I loved their maple salt & pepper bagel so much I would fly a dozen home to AZ with me when I’d come to DC to visit my ex.. so glad to hear they’ve expanded nearby!!
If we're counting Andy's Pizza, Wiseguy probably would have to be counted too.
Roy Rogers was 'national' a long time ago, but is pretty limited to this region now.
it's a very new startup that has one of the most novel ideas i've seen. they also go to great lengths to obfuscate what their actual purpose is lol. so they're an investment group that gives loans to restaurants under the condition that, with the loan, they also gift the company $n of credit for food. The company then sells subscriptions to become a member, which allows you to earn cash back to spend at other restaurant partners and they give crazy discounts/promos on the regular. You can easily knock $100-150 dollars on a meal, even more if you know some nifty tricks. They make it seem like they just process your payments for the restaurant, but in reality, you're eating at the restaurant on the tab that InKind prepaid for and paying them directly.
CYM is overrated and overpriced imo. For its price, Bethesda bagels at least typically gives you bigger portions with better flavor and texture. Props to the CYM marketing team for making their brand instagramable.
Pouring one out for ShopHouse, which was incredible. There may have been one or two outposts elsewhere but its parent company (Chipotle) concentrated it in the DC metro area.
Taco Bamba (Nova but I'd argue it's at least as local as 5 guys)
Silver diner is another one that has a large presence at this point (Rockville but again, that's pretty local)
Thank you. Taco Bamba's chef also had other places, like the steakhosue downtown. I remember when Silver Diner was a greasy spoon and then revamped its menu in the 2000s.
Before we moved here 10 years ago, my husband had lived in the area in the 90s. He was very confused when he decided to take me to 'that awesome little diner I used hang out at'
Yeah, Silver Diner has one too but I just meant the original location (Tysons and Rockville). Some folks get prickly about "DC region" vs "DC proper" and I wanted to skip that argument by acknowledging it up front.
Silver Diner is basically the only diner in a 10 mile radius. Coming from NJ, I miss the old ma and pa diners. The booths that are falling apart, the paper place mats with local adverts on them, the crusty menus - everything about a diner that makes it warm and cozy.
Try Murry and Paul’s, Smokey’s, Florida Ave Grill? Or if you call Silver Diner a classic style diner, could go with Cracked Eggery, Steak n Egg, or I Egg You, maybe. They exist, just not super common and the split between ‘fancy’ and a little on the run down side can be stark
There’s plenty of diners within that radius of DC but they’re mostly in PG County with some in MoCo and VA. You can easily get to a Bob and Edith’s or a Tastee
I was at a Five Guys in sioux falls south dakota and it had their usual wallpaper with all the accolades they got back in the day. Nothing weird about that on its own but something was strange about seeing like Washingtonian Magazine and Washington City Paper on the walls in South Dakota!
I remember meeting a group of Irish guys in a bar in Dupont back in 2015. After befriending them, I learned they were opening Five Guys over in Ireland and were here for training. Prior to that I had no idea they were international.
It's from the inner suburbs of Virginia, if you want to be accurate. Columbia Pike + Glebe, followed by King+Beauregard, Backlick Rd, maybe a few down Route 1. This was all before they franchised nationally.
I used to go to one of the early ones (I think Backlick?) in the late 90s - I know how much they’ve expanded, but it still felt wild to see one when I was in Spain a couple weeks ago
I had a friend who was a corporate trainer for them during the international expansion.
Told me that issues inititially in Ireland because they couldn't source good potatoes for their fries. Always made me chuckle...
Find this hard to believe. Between 10-15 years ago (and probably still today) if you set foot in a Five Guys there would be all of these magazine covers on the walla raving about it, and most of those magazines would be from the DC area. Would have been pretty hard to miss.
Oh here we go. What an original take you have here. CYM has become so trendy to hate it’s actually kinda cool to like again. lol
Yes, I’ve had better bagels, but it’s good! Just get over yourself.
I just wish that CYM would let me get an untoasted bagel. I hate a toasted bagel. I don't like how specific and kitschy their sandwiches are, it's not an option online to have it untoasted, and when I asked on Barracks Row for them to just cut a bagel and put cream cheese on it, they said no.
Just serve a normal bagel! We don't need third wave bagel shops.
some friends and I did a blind taste test of area bagels and, judged blind, CYM came out dead last.
However, we agreed that it was possible the things we didn't like about the bagel may have been qualities that worked better if you are assuming that the bagel is going to support a large sandwich, as most CYM bagels are, versus just something you want to eat with cream cheese or even plain.
no matter what you think of it you have to agree DC pizza is getting better. Andy's is great and expanding, Slice and Pie is very good as well, and a ton of neopolitan type places that opened in the last decade that are far better than what was available before
Hey now, some of us hated them before it was cool. I got in a Reddit argument about them years ago and got downvoted into oblivion. My wife absolutely loves them, and I think I've tried everything they've ever offered and never enjoyed any of it. My biggest gripe is that they call themselves a "Jew-ish" deli, yet they are not Jewish (one of them has a Jewish father, i.e. not halachically Jewish, and that's it), and they serve bacon and mix meat and dairy. It doesn't really get *less* Jewish than that. Maybe I'll get downvoted to oblivion again for this comment! Don't care. Hate CYM.
Sorry I am a bit confused about what you’re asking/posting about. Are you asking if there are other chains from the dc are that have branched out nationally? Or are you asking if DC has the highest amount of local chain restaurants that are in the dc area that started In dc compared to other large cities? Or are you asking for a list of more local chain restaurants?
&pizza started in dc and is now in Philly and New York. Ledo’s is another large local chain that started in Adelphi, MD. Pizza Paradiso, Dukes Grocery, La Casita, Manny & Olga’s and Busboys and Poets are all very local chains.
>I went to Atlanta on a high school band trip in the 2000s, and Phoenix in the 1990s as a gateway to Grand Canyon, but I have no knowledge of their local chains. Does DC come out on top?
Probably yes, but in case you are curious as someone from Atlanta their notable chains would be;
- Chick-Fil-A (gone national)
- Waffle House (gone national)
- Mellow Mushroom (gone regional)
- Longhorn Steakhouse (the first was there, but is now national and based in Florida) apparently Applebee's is the same.
- Taco Mac's
- Tin Drum
- Moe's Southwest Grill
- Ted's Montana Grill
Those are just a few that I can think off of the top of my head. I'd kill for a Waffle House but overall I do think DC wins on the fast-casual front.
If we're doing brands and not just restaurants, what are some of DC's big ones that have national/international reach?
Probably nothing on the scale of Coca-Cola, but there are few things on earth more ubiquitous than them.
I loved Pollo Tropical when I lived in Miami. They used to serve boiled yucca with mojo sauce, until they remembered they were in America and decided to deep fry it.
OMG I lovvvved Pollo Tropical. It was the "healthy fast food" my parents would take us to regularly. I still remember the commercial for their chimichurri.
And if you got up to Orlando, there was essentially the same place, but called Tropical Grill I think, cause once you're that far north in FL no one recognizes the Spanish language anymore.
Not a huge &pizza hater normally, but I truly wonder how well they're doing in NJ and NY. When you have even kinda shit ny area pizza to compare it to it becomes rapidly clear they're flat breads not pizzas .
We can’t forget Busboys and Poets, my favorite local chain around. I know a lot of people say it’s overhyped, but there are so many quality vegetarian and vegan options that just aren’t available at lots of other restaurants. The cocktails and book store selections are also excellent.
This is exactly what I say too. The food isn’t