Call it the “Bam!” that changed his life. Growing up in Medina, Ohio, Ryan Ratino was inspired to start cooking after watching countless hours of Emeril Lagasse on television. Aiming to kick his culinary skills up a notch, he attended Le Cordon Bleu in Orlando, then cut his teeth at Shula’s Steak House and Todd English’s bluezoo. He later decamped to New York City, where he worked at wd~50, Wylie Dufresne’s influential, boundary-pushing restaurant known for its modernist cooking.
Moving south to Washington, D.C., in 2016, Ratino became executive chef of Ripple, where he won the 2017 RAMMY Award for Rising Culinary Star of the Year. That same year, he opened Bresca, a chic reimagining of a Parisian bistro that earned him his first Michelin star. Three years later, he debuted Jônt in the space upstairs. The intimate 17-seat restaurant offers a lavish tasting menu shaped by French and Japanese techniques, with much of the cooking done over a wood fire. It holds two Michelin stars.
His latest restaurant in the nation’s capital opened in May 2026. Ox & Olive, a gothic-chic steakhouse with a creative martini program, occupies the Georgetown space once home to Johnny Spero’s Michelin-starred Reverie. Beef is sourced from more than a dozen farms across the United States, Australia, and Japan The selection ranges from straightforward strip loins, tenderloins, short ribs, and wagyu flank steaks to pedigreed, large-format cuts presented tableside and priced by the pound.
D.C. was just the beginning for Ratino. Hive Hospitality has since expanded to Florida with MAASS at Four Seasons Hotel and Residences Fort Lauderdale and Ômo by Jônt in Winter Park, each of which holds one Michelin star. Ratino has also set his sights on Los Angeles with Ôde by Jônt. “California is the Loire Valley of America,” he says. “So, we’re excited to be on the West Coast and have direct access to all their produce, as well as all the seafood.”
Though Ratino has grown to savor the business of restaurants, he remains intimately connected to the culinary side. “Between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m., I’m always in the kitchen,” says Ratino, who received the Michelin Guide Young Chef Award in 2023. “I want to stay involved in the operations, be in front of the guests, and be cooking, because it’s what keeps us who we are.”
As his restaurant group has grown, so have Ratino’s ambitions. “I’d love for us to be the most Michelin-starred restaurant group ever in the United States,” he says. Then comes the caveat: “But even though that’s an amazing goal, it’s not my driving force. When you strive to be the best and to be excellent at what you do, then adjacent to that comes these fun accolades, like James Beard, Michelin, and World’s 50 Best. However, if you’re simply aiming for those accolades, you lose your soul.”
