After a decade running Tail Up Goat, one of DC’s most celebrated tasting menu restaurants, Jon Sybert and Jill Tyler did something most restaurateurs would never consider: They closed it on their own terms, gave their team almost a full year to celebrate and prepare, and started over. What they built in its place, Rye Bunny, is the restaurant they always wanted to run and the model they believe the industry needs more of.

Jon grew up in Chicago before landing in Northern Virginia and eventually dropping out of college to cook, drawn in by the industry before he even loved food. Jill grew up on St. Thomas with nightly family dinners and a hostess job at fifteen, eventually realizing she could not quit restaurants no matter how many times she tried. They met at a DC restaurant where Jon was staging, spent a summer of Jill looking for him at parties, and ended with her slamming a car door and telling him to ask her out. He eventually did.

Tail Up Goat ran for ten years, collected Michelin recognition, and changed how Jon thought about protein sourcing after his lamb ribs got so popular they moved the national lamb market and his D’Artagnan rep called to say a meeting was being held about pricing. The restaurant became more formal than they ever intended, accolades shaped guest expectations, and post-pandemic it never quite fit back together. When the lease came up, they chose not to renew.

Rye Bunny, which opened in Adams Morgan in April, is counter service with full table hospitality: guests order at the counter, then sit down to a server, fresh plateware, and a full meal. It covers 100% of full-time employee health insurance and offers a week of paid time off. Their two reservations per night carry a $25 booking fee that goes entirely to Dreaming Out Loud and Amica Center for Immigrant Rights. And it finally feels like the dinner party they’ve always wanted to host.

What we cover:

• Jill growing up on St. Thomas with nightly family dinners and Grandma Connie’s pasta; Jon growing up in Chicago and falling into kitchens before he ever loved food
• How hospitality became a career, not a detour, for each of them, and why Jill kept going back no matter how many times she thought she was supposed to stop
• Their meet cute: a stage, a summer of Jill searching for Jon at parties, and eventually a date
• How the name Tail Up Goat came from a trip to the Virgin Islands and why the name informed everything that followed
• The lamb ribs that were so popular they moved the national lamb market and what that moment taught Jon about whole-animal cooking and responsibility
• Why Tail Up Goat became more formal than they ever planned, and how accolades quietly reshaping a restaurant is something you only understand in hindsight
• The post-pandemic reckoning: why things never fit back together, and why the end of the lease felt like a gift rather than a loss
• The send-off year: announcing the closure, watching the entire team stay, and filling the dining room with people who came back one last time
• How a trip to Austin to see friends Arjav and Tracy at Birdie’s changed Jill’s mind on counter service, and then changed Jon’s in one dinner
• What Rye Bunny actually is: counter service ordering, full table service, earlier hours, and a kitchen that gets one ticket at a time
• Why 100% health insurance and a week of PTO were nonnegotiables from day one, and how the counter service model made them possible
• “A special place, not a special occasion”: the single sentence Brian Miller wrote that became the mission of Rye Bunny
• The $25 reservation fee and why it goes entirely to Dreaming Out Loud and Amica Center for Immigrant Rights
• What is on the menu right now: anchovy toast, roast chicken on focaccia, and why a regular named Joe said the roast chicken is the most Rye Bunny dish at Rye Bunny
• Their favorite spots in DC: Seki, Martha Dear, La Tahona, Albi, and Yellow
• What they are most proud of and what is coming next, including a monthly bottles and bingo night starting in November
• Advice for entrepreneurs: find a mentor who has done it, find a partner who is great at what you are not, and always project for the worst case

Find Rye Bunny at ryebunny.com and on Instagram at @ryebunnydc. Visit them in person at 1827 Adams Mill Road in Adams Morgan, Washington DC. Note: there is a fake TikTok account — the one to follow is on Instagram only.

This episode is sponsored by Vermont Nut Free Chocolates. Get 20% off your order through December 31st with code PERFECTBITE at vermontnutfree.com.

This episode is also sponsored by BLiS Gourmet, Michigan’s small-batch producer of barrel-aged condiments, sauces, and caviar. Get 15% off your order through November 1, 2026 with code PERFECTBITE. Elevate your everyday cooking at blisgourmet.com.

This episode is also sponsored by Takeaways. Indulge your salt tooth with Takeaways’ cheesy, protein-packed snack bars. Get 20% off with code PERFECTBITE at eattakeaways.com.

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