A “Top Chef: Washington D.C.” contestant is simmering after his plans for a new Washington-area restaurant went up in smoke.

Washington native Timothy Dean is suing National Harbor, a retail and restaurant complex in Maryland where he planned to open Timothy Dean Bistro. The lawsuit says National Harbor’s developer sabotaged his plans to open what would have been the first black-owned restaurant in the complex.

Dean claims he signed a lease for the restaurant space in 2008 and put more than $1 million into the project, but the developer did not pay $600,000 it promised for improvements he was making to the space.

A spokeswoman for National Harbor did not immediately return a request for comment. The lawsuit was filed Tuesday.