Whether they’re a faraway destination or close to home for you, these restaurants are worth planning around for your next special occasion or foodie date night. It doesn’t matter if you’re craving American comfort or trying something new from India or Turkey–there’s something on this list sure to satisfy.
The Ashby Inn
Paris / Modern American / $$$$
It’s summer on the patio. Or perhaps it’s winter, safely inside the circa-1829 building, onetime home of blacksmith Manley Pierce. Either way, you’re seated to the strains of Frank Sinatra singing “Old Devil Moon.” And there it is, bewitching you as it glows over the hills of rural Paris.
The Ashby Inn doesn’t stun with koi ponds and towering ceilings. Its quiet grace comes from servers with whom you’d be pleased to spend more time, beautiful tableware, and gardens that supply the kitchen in the warm months. It would all seem anachronistic if not for the modern skills of chef Johnathan Leonard.
Leonard takes ingredients one might have seen on Pierce’s table and updates them with platings and flavor combinations worthy of the inn’s upscale price tag. Witness the guinea hen, seared in a cast-iron skillet. Sounds like something out of your great-grandma’s cookbook, but here, it’s a hearty meal emboldened by a sticky Cognac-and-truffle demi-glace. It’s accompanied by crispy shattered potatoes seasoned to perfection and a nest of wilted greens that includes chard and purslane. A shower of flower petals adorns the partially deboned poultry.
Desserts, too, take a cue from both past and future with of-the-moment riffs on classics like tres leches and banana pudding, the latter of which contains homemade Nilla wafers. But it’s that old devil moon that will keep bringing you back, peering down from above.
See this: The greatest rewards to be seen are outside, in the gardens surrounding the restaurant and the hills facing your table.
Eat this: Cured and roasted heritage pork belly, cast-iron guinea hen, bourbon-glazed banana pudding
Service: Attentive. Your glass will never go unfilled here.
When to dine here: You’re out to impress someone with whom you’d love to share a drive to the country.
Celebration by Rupa Vira
Ashburn / Modern Indian / $$
In the main dining room, brightly colored paintings depict a carnival, replete with a Ferris wheel. At chef-owner Rupa Vira’s modern ode to the cuisines of India, every day is just such a celebration and an occasion to feast. Though there is no tasting menu, it’s a shame not to order something from nearly every category on the bill of fare.
Start with lotus stems fried to a potato-chip-like crispness and drizzled with green cilantro and deep-red beetroot chutneys as well as white yogurt. The mix of hues is worthy of Holi, the Indian Festival of Colors.
Tandoori salmon is marinated and then charred in the clay oven, but it’s a swim in spice-laden mango sauce that makes the fish flourish. Chile sauce, tomatoes, salmon roe, and a pansy all gild the lily in a most welcome manner.
Finish with the Celebration Special, a rosy-flavored, gold-dusted pudding that arrives in a cloud of dry ice. It’s a worthy end to a joyous tribute to everything that makes India beautiful. Vira brings her creativity to the flavor and color of her native country, while servers add the friendliness that will bring diners back again and again.
See this: Colorful rooms (one has a purple theme; the bar area is mostly green) match the vivid art on the walls.
Eat this: Lotus root stem chaat, tandoori salmon, Celebration Special
Service: Cordial and informed, but can be slow
When to dine here: You’re seeking Indian spice in a way you’ve never tasted it before.
The Conche
Leesburg / Eclectic / $$$
This restaurant is just as devoted to a smooth experience—and to chocolate—as the candy-making tool that lends the business its name. Chef-owner Santosh Tiptur (who also opened La Prensa in Sterling late last year) happens to be a pastry chef as well as a master of the savory. The two fuse in dishes that include cacao in ways that diners have likely never tasted before.
There are rules against serving fish and cheese, but what about bivalves and chocolate? There should be no prohibitions, based on Tiptur’s Signature Scallops. A trio of the meaty little fellows are crusted in cacao nibs and dressed in a deep, dark mole aioli. They lie sunken in a sea of cocoa-infused black bean purée. Tempura-fried Brussels sprouts punctuate the plate, along with charred grapes. In a final sweet-and-sour touch, the chef drizzles pomegranate reduction across the plate.
