UPDATED: 1:31 p.m. Aug. 3

New chef de cuisine Maria Evans has been working with Teddy Folkman for nearly two months now at Granville Moore‘s, quietly tinkering and expanding the menu, and nobody knew about it.  What gives? How could they have kept this under wraps so long?

“It’s a challenging kitchen,” says a spokeswoman for the Atlas District restaurant, famous for its mussels, frites, and killer selection of Belgian beers. “She wanted to make sure she was comfortable” before telling Washingtonians about her presence.

Evans and Folkman have already rolled out a new late night menu, available from 11:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Thursdays through Saturdays. It features six items, all $8, ranging from braised lamb sliders and griddled flatbread to fromage bleu poppers and risotto cakes.

The pair plans to expand the menu even more in the coming weeks. Look for composed plates and dinner entrees to go along with the moules frites and sandwiches. Some of the new dishes are already popping up as specials but a more complete menu overhaul should arrive later this month or next.

What kind of plates can you look forward to? How about a New England-style fried clam cake (essentially a fritter with house-made tartar)? Or a panko-crusted roasted red pepper stuffed with lump crab meat, risotto, and cheese? Or a plate of frites topped with malted chorizo and smoked gouda sauce?

Evans comes to Granville Moore’s from Trio Restaurant, the two-year-old seaside restaurant in Narragansett, R.I., owned by the Newport Restaurant Group. Evans was the first female to serve as executive chef for one of the group’s restaurants; she previously served as executive sous at the group’s Castle Hill Inn and Resort.

According to Evans’ biography, she is not formally trained in the culinary arts:

Chef Evans took a non-traditional route to her culinary career. Originally hoping to become a physical therapist, she enrolled at the University of Rhode Island after graduating from Rogers High School in Newport in 1994. Quickly discovering that physical therapy wasn’t the field for her, she began working in kitchens around town until she could figure out what she wanted to do. It was while working as a line cook at the Castle Hill Inn & Resort in April 2000 that she decided she found her niche. Driven by the “thrill of the unknown,” Chef Evans has honed her craft over the past decade with hands-on training, and continues to be inspired by the chefs and cooks she collaborates with in the kitchen.