Loudoun isn’t only known for its scenic views and beautiful landscapes; it’s also a culinary destination. From inventive Indian dishes to upscale farm-to-table dining, these eight Loudoun restaurants from our 50 Best Restaurants list are redefining local flavors and culinary creativity.
By Alice Levitt, Olga Boikess, Dawn Klavon, and Alyssa Langer
Price Key: Entrées = $ 15 and under | $$ 16–25 | $$$ 26–40 | $$$$ 41 and over | * = prix fixe only
Celebration by Rupa Vira
Ashburn | Modern Indian | $$
Four years into running this innovative restaurant, chef Rupa Vira is still pushing the boundaries of Indian cuisine.
For one, diners are unlikely to find Calamari 65 anywhere else. In her lush purple-hued dining room, Vira serves her version of the Indo-Chinese dish usually made with chicken, featuring tentacles coated in rice flour. They’re fried, then enrobed in a spicy red sauce dotted with fragrant curry leaves.
Other new dishes include a boneless lamb curry flavored with chipotle for a smoky burn that seems as suited to enchiladas as a dip for garlic naan.
But diners shouldn’t miss Vira’s classics, such as her Celebration Special, a creamy makhan malai that’s served amid a pour of dry ice and topped with rose petals and edible gold. There’s no skimping on creativity here, but what makes Celebration a destination is its outsized flavors.
Eat This:
Calamari 65, chipotle gosht, Celebration Special
The Conservatory at Goodstone Inn & Restaurant
Middleburg | Modern American | $$$$*
A fire is roaring inside the glass-encased Conservatory, whether the trees on view through the windows are dusted with snow or it’s the hottest day of the year. Hunting lodge–style comfort prevails throughout all seasons here. So does the farm-fresh, prix fixe fare grown right at the inn.
In season, that might mean garlicky poached tomatoes. They’re buried beneath a layer of mozzarella that executive chef Paul Verica brulées tableside, caramelizing the cheese and releasing the aroma of the surrounding basil. It’s miles away from the boring Caprese salad the dish could have been.
Whether diners choose the tasting menu (with three, five, or seven courses) or the nine-to-12-course Chef’s Trust menu, there will be gifts like a Chesapeake oyster brightened with calamansi to start and mango-flavored mignardises to finish. Another thing you can count on? The cozy atmosphere.
Eat This:
Olive oil–poached tomatoes, scallop, strawberry & chocolate
Harrimans Grill (No. 5)
Middleburg | Modern American | $$$$
Head to the heart of horse country for upscale, regional cuisine. The expansive circular dining room provides sweeping panoramic views of the surrounding verdant grounds. Seasoned servers orchestrate a well-timed performance, presenting dazzling farm-to-table fare, much of it grown in Salamander Middleburg’s own gardens.
The best bang for your resort-casual buck here is the Taste of Harrimans, which includes a starter, entrée, and dessert. The grilled octopus, laid out in a bed of braised field peas, dotted with Spanish chorizo, drizzled with fragrant chimichurri, and crowned with orange zest, is exceptional.
Visually stunning desserts intermingle unusual but harmonious ingredients. The strawberry rose tartlet presents fried-and-frozen vermicelli scattered among rose granite, phyllo, and pistachio ganache — somehow it works.
Harrimans’ diners can expect across-the-board excellence and garden-fresh ingredients in this inviting dining room overlooking rolling hills.
Eat This:
Grilled octopus, Maine diver scallops, wagyu filet
Magnolias at the Mill
Purcellville | American | $$$
Too many restaurants try to make locavorism their entire concept. Yes, simple foods prepared simply can be dreamy, but Magnolias does it several steps better with creative preparations served in a setting that exudes history.
The scent of old wood inside the circa-1905 mill brings its own appeal to dishes that are sourced from Purcellville and its neighbors. Grilled local peaches are the base for one of its many complex salads. This one combines candied hazelnuts with crumbled goat cheese and mint vinaigrette with a balsamic reduction for a symphony of sweet and tart elements.
The burgers here are just as varied, but the greatest rewards might be with more upscale dishes that incorporate seasonal risottos. One dish has a pink one flavored with raspberry, while another sparkles with fresh mint. It’s local food that goes beyond simplicity.