It’s a pretty presentation, but the dish bears little resemblance to dessert. So the sweet creations are more than worth saving room for—or a visit on their own.
See this: Chocolatey tones fill the bustling dining room. Check out the pair of open kitchens—one for cooking dinner and another just for assembling the pastries.
Eat this: Crispy calamari, Signature Scallops, Manjari
Service: Informal. This is a restaurant that tends to be busy, and servers don’t have time to settle in and get to know you.
When to dine here: There’s never enough chocolate, even in your burger.
Field & Main
Marshall / American / $$$
On your way past the small city of outdoor cabanas, you encounter a staffer picking blueberries from the bush out front. He offers you one. It tastes like a distillation of every fresh, sun-warmed berry you’ve ever had. Welcome to Field & Main.
Many restaurants claim to be farm-to-table. Here, chef-owner Neal Wavra uses his close community ties to craft menus to suit whatever comes in from his friends in the field each day. This extends to the wine program, with a list that features local grapes, but not to the point of overlooking great glasses from Europe, New Zealand, and elsewhere in the U.S.
The best way to experience Wavra’s wares is with a tasting. The Present Menu is true to its title—a collection of dishes that have captured the fancy of the chef and his team that day. If you shrink at the idea of tiny servings, this is the tasting menu for you. It usually includes a full-sized steak, like a recent rib-eye from Ovoka Farm in nearby Paris. It’s a meal that will leave you full in both stomach and spirit.
See this: Sit in one of the nooks and crannies of this charming old house, relax in the elegant central dining room, or take advantage of one of the outdoor cabanas.
Eat this: The Present Menu, a five-course tasting
Service: Hit or miss, but the finest staffers know the suppliers and techniques so intimately, you’d think they worked in the kitchen.
When to dine here: You’re planning to celebrate a major accomplishment—and the season.
Goodstone Inn & Restaurant
Middleburg / Modern American / $$$$
Dining at The Conservatory at Goodstone Inn is a bit like a fairy tale. First, there’s the winding drive up Snake Hill to the enchanting property. It’s an adventure on its own, philosophical miles from the nearby, well-manicured Salamander Resort & Spa.
The mystique continues with clean, unfussy cuisine. At dinner, it’s a good idea to get a tasting to try everything from sparklingly fresh scallop crudo to a chocolate dome that melts at the table. But I’m always happiest enjoying the brightness of the day at lunch in The Conservatory’s glass dining room. Lunch is usually easy to score a reservation for, so let your whims (and your hunger) take you for a wine-filled midday meal. Petite portions of dishes like Dover sole in beurre blanc and veal medallions are hedged by gnocchi.
Of course, the story must have a happy ending. And what could be happier than tucking into a peach tart covered in a scoop of peach sorbet or cracking into a crème brûlée?
See this: Depending on your mood, the slightly worn hunting-lodge aesthetic can be romantic or feel like Grey Gardens.
Eat this: Scallop crudo, Dover sole, crème brûlée
Service: Courteous, but the fireworks really take off when you discuss wines with the deeply knowledgeable staff.
When to dine here: Your rich bestie is paying for a lunch you’ll both long remember—as long as you don’t drink too much wine.
Harrimans Virginia Piedmont Grill
Middleburg / American / $$$$
Executive chef Bill Welch joined The Salamander Resort & Spa’s team last year. He’s doing a masterful job using the property and surrounding area’s bountiful ingredients. Just take a bite of his roasted foie gras, a melting portion of fatty liver enhanced and complemented by wild blueberries, lavender pâte de fruit, and homegrown honey.
Those sweet elements remind us that the most exciting things happening in the kitchen at Harrimans are sugary. And for that, we must recognize executive pastry chef Jason Reaves. A local boy who began his training at Monroe Technical Center in Leesburg, Reaves is a Loudoun County success story—one more element that makes the treats served at The Salamander intensely local.
They include, of course, that honey harvested on site. The sticky stuff makes it into each element of the Sweet as Salamander Honey, a take on banana pudding that every dessert lover needs to add to their dining repertoire immediately. It begins with a server spooning honey over chunks of honeycomb on your plate. A life-sized white-chocolate bee with almond wings sits atop the jar of pudding that hides chocolate-banana cake and homemade Nilla wafers. For even more chocolate, there’s a Valrhona foam.
This is a restaurant filled with Wonka-esque magic, and a visit is prime time to eat dessert first.
See this: Every seat has a stunning view of the property thanks to a circular dining room with large windows. You won’t even notice the old-school country-club-style interior.
Eat this: Roasted foie gras, half fried chicken, Sweet as Salamander Honey
Service: Formal. A team tends to your every need, from bestowing bread from the basket of warm delicacies to the server who leads you through your experience.
When to dine here: Your companion is paying, and they like a special dessert as much as you do.
Magnolias at the Mill
Purcellville / American / $$$$
Shiloh Farm, Endless Summer Harvest, Walter’s Farm: They’re all in Purcellville, and they all supply Magnolias at the Mill. In a region where “local” can often mean food harvested in Pennsylvania or Southern Virginia, this is an eatery that feeds its diners with ingredients from its immediate community.
OK, maybe the bison in the burger doesn’t come from P’ville, but you’ll excuse the exception when you take a bite of the juicy, grill-marked patty. It’s topped with housemade bacon rubbed with spices that approximate a Mexican mole, along with truffle cheese, local honey, and red-pepper aioli. A little busy? In theory, but in practice, the combination of flavors merely invites another bite.
But keeping things local here just makes sense—after all, when the building that houses Magnolias was built in 1905, it was the only way to eat. Think of a meal here as a bite of the past.
See this: Ask for a seat in the main dining room, which still has pulleys and wheels in place from the mill that it once housed. Worship the sun more than antiques? Hit the patio instead.
Eat this: Fried green tomatoes, bison burger, butterscotch bread pudding
Service: At their best, the young staff is fun and ready with a joke, but on busy nights, they might be overwhelmed.
When to dine here: A taste of history is just as important as a savory burger.
Oxus7
Ashburn / Turkish / $$
There are times when the occasion calls for a chic setting and service that goes above and beyond. There are also times when all you need is food that truly sparkles. When the latter fancy strikes, it’s advisable to find yourself a seat at this Ashburn restaurant.
Owner Mitra Sharif is not a restaurant lifer. In fact, she left a prestigious corporate gig to open her restaurant in the thick of the pandemic. Often, such passion projects do not come to a happy ending. But it was only a year before Oxus7 had become so popular that it was forced to expand from a small space in an industrial park to its current digs. What’s the secret? Simply the most flavorful Turkish fare you’ll find.
Kebabs, whether the deeply marinated chicken or beefy adana, melt on contact with your teeth. The hunkar begendi, or King’s Delight, is aptly named, a beef stew served over puréed eggplant that may sound rustic but tastes, quite simply, of luxury.
See this: At the most casual spot on this list, you’ll have to overlook the TVs showing Turkish landmarks and foods above the kitchen to enjoy the colorful murals.
Eat this: Oxus Mezza Platter, hunkar begendi, pistachio cake
Service: Casual, but well-informed. My server told me precisely how long it would take to prepare each dessert.
When to dine here: You would cook, but you’d rather have someone more skilled do it for you.
The Restaurant at Patowmack Farm
Lovettsville / Modern American / $$$$*
It’s hard to say what plays a stronger role in chef Vincent Badiee’s culinary background: Is it his years in New York City and Washington, DC, playing key roles at restaurants like Eleven Madison Park and Gravitas? Or is it his childhood, spent on a Virginia farm? At The Restaurant at Patowmack Farm, he makes a spiritual homecoming, cooking the kinds of food that have earned his restaurants Michelin stars, but using ingredients that he helps to cultivate and harvest on site.
