Nicolas Legret whose culinary skills have indulged discerning palates in such Michelin rated restaurants as Paris' Hotel Le Bristol and Hotel Le Crillon. Prior to joining The Willard Room, Chef Legret was a managing partner and Chef de Cuisine at Bistro 123 in McLean. He held the positions of executive sous chef at Sofitel Lafayette Square, where he worked with the world acclaimed three-star Michelin chef, Antoine Westermann and was executive sous chef at Le Mas Perrier in Philadelphia.

A native of Blois in France's Loire Valley, Chef Legret has spent much of his career steeped in the French culinary traditions. Prior to his posts as chef de partie at Hotel's Le Bristol and Le Crillon, he held chef de partie and 1st commis de cuisine posts at the Michelin rated Auberge De Conde, Hotel Le Marinez, and Restaurant Le Grand Vefour.

Chef Legret studied at the Blois Restaurant School where his focus was primarily based on classic French cuisine. He describes his innovative cooking style as a "classic French technique with influences from the South of France." Legret works to incorporate newer cooking techniques to his traditional French style to give each of his dishes a distinctive flavor. Some of Legret's signature dishes that will be added to the innovative Willard Room menu, includes a Pan Seared Rare Tuna Biscayenne on a bed of tomato, red onion, red pepper, garlic and thyme fondue, a Salt Crusted Mediterranean Dorade with eggplant caviar, and a Veal Breast stuffed with wild mushrooms, and baby spinach argula and served with a celery root puree, and crispy potatoes.

As for his plans for The Willard Room, Legret would like to continue to uphold the prestigious niche that has been carved out and further The Willard Room's recognition locally as well as internationally. To Legret his most important task at hand is to "ensure the clients are consistently having an unparalleled dining experience."

Images of Chef Legret are available. Please contact Meredith Goldberg at 202.637.7304

THE WILLARD ROOM WELCOMES SOMMELIER CATERINA ABBRUZZETTI AND A
DISTINGUISHED NEW WINE PROGRAM

Bringing over ten years of experience of wine program development for some of the world's most celebrated restaurants, The Willard Room, in its development of a wine program, proudly welcomes Ms. Caterina Abbruzzetti to their team as Sommelier.

Culling wines from around the world with a focus on small producers, quality and value, Ms. Abbruzzetti will create a 3,000-bottle wine cellar with over 250 different labels for The Willard Room. She works closely in The Willard Room with Chef Nicolas Legret, creating tasting menus with wine pairings, offering creative and entertaining suggestions and with the executive chef Daniel Kenney to bring fine wine offerings to all the culinary outlets of the historic Willard InterContinental hotel.

Her distinguished pairing suggestions will enhance the Willard's refined catering offerings as the hotel prepares for the beginning of the Washington social season.
Prior to joining the Willard, Ms. Abbruzzetti served as Assistant Sommelier at Michel Richard's Citronelle in DC under Chef Sommelier Mark Slater and she built and directed the wine program for Restaurant 2941 which received recognition from Washingtonian Magazine as on of the top best wine lists in 2006. Her resume includes intense training at a long list of famous restaurants from The French Laundry to Charlie Trotter's in the U.S. and experience at Le Gavroche, (London). She also worked locally as an assistant wine sales consultant at Addy Bassin's MacArthur Fine Wine Shop.

"Caterina is driven to maintain a fun and creative wine list that caters to every guests taste and budget. She works closely with me at finding the perfect pairing of wine and food and she elevates the dining experience by offering first class wine service and selection," said Greg Van Riet, Director of Food and Beverage.

Born in London, Ms. Abbruzzetti received her Viticulture Degree at Napa Valley College in Napa Valley, California; she holds a Court of Master Sommeliers Certificate and is a member of Les Dames des' Escoffier DC and CR Women Chefs and Restaurateurs. She began her career interning at other Relais Chateaux Alliances in Europe and USA. Currently pursuing her Masters of Wine and is on my third advanced levels through the Washington Wine Academy and The Spirit and Wine Education Trust in Great Britain, Ms. Abbruzzetti is an active member of The Washington Wine Academy, DC chapter and an active volunteer in wine events for local charities. She is a member of the Washington Wine Academy and serves on the tasting panel for Virginia Wine for the Virginia Wine Review. She also makes wine with Jim Law of Linden Winery in Virginia.

Images of Caterina Abbruzzetti are available.
Please contact Meredith Goldberg at 202.637.7304

The Willard Room
"One of the grandest dining rooms in the city" - Washingtonian

See "where lobbying was born", at this "magnificent" downtown "classic" for "power breakfasts", "high profile dinners" and "celebrations"; with a staff that treats "every table" like the "most important" and a "regal" setting, you can "pretend you're dining in grand style aboard the Titanic" lucky for you, your last meal "before sinking" will be and "excellent" French-accented New American feast. Zagat Survey, 2006

The Willard InterContinental is located on Pennsylvania Avenue just two blocks from the White House and the Smithsonian. The classic hotel combines heritage and luxury with contemporary comfort and technology. Known as "America's Hotel" the is a Washington institution that has hosted almost every U.S. president since Franklin Pierce in 1853. It was here that Julia Ward Howe wrote "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", where Abraham Lincoln lived for a month, where, in the grand lobby, President Ulysses S. Grant popularized the term "Lobbyist", and where Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King finished his famous "I Have A Dream" speech. From its inception to this day, the Willard has been a major force in the social and political life of Washington, DC.

For information and reservations call the
Willard InterContinental Hotel
Tel. 202-628-9100, 1-800-827-1747
Visit our Web site at:
www.washington.interconti.com