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The front bar at Jake’s Tavern in Shaw sports four TV sets. Does the Baton Rouge-born chef ever feel like he’s competing with the programming?

Not at all, says Ben Jumonville, 31. Where he’s from, “food is every bit as much of the culture as football.” The New Orleans Saints and gumbo “go hand in hand,” says the alumnus of such popular Washington restaurants as the Dabney and Le Diplomate.

Jumonville, who was brought aboard in early fall by co-owners Todd and Kristen Ciuba, and ahead of Jake’s fifth anniversary on Feb. 1, has broadened the menu to include a handful of memories from home. For starters, that zesty rib-sticking gumbo, whose stock is thick from cooking chicken feet in it and dark from having the roux cooked low and slow in the oven. The blue catfish, fresh from North Carolina, gets blackened before it goes into my favorite sandwich here. A recent snow day pulled us into Jake’s, which is about 90 seats big if you count the rear patio in good weather, for a bowl crammed with creamy red beans, andouille sausage, shredded chicken and the support from the trinity of bell peppers, onions and celery. The $15 pleasure is powerful comfort, akin to a quilt and a hug.

Todd, who also co-owns Black Whiskey on 14th Street NW and likes to fish around Annapolis, likes the synergy between the Chesapeake and Louisiana in his bar. Singles, take note: A few regulars have met here, gotten engaged and brought their wedding parties to Jake’s. Who needs Tinder or Bumble when there’s a convivial bar like this to bring people (and the occasional service pooch) together?

“We’re not perfect,” Todd tells his staff. “We want to be perfecting.” Customers let the kitchen know if one day’s smoked whitefish salad is too salty. Next visit, the spread, garnished with a jolt of dehydrated Korean chiles, is good to the last swipe of a cucumber slice or potato chip. Jumonville is the sort of chef who knows when to buy something (cheese curds from Wisconsin) and when to make it from scratch (chicken tenders). Meanwhile, the bartenders are the sort who introduce themselves to strangers when they belly up and take the time to make sure newbies feel as at home as the regulars seem to be. (Thanks, Chris!)

There’s really a Jake behind the brand, by the way. He’s the owners’ relaxed, hockey-playing, now-18-year-old son. When the couple were mulling names for what they hoped would be a “chill” neighborhood bar, says Todd, Kristen replied “chill — kind of like Jake.” Todd says his son disliked the idea of a bar in his name as a kid, but now that he’s a college freshman at Florida Atlantic University, he considers it cool.

1606 7th St. NW. 202-719-2669. jakestaverndc.com. Bowls, sandwiches and baskets, $12 to $23.

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