Lance London

The 'Taste' of Style

by Rodney Branche


There are many great restaurants in the Washington, DC area that satisfy tastes of all imagination. We all have the opportunity to enjoy the almost infinite varieties of culinary establishments at our leisure, however there is one thing that everyone has in common regarding their individual taste that's close to their heart. In this case it's Soul Food, North Carolina to be precise from it's creamy Mac & Cheese, to delicious Fried Chicken and Seafood.

Lance's Grandmother who was raised in North Carolina had a huge influence in his culinary skills and tastes in Southern Cuisine. She was a member of Jerusalem Baptist Church on "P" St. in Georgetown, their family helped run the church. Strong memories remain clear and fresh in Lance's mind of the delicious meals that were cooked on Sundays with the aroma of the forthcoming meal filled the house. Everything was served in spectacular style, even the tasty Corn Pudding was served with great presentation at the table. Above all, she stressed the importance of quality in cooking at all times. As a child of 6, Lance wanted to join in on the action. His first experience was cooking pancakes, eggs, and bacon on Saturdays, this surprised his parents greatly. By carefully observing his cooking breakfast over the years Lance easily mimicked his fathers method and skills. As time went on his parents allowed him to cook the family dinners. In college, Lance went on to impress his friends with delicious amounts of Mac & Cheese with sweet Kool Aide to quench their thirsts.

Yes, one might say that you can get Soul Food anywhere, but not from the famous Lance London, native of the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Lance not only serves up outstanding food from his beautifully styled restaurants, brilliantly decorated in eye caching colors and unique antiques to add to the festive mood while entering the establishments. All of the restaurants reflect the owner's smooth delightful personality with it's fabulous flair. The famous restaurateur was raised in the DC area but his family hails from Riley, South Carolina. While attending Suitland H.S., Lance stayed active playing football and working up to becoming a Championship Wrestler for the school. As a student he established a statement in style by reading "GQ" magazine and sharpening his image by sporting ties, Bass Weejuns and shopping at the popular "Cavalier" Men's Clothing store in downtown DC. , not to mention partying to the records purchased at the "Waxie Maxie" record store. Yes...image was very important!    

After studying Marketing and Biology at Morgan State University, Lance decided to become an Entrepreneur. He worked with several marketing and sales opportunities before establishing his first restaurant in in downtown Silver Spring, near Colesville Road. Unfortunately, a fire forced him to relocate to Largo Maryland, a larger location with ample seating and full service bar. Now the dapper restaurateur has 4 locations with more in the planning stages.

Lance predicts the CK Burger will capture the burger market with everything you can get at a cookout in a stand alone restaurant concept. This will be introduced at the Rhode Island Ave. location, scheduled to open in November of this year.

We also must congratulate Mr. London for winning Steve Harvey's "Hoodie Award" for the second year in a row!

Lance's philosophy to good service is, "When other people get what they want, you get what you want"!