Eat This:
Grilled peach salad, free-range bison burger, bread pudding du jour
The Restaurant at Patowmack Farm (No. 1)
Lovettsville | Modern American | $$$$*
Michelin inspectors, take note. Colby Janowitz, an alum of California’s three-starred SingleThread, one of only two American restaurants on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, took over the kitchen at this Lovettsville working farm last summer. Since then, NoVA has been treated to its own slice of SingleThread’s aesthetic, and The Restaurant at Patowmack Farm has never been better.
Japanese influences now weave their way across nine courses, including three desserts from pastry chef Mykel Winterstine. Each course unwraps like a gift.
In one dish, slices of tuna and compressed watermelon are arranged in a rosette carefully laid with purslane and spicy banana peppers in a foamed dashi made with fresh mint. In another, a black-blistered scallop reposes atop creamy housemade pasta with sweet corn, jalapeños, heirloom tomatoes, and leaves of Thai basil. The corn bows again in the forms of cake and ice cream, served with a peach Bavarian.
Indeed, this restaurant, with its well-informed servers, views of the Potomac, and unparalleled cuisine, is a gift to our region — and possibly Michelin inspectors, too.
Eat This:
Monthly menus change with what’s fresh at the farm. Just trust that the prix fixe will leave you in the best of hands.
Roadhouse Momo & Grill
Ashburn | Nepalese | $$
Momos, those overstuffed, aromatically spiced dumplings for which Himalayan food is best known, get marquee billing here. But the ample menu invites diners to learn more about Nepalese cuisine.
Start with the sekuwa, spice-rubbed meat that’s lightly charred on the grill. At Roadhouse, order pork, chicken, paneer, or even buffalo in this fantasy of fire and flesh. The chow mein may be inspired by the familiar Chinese dish, but Nepalese spices suffuse it, allowing the flavors to take flight into the stratosphere. Fans of Indian butter chicken shouldn’t miss the makhmali chicken, a more robust version that’s as rich with chiles and cumin as it is with tomatoes and cream.
Yes, the juicy dumplings are worthy of your time and gastric real estate, but Roadhouse shows diners that Nepalese food is so much more than momos.
Eat This:
Sekuwa, chow mein, makhmali chicken
Sense of Thai
Ashburn | Thai | $$
The “St.” at the end of this stalwart’s name may have gone the way of the aurochs this year, but the street food hits keep coming. While you may have tried all of beverage director Jeremy Ross’ whimsical cocktails during the restaurant’s eight-year span, chances are there are still dishes from chef Porntipa Pattanamekar that you have yet to discover.
The sausage-packed Street Fried Rice is as redolent of sweet-and-sour tamarind as it is chiles, and both could bring sensitive souls to tears. If you’re moved by beauty (and heat), the crunchy papaya salad, som tum, could do the same.
This is the Thai night market dining you crave, with the service — and air conditioning — you deserve.
Eat This:
Som tum, Hang Over Lo Mein, Street Fried Rice
Tuscarora Mill
Leesburg | American | $$$
This chameleon of a restaurant feeds the masses with gusto. Located on the site of an historic 1899 grain mill, Tuskie’s offers comfortable cuisine with broad appeal.
Expect to find multigenerational families dining next to dreamy-eyed couples next to boisterous ladies’-night-out groups, each joyfully indulging in a menu that runs the culinary gamut.
Stop in for a smoked beef brisket sandwich and bacon-bedazzled corn chowder. Or plan a special night out dining on a rosemary-laced, grilled rack of lamb or Béarnaise-blessed beef tips and scallops.
Appetizers worth ordering include exceptional crispy chicken wings and pork belly tacos. Portions are beyond generous, ensuring leftovers to crave. Tuskie’s all-around appeal attracts guests from across the region to experience the draw of historic Leesburg’s downtown, all while enjoying a notable bite.
Eat This:
Crispy chicken wings, corn chowder, The Barn Yard “Au Jus”
Feature image of Harrimans Grill by Michael Butcher
This story originally ran in our November issue. For more stories like this, subscribe to Northern Virginia Magazine.