Dinner menus run the length of nine courses, each one honed from the best bites of the season. The meal will likely start with crackers made from seeds bound together with spices into a snack so addictive that you ask your server to leave them on the table until you’ve finished them just before dessert. And that sweet finish? It’s worth saving some of your local steak or pork schnitzel for the next day in order to make room.
During blueberry season, dessert might be a lacquered purple-ish dome sealing in the flavor of white chocolate mousse and blueberry jam. Blueberry sauce is drizzled over the plate like a monochromatic Jackson Pollock, a study in the freshest fruit of the season. All of Badiee’s experience has added up to this moment and this plate.
See this: The glass conservatory feels like eating in a greenhouse strung with festive lights, but dining outside in the summertime is the best way to take in views of the Potomac below.
Eat this: Except at brunch, there’s only one choice, but the tasting menu includes hit after hit.
Service: What hospitality crisis? This large team is perpetually on its toes.
When to dine here: You and your other half have something to celebrate with a night to remember.
Sense of Thai St.
Ashburn / Thai / $$
The Chumphon province of Thailand, located in the country’s long, skinny Southern tail, is not a culinary destination on the level of Bangkok or Chiang Mai, but if Sense of Thai St. is any indication, maybe it should be. Chumphon-style pad thai, for example, combines the tamarind-treated noodles and shrimp with peanuts that we all know and love with coconut-curry paste, sweet radish, and meaty chunks of jumbo lump crab.
But the hits at Sense of Thai St. aren’t limited to bold Chumphon flavors. The best dishes at the stylish (and usually packed) restaurant range from Southern Thailand to Northern specialties like khao soi. The chicken curry with egg noodles and pickled mustard greens is unusually packed with poultry here, but it also brings a serious slap of heat.
Fusion also finds a place on the menu. Quesadillas made from Thai roti are available filled with either crispy duck and hoisin, for a take on Peking duck, or chicken and green curry that stretches with mozzarella and proffers a pleasant burn. Pair it with a cocktail from ballyhooed bar manager Jeremy Ross. He uses exotic flavors like lychee and ginger to produce elevated tipples ideal for cooling down your palate.
See this: Curry pastes encircle the open kitchen, but Thai movie posters are just as likely to catch your eye.
Eat this: Green curry quesadilla, khao soi, Thai tea crème brûlée
Service: The servers’ Hawaiian shirts signify a low-key vibe, but expect efficiency, too.
When to dine here: You and your date are in search of a little spice.
Tuscarora Mill
Leesburg / American / $$$
Who’s got game? Tuskie’s, as Tuscarora Mill is affectionately known, has got it in spades. A daily special could include a mighty rack of wild boar or elegant venison loin. An annual wild-game dinner is a six-course affair that might comprise anything from Buffalo-style alligator to nilgai antelope with uni.
It might sound like this is a spot for pushing culinary boundaries. But in fact, the menu is more in tune with the surroundings. And those are something to remember—a grain mill built in 1899, lovingly restored. While foodies and hunters alike may salivate for the more esoteric meats, there’s something for everyone here.
This is the kind of place where big families gather because the filet mignon with scalloped potatoes is every bit as solid as the meatloaf or the Barn Yard “au jus,” a craveable take on French dip with smoked beef brisket and pork. And everyone in the group can agree on the warm butterscotch bread pudding. Rather than whipped cream or ice cream, it’s topped with rich vanilla-bean mousse.
See this: Ask to sit in the historic front section, amid the vestiges of the old mill.
Eat this: The Barn Yard “au jus,” grilled pork rib-eye, warm butterscotch bread pudding
Service: You’ll marvel as servers recite the long list of specials.
When to dine here: Your big group can’t decide on just one type of food but wants an upscale environment.
This post collects restaurants from our November 2021 issue’s Best Restaurants cover story. For more food reviews, subscribe to our weekly newsletter.