Michelle Reday entered the workforce waiting tables. She then utilized the structure that she learned from exacting Great American Restaurants during her high-level career at government agencies and tech firms. When she was laid off from her program director role in 2025, she was already at work on her next step: starting a wine bar. As she puts it, losing her job “opened the space for me to pursue Falcon & Fig.”
The result is a charming tapas restaurant with pan-Mediterranean recipes from Egyptian-born chef Ahmed Ibrahim. Reday and Ibrahim were introduced over a decade ago by Reday’s husband. Ibrahim’s path to Falcon & Fig was also not a straight line. He came to NoVA for a job in oil and gas and has since crafted a successful career at restaurants including Barcelona Wine Bar and La Grande Boucherie.
In the space previously filled by Vino Bistro (and still staffed by many of the same team members, including brand ambassador Lori Miller), the small-plates restaurant has quickly become a hit with the Leesburg crowd, making reservations a must for most nights.
The Vibe
Looking for a relaxed place to watch the game? Falcon & Fig offers this just as readily as it allows friends to have a quiet meal in the opposite corner of the large space. But it’s not all things to all people. Because it’s a wine bar, it’s a resolutely adult space.
On a given evening, fashion choices range from shorts and T-shirts to ladies in fun togs that wouldn’t be out of place on display at one of the surrounding boutiques. Service is similarly casual, with friendly but candid appraisals of dishes from the team. On one busy night, we were nearly forgotten, but another server picked up the slack with aplomb.
The Food
Ibrahim has a way with fire-licked meat, but his best dish is the zahra, or cauliflower. “In a Middle Eastern house, you will see it in some shape and form,” explains the chef. “Whether it’s pickled, whether it’s smoked, whether it’s sautéed, whether it’s steamed, it’s on the table and in our cuisine.”
The word means “flower,” and Ibrahim makes this nickname literal with a cauliflower steak covered in an aesthetically pleasing chimichurri and sunken into a carrot purée so rich it’s difficult to believe there’s no butter whipped into it.
Miller says that her favorite combination on the menu is pairing the zahra with patatas bravas — crisp potatoes in a bright Aleppo-pepper aioli and spiced tomato sauce — and the half meat board. Sized for two very hungry souls, it holds half a sumac-rubbed chicken, mild sausage, skewers of steak flavored with tahini aioli, and bone marrow that’s primed for spreading onto grilled sourdough. I was even more impressed with the lamb chops. The pair of tender morsels were presented atop tangy tzatziki sauce dyed red by herbaceous oil drizzled over the meat.
Those looking to avoid animal products altogether are in luck at Falcon & Fig, too. Among several vegetarian dips, the best is the muhammara. Here, the Levantine pepper dip that’s flavored with pomegranate is presented beneath a shower of fried pita chips. I added grilled bread to make it easier to scoop up the almost-effervescent slurry that’s further illuminated with fresh mint.
Desserts are the weakest link here. Churros lean overly firm but are accompanied by an appealingly rich chocolate ganache. Similarly, the acidic cheesecake, dressed in crumbled pistachios, benefits most from its crown of pistachio ice cream.
Falcon and Fig
★★★
Eat This: Zahra, lamb chops, half meat board
Shared plates: $10.50–$29.50
Principal plates: $28–$87
Desserts: $11.50–$14
Parking: Free, on-street or garage
Dress: Casual or smart casual
Seating: Indoors and large outdoor patio
Reservations: Recommended, available on OpenTable
Hours: 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday; 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday
1605 Village Market Blvd. SE, Leesburg
Feature image by Michael Butcher
This story originally ran in our September issue. For more stories like this, subscribe to Northern Virginia Magazine.
