Before you splurge on dining out, you want to know it will be a good experience: impeccable food, friendly and knowledgeable staff, and a memorable atmosphere — whether you’re celebrating a special occasion or indulging with friends and family after a long week at work. These are the restaurants that rank in the Top 10 from our new 50 Best Restaurants list for 2024, published in our November issue.
No. 1: The Restaurant at Patowmack Farm
Lovettsville | Modern American | $$$$*
Michelin inspectors, take note. Colby Janowitz, an alum of California’s three-starred SingleThread, one of only two American restaurants on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, took over the kitchen at this Lovettsville working farm last summer. Since then, NoVA has been treated to its own slice of SingleThread’s aesthetic, and The Restaurant at Patowmack Farm has never been better.
Japanese influences now weave their way across nine courses, including three desserts from pastry chef Mykel Winterstine. Each course unwraps like a gift.
In one dish, slices of tuna and compressed watermelon are arranged in a rosette carefully laid with purslane and spicy banana peppers in a foamed dashi made with fresh mint. In another, a black-blistered scallop reposes atop creamy housemade pasta with sweet corn, jalapeños, heirloom tomatoes, and leaves of Thai basil. The corn bows again in the forms of cake and ice cream, served with a peach Bavarian.
Indeed, this restaurant, with its well-informed servers, views of the Potomac, and unparalleled cuisine, is a gift to our region — and possibly Michelin inspectors, too.
Eat This:
Monthly menus change with what’s fresh at the farm. Just trust that the prix fixe will leave you in the best of hands.
No. 2: 2941 Restaurant
Falls Church | Modern American | $$$$
Another restaurant in an office park? Don’t roll your eyes just yet. Yes, it’s a thoroughly NoVA phenomenon that some of us could do without, but 2941 is full of surprises.
Drive a tree-lined path to a series of waterfalls and a well-populated koi pond before entering a dining room filled with top-tier art. But it’s what’s on plates that really shines. On one recent menu, longtime executive chef Bertrand Chemel elevated and deconstructed classic dishes like salade Niçoise and steak au poivre within an inch of recognition, making them both fun and explosively delicious in the process.
Be sure to save room not just for dessert, but for tokens from the kitchen like hyper-concentrated mango cream puffs. After all, 2941 is here to exceed expectations at every turn.
Eat This:
Bluefin tuna crudo Niçoise, rabbit Bourguignon campanelle, peach mirliton
No. 3: L’Auberge Chez François
Great Falls | French | $$$$*
Generosity doesn’t even begin to describe the hospitality at this old-school French restaurant. Appetizers like the tomatoes grown in the restaurant’s garden plated with roasted corn, cabbage, carrots, and micro greens as well as a fragrant bouillabaisse, chock-full of seafood, could be a satisfying meal. But that won’t stop diners from devouring the classic sole with mushrooms, tomatoes, and new potatoes. Each fresh bite leads to another until the bountiful serving disappears.
Even if you’re not hungry when dessert time arrives, a camera-ready kugelhopf-shaped meringue drizzled with crunchy caramel and bathed in crème anglaise is too enticing to skip.
One meal here leads to fantasies of the next — perhaps featuring the Roquefort cheese tart or the mussels with garlic-herb butter, to be followed by an entrée of duck, veal, or beef tournedos. There will definitely be a traditional Alsatian plum tart, all served with a generous spirit and plenty of panache.
Eat This:
Bouillabaisse, La Sole de la Manche, plum tart
No. 4: Ellie Bird
Falls Church | Modern American | $$$
It’s not easy to define the cuisine here. What is easy to agree on? It’s consistently surprising and innovative.
Take the chicken and broccoli, for example. This familiar Chinese takeout concept is elevated thanks to tender Amish chicken with glasslike skin, a rich black garlic sauce, crispy Carolina gold rice, and charred broccolini.
Even desserts, like yuzu posset — a refreshing, sweet-yet-tart, velvety pudding — are a reminder of how masterfully this team, headed by Carey and Yuan Tang, incorporates Asian ingredients into familiar Western dishes.
Amid a fun, casual atmosphere that features bird-themed decorative touches, high-caliber service is comparable to a more formal establishment thanks to a friendly staff mindful of the details.
A seasonal, ever-evolving menu lures diners back to try new dishes. No need to define the cuisine when it’s always memorable.
Eat This:
Vietnamese French onion soup, chicken and broccoli, yuzu posset
No. 5: Harrimans Grill
Middleburg | Modern American | $$$$
Head to the heart of horse country for upscale, regional cuisine. The expansive circular dining room provides sweeping panoramic views of the surrounding verdant grounds. Seasoned servers orchestrate a well-timed performance, presenting dazzling farm-to-table fare, much of it grown in Salamander Middleburg’s own gardens.
The best bang for your resort-casual buck here is the Taste of Harrimans, which includes a starter, entrée, and dessert. The grilled octopus, laid out in a bed of braised field peas, dotted with Spanish chorizo, drizzled with fragrant chimichurri, and crowned with orange zest, is exceptional.
Visually stunning desserts intermingle unusual but harmonious ingredients. The strawberry rose tartlet presents fried-and-frozen vermicelli scattered among rose granite, phyllo, and pistachio ganache — somehow it works.
Harrimans’ diners can expect across-the-board excellence and garden-fresh ingredients in this inviting dining room overlooking rolling hills.
Eat This:
Grilled octopus, Maine diver scallops, wagyu filet
No. 6: Nostos
Vienna | Mediterranean | $$$
You won’t even know what hit you; this charming Greek restaurant comes to Hellenic life from the moment you hear the strains of the bouzouki. Diners are ushered through the white-walled dining room, adorned with nostalgic black-and-white photos of Zorba the Greek himself, Anthony Quinn, and opera grande dame Maria Callas. Memories of a Mykonos adventure come to mind as parties converse over freshly prepared tzatziki and fava Santorinis.
Kefalograviera cheese is pan-flamed tableside for a saganaki that merits a shout of “Opa!” The simply prepared but supremely tasty grilled swordfish, steak, and chicken souvlakis are memorable for their quality and flavor.
Dessert takes the meal to the next level. Varieties of baklava abound, but our money is on the traditional version, brimming with coarsely chopped walnuts and a divine honey drizzle.
A meal at Nostos is an inspired event from the moment you step foot inside the door. Enjoy every outstanding morsel as if you’d paid for a flight to Greece to enjoy it.
Eat This:
Saganaki, swordfish souvlaki, traditional baklava
No. 7: Ometeo
Tysons | Tex-Mex | $$$
Tex-Mex north of Dallas has a deservedly bad reputation for plastic cheese and bottled sauces. But Long Shot Hospitality, the group behind The Salt Line, had the foresight to recruit Austin-based Top Chef winner Gabe Erales to collaborate on its latest restaurant. The result? A Tex-Mex palace that would wow even in Erales’ home state.
Fajitas get the star treatment, arriving in sizzling pans girded with queso asadero that melts and caramelizes as the vegetables beneath the meats soften. Those proteins might include a simple chicken breast or skirt steak, but they can be upgraded to shareable feasts that combine flesh such as bone-in short ribs and rib-eye. Diners fold them into corn and flour tortillas, both made before their eyes on a rotating comal in the open kitchen.
Think you don’t like Tex-Mex? Ometeo will prove you wrong.
Eat This:
Pineapple aguachile, fajitas de res con todo, tres leches cake
No. 8: NUE: Elegantly Vietnamese
Falls Church | Modern Vietnamese | $$$
Grill-blackened Vietnamese sausage and a mound of garlicky rice are bathed in gravy. There’s nothing bland about this thickened jus — at first bite, the whole dish sings with the anise and clove of pho.
Welcome to NUE, where some of the world’s best dishes, whether it’s al dente pappardelle, or Hawaiian loco moco, are somehow improved with a fresh edge of Viet flavors.
Impressionistic flora dominates the main dining room, making the interior as exciting as what arrives from the kitchen. Brunch dishes are every bit as pleasing as the ambitious dinners.
At this year-old stunner, named for the French word meaning “naked,” dishes are stripped to their ideals, then reconceived even more scrumptious than before.
Familiarity with Vietnamese food isn’t a prerequisite, but a meal here quickly proves why it’s one of the planet’s great cuisines.
Eat This:
Vegetarian cha gio, bo kho pappardelle, Viet loco moco
No. 9: Mama Chang
Fairfax | Chinese | $$
Mom knows best, and chef and restaurateur Peter Chang recognizes this at his Fairfax restaurant, a celebration of the important women in his family.
Homestyle Chinese cooking, including dishes that have been passed down for generations, shine here, amid attentive service and a casual, spacious atmosphere. Traditional foods transport diners from the modern, upscale restaurant to the kitchen of Chang’s family.
Take, for instance, Mama’s hand-pulled noodles with beef brisket — the rich broth, never-ending noodles, and fall-apart meat result in a bowl of pure comfort. Peking duck, boasting shatteringly crisp skin, delicate flesh, and all the fixings, is great for sharing. From flaky and sweet BBQ pork pastry to pan-fried yuanbao pork dumplings, the more dim sum, the merrier.
Culinary talent runs deep in this family, and a meal here is just short of getting invited to a Chang family dinner — we’ll gladly take it.
Eat This:
Scallion bubble pancake, BBQ pork pastry, hand-pulled noodles with beef brisket
No. 10: Joon
Vienna | Persian | $$$
Saffron, pistachio, rose, sumac, pomegranate. The aromatic beauties of Persian cuisine could be described as the food’s life force, a concept summed up with a single Farsi word, “joon.”
In fact, this elegant restaurant, sandwiched between the Tysons locations of Rolex and Tiffany & Co., is full of that guiding frisson. From servers who feel like friends sharing a secret with you, to bursts of color on the walls and ceilings, Joon is vividly alive.
This owes more than anything to the flavors. The menu is primed for sharing, whether it’s whole roasted branzino or rotisserie duck, all served with crispy rice. Appetizers and desserts? Also worth splitting with your companions. It’s part of a life-affirming evening of flavors that awaken the senses and introduce Joon into your vocabulary — and dining rotation.
Eat This:
Lamb and pistachio meatballs, sabzi polow ba mahi, saffron and rose water ice cream
Feature image of The Restaurant at Patowmack Farm by Rey Lopez
This story originally ran in our November issue. For more stories like this, subscribe to Northern Virginia Magazine.
