Chef Tim Ma steps back from Maple Ave Restaurant as he plans a D.C. opening

It's hard for chef-owner Tim Ma to take a step back from Maple Ave Restaurant, which he calls his "baby." But, effective February 15, that's what he did, a move necessary to free up some time as he plans to launch three new concepts over the next two years.

First things first: Ma is crossing the river. He confirmed to The Post that he will be opening a D.C. restaurant, though he wasn't able to provide any other details.

"D.C. scares me, I'm not going to lie,"he said. "I've spent most of my life in Virginia, I'm comfortable in Virginia." He anticipates the new restaurant will open in 2016.

In the meantime, he has his hands full with a supper club and catering business he plans to launch next month, and his forthcoming sandwich shop, Chase the Submarine, which will open in early fall in Vienna, if construction stays on track.

The supper club, called Gather +Feast, will give fans of Maple Ave and Water & Wall a chance to have the chef cook in their own homes. Ma says he'll test dishes that may end up on future menus.

[Here's how to get a celebrity chef to cook in your kitchen]

The catering service, which will be sold through a Kickstarter,seems like a pretty great deal, too: For $100 per person (with a minimum of eight people and a max of 12), Ma will come to your house and cook one of several pre-selected but customizable menus. He'll also include a server, all of the cookware and dishware, all of the ingredients except for alcohol, and he'll cleanthe kitchen, leaving it "the way it was -- or better," said Ma.

That was the case at a recent Sips and Suppers dinner at the home of Quinn Bradlee, son of Washington Post notables Sally Quinn and the late Ben Bradlee,who was left with a spotless kitchen once the meal was over.

"At the end of the meal, [Quinn Bradlee]was looking at the kitchen, and he was like, 'I've never seen it like this!'" said Ma.

Ma has already worked out a few themed menus for Gather + Feast. There's a duck-centric menu with plenty of foie gras, a surf and turf (but "not lobster and not filet mignon," he said), and an ode to New York vegetarian restaurant Dirt Candy.

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Chef Tim Ma steps back from Maple Ave Restaurant as he plans a D.C. opening