Jeff Tunks, on Everything but Food

On Halloween six years ago, Jeff Tunks, executive chef-co-owner of DC Coast, Acadiana and PassionFish, went as a chef without tattoos. “Nobody got it,” he says. “I wasn’t that convincing.”

You have to have a sense of humor to oversee so many properties, especially in a competitive market like D.C., and Tunks is ready for more. He just opened District Commons and Burger, Tap...