All-Purpose
People

Westfield, New Jersey native Michael Friedman's professional cooking career began as a prep cook with Mon Ami Gabi. Friedman spent three years with Rich Melman's Lettuce Entertain You group, rising to sous chef in just eight months before enrolling in the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York.‬‬‬

After graduating at the top of his CIA class, Friedman began working for Jose Andres at Zaytinya. After two years, he left his mentor to travel the world. Eating through Italy, Greece, Turkey and Northern Africa, Friedman picked up the interesting and exciting nuances of each country. Back in the US, Friedman spent time staging in some influential kitchens, including San Francisco's Incanto, Los Angeles’ Lucques, Philadelphia's Vetri and New York's Scarpetta. Friedman returned to D.C. as Executive Sous Chef of Proof, and under the tutelage of Executive Chef Haidar Karoum, he learned to hone his craft and simplify his style to let seasonal ingredients shine.‬‬‬

Friedman opened up The Red Hen in 2014. His eclectic menu offers guests a focused selection of seasonal, Italian-influenced dishes interpreted with Mid-Atlantic ingredients. Red Hen continues to be a neighborhood gem within Washington DC that excites diners with new dishes every season.

In 2016 he opened All-Purpose Shaw - serving antipasti, classic Italian American dishes and deck oven-fired pizzas in the heart of downtown D.C. As a New Jersey native, All Purpose became a love letter to Chef Friedman’s youth. Shortly after its opening, All-Purpose was named D.C.'s top restaurant by The Washington Post. In 2017, Friedman was recognized as a James Beard Award semifinalist. Following the success of the original All-Purpose, Friedman opened up All-Purpose Capitol Riverfront on the Anacostia River in 2018. The new location includes favorites from the Shaw location and new dishes inspired by the Eastern U.S. and Amalfi Coastlines and earned Friedman and his business partners the distinction of Restaurateurs of the Year presented by the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington in 2019. Michael Friedman holds a bachelor’s degree in communications and a minor in American history from Boston University.

Chicago native Michael O’Malley has been involved in food operations of various sorts since the age of 16. While earning his B.A. in Hotel Administration and Food and Beverage Management from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, O’Malley spent a summer as an intern with Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises (LEYE) in Chicago.

Upon graduation, O'Malley moved back to Chicago, continuing his tenure with LEYE and developing his management skills at several locations of company's classic French bistro, Mon Ami Gabi. In 2005, he moved to Washington D.C., where he served as assistant general manager of the Mon Ami Gabi in Bethesda, MD. It was during his time in the nation's capital that he also met his future business partner, Michael Friedman.

After four years in D.C., O'Malley moved back to Chicago to pursue his MBA at DePaul University, where he further developed his entrepreneurial skills and drew up new business ideas. With his MBA in Entrepreneurship and Finance, he developed The Red Hen concept with Friedman, and began looking for spaces for their first project together.

In April 2013, O'Malley and his partners opened their Italian-influenced restaurant in the Bloomingdale neighborhood of Washington, DC. O'Malley is responsible for the daily front-of-the-house operations, including delivering a comfortable and approachable style of service to complement the restaurant's welcoming neighborhood sensibility. In 2016 O’Malley and his business partners opened All-Purpose Shaw - serving antipasti, classic Italian American dishes and deck oven-fired pizzas in the heart of downtown D.C. Shortly after its opening, All-Purpose was named D.C.'s best restaurant of 2016 by The Washington Post. The success of that brand led to expansion into a second location near Nationals Stadium in 2018 earning O’Malley and his business partners the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington’s award for “Restaurateurs of the Year” in 2019.

To say that Gareth Croke was raised in the hospitality industry wouldn’t be an understatement. Born in England and raised in Ireland where his grandmother ran a bed and breakfast, his father also managed hotels. When still just a young boy, his father’s job brought them to the U.S. where Gareth grew up playing in and around the General Manager’s office at his father’s hotel.

Once grown, Croke attended Loyola University in Baltimore where he earned his business degree before following in his family’s footsteps and joining the hotel business by taking a job managing the Blarney Park Hotel in Cork. Later, he moved back to the States to work as the Food and Beverage manager at the Sundial Beach Resort in Sanibel, Florida. Heeding the call of international cooperation and a sense of adventure, he moved to Australia to work at the Olympics in Sydney and stayed on as the manager of a wine and seafood bistro.

Upon returning to the States in 2001, Croke teamed up with his brother, Matt, and his longtime friend, Colin McDonough to open Boundary Stone, their ode to the neighborhood pubs of Ireland. Boundary Stone quickly became a mainstay in Croke’s Washington, D.C. neighborhood Bloomingdale earning acclaim from critics and neighbors.

After that success, Croke and McDonough collaborated with the team from another Bloomingdale neighborhood institution, The Red Hen and an idea was born: to start a pizza/red sauce joint called All-Purpose Pizzeria. Opening in 2016 in Shaw, the pizzeria quickly grew a cult following and was named the Best Restaurant in Washington for 2016 by The Washington Post.  A second location in Navy Yard followed in 2018 and one year later in 2019, Gareth Croke and his business partners were recognized as the Restaurateurs of the Year by the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington.

New Jersey native Colin McDonough has over 25 years of restaurant and bar experience and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington.

Upon moving to D.C., McDonough was behind the stick tending bar at Tom Toms in Adams Morgan when he met Gareth Croke. Their shared love of the Philadelphia Eagles sparked a friendship and, later, a partnership. 

In the early 2000’s, McDonough worked at the Dupont Grill before heading out for a 5 year stint in Lake Tahoe. That whole time, an idea and plan was forming with his old friend Gareth: that they’d open a neighborhood pub that would be the cornerstone of their community. 

In 2008, McDonough moved back to DC to begin making that dream a reality. While still in the planning phase, McDonough worked at Fado with Gareth Croke and Gareth’s brother Matt. Colin, Gareth, Matt, and McDonough’s brother Peter watched their vision materialize in 2011 when they opened Boundary Stone, a neighborhood pub in Bloomingdale.

Just 5 years later, McDonough and Gareth Croke teamed up with the chef and owners from neighboring restaurant The Red Hen to open All-Purpose Pizzeria. The pizzeria was met with mass acclaim and the original location in Shaw was named The Washington Post’s Best Restaurant of the Year in 2016. Following a second location near Nationals Stadium in 2018, McDonough and his partners were recognized by the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington as Restauranteurs of the Year.