With eight years under their belt and likely many more to come, Purple Patch in Mount Pleasant has proven that they are here to stay. Their traditional Bicolano Filipino food introduces new flavors and spices that leave eaters longing for more. Through the use of coconut milk, adobo and ube, the ingredients expand the horizons to exciting fresh foods- raising the bar for Filipino food everywhere.
Walking inside, you instantly get a whiff of the home-cooked meals waiting to be enjoyed. A wave of “Hello” and “How are you tonight?” crash over as you are instantly attended to. The blue wallpaper wraps around the base of the restaurant, balancing perfectly with the unique light fixtures hanging from the ceiling. Faint chatter bounces off unique china, creating a comforting ambiance.
Standout restaurants are only as powerful as their owner and Purple Patch is as stand-out as they come. Marine Corps veteran, chef, and owner, Patrice Cleary, founded Purple Patch – the first traditional Filipino restaurant in Washington DC. In just three months, it became the outstanding star of the Mount Pleasant restaurant scene.
From the minute you enter the restaurant, it is hard not to notice the close relationship Cleary has with her servers and staff. When one particular employee walked by, she mentioned “he’s been working here since the beginning. A lot of others have been around for the full ride as well. I have all of my trust they will suggest great things.” She notes since they have been a part of this business since the beginning, she has full faith in them to make the restaurant function as normal.
Cleary served in the Marine Corps for eight years and credits that experience for helping change her view on life and style of management. Her interactions with the staff were as if they had known one another their whole lives, confirming the mantra “you need to get them [staff] to believe in one common goal, that goal is being very customer service oriented”.
As a female and veteran-owned restaurant, it is difficult to break into “a very male-driven industry.” The difficulty entering the scene without “compromising your integrity” was a daunting task that she managed to overcome smoothly. “At the end of the day if you don’t get acknowledged, that should play no bearing on your drive and love for what you do,” Cleary said.
Things haven’t always been easy for Cleary, as her restaurant was the first traditionally Filipino restaurant in Washington DC. “We were a hot spot and people wanted to know who we were, what we were doing and why we deserve to be here,” she comments when asked about her first year open.
When being interviewed for the first time back in 2015, when Purple Patch first opened, she was asked how she felt to be a part of the ‘Filipino trend.’ This was “something I really took offense to because I don’t feel that our culture and our food is a trend at all.” Cleary explains that she finds it “important to spread [her] story in any way possible through [her] food.”
From the decor to the dishes themselves, everything has connections to Cleary’s childhood, making the restaurant that much more special. When asked about her favorite dish, Cleary struggled to pick one, saying “all the dishes that I have created factor into a different point in my life that brought back fond memories.” A majority of the menu is based on Bicol, a part of the Philippines that her mother is from, as well as “my own artistic approach on what I feel Filipino food should look and taste like”.
Her message from the start has always been to be authentic and welcoming. She hopes customers know when coming in to dine at Purple Patch, “they are coming to my home to have a home-cooked meal, food that’s made with love, and people that genuinely care about their well-being for the short time that they are here”.
After years full of ups and downs, Cleary can say with certainty “not only is this the first Filipino restaurant in the nation’s capital, but because I also own the real estate now, this will forever be a Filipino restaurant in the nation’s capital.”
As for the food, there are no complaints. Her coconut-braised short rib adobo was cooked to perfection, sitting in soft potatoes and bok choy to top it all off. The menu has a wide variety of foods for all diets and preferences, from chicken to pork to vegetarian and vegan options.
To top off the night, their wide selection of ube desserts ended the dinner with a bang. Fresh fruit served on the side of an ube cheesecake, with a gorgeous flower as a garnish on top. The meal was the perfect blend of sweet and savory, satisfying your hunger while also leaving you wanting more. The food was as wonderful as Cleary was, making me even more excited to come back to visit sometime soon.
