The Bazaar sits prominently in the lobby of the Waldorf Astoria, formerly the Trump hotel. Photograph by Rey Lopez. The Trump Organization is in preliminary talks to bring its hotel back to the Old Post Office Building on Pennsylvania Avenue, currently home to the Waldorf Astoria. The Wall Street Journal reports that Eric Trump met at Mar-a-Lago last week with an executive from merchant bank BDT & MSD Partners, which controls the hotel’s long-term lease. If a deal does happen, it could create a sticky situation for José Andrés, who previously pulled out of a deal with the Trump hotel but now operates his high-end restaurant the Bazaar at the Waldorf Astoria. But the chef’s hospitality company, José Andrés Group, now tells Washingtonian that it has no intention of going anywhere. “There are no plans for the restaurant to change operations regardless of the hotel ownership. We are committed to operating at the historic Old Post Office,” José Andrés Group said in a statement. Andrés, whose humanitarian organization, World Central Kitchen, is busy feeding Californians impacted by the devastating fires, did not directly respond to a request for comment. In 2014, Andrés announced plans to open a fine-dining restaurant in the the original DC Trump hotel. But when Donald Trump announced his bid for the presidency with incendiary comments about Mexican immigrants, Andrés pulled out of the deal, setting off high-profile lawsuits between the two sides. At the time, Andrés told the Washington Post that Trump’s statements made it “impossible” to move forward with a restaurant in the hotel: “More than half of my team is Hispanic, as are many of our guests. And, as a proud Spanish immigrant and recently naturalized American citizen myself, I believe that every human being deserves respect, regardless of immigration status.” The lawsuits ultimately settled under undisclosed terms in 2017. The lobby space initially slated for Andrés instead became BLT Prime, a steakhouse that catered to the right-wing elite throughout Trump’s presidency. Meanwhile, Andrés positioned himself as a foil to Trump, frequently needling him on social media. So it seemed like karma for Andrés when the Trump hotel closed and became a Waldorf Astoria; He returned to the property with the splashy 2023 opening of his avant-garde restaurant, the Bazaar. The debut fulfilled Andrés’s longtime dream of operating a restaurant in the Old Post Office Building—an idea sparked three decades prior when one of his Jaleo customers, then-Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, planted the idea of revitalizing the property. Andrés responded to Trump’s most recent election win with relative optimism: “We had republican and democrat presidents since I arrived 32 years ago….we will be fine USA will be fine,” Andrés told Washingtonian in a text message the day after the election. He also downplayed Trump’s ability to make good on threats for a mass deportation of immigrants: “He would not be able to deport….because he will need them to build the country and run it….including his own wineries and hotels…” Meanwhile, a representative from Sushi Nakazawa, which has operated in the back of the Trump hotel and Waldorf Astoria, says the omakase destination isn’t going anywhere either.The post José Andrés’s Restaurant Plans to Remain in Old Post Office No Matter Who Operates Hotel first appeared on Washingtonian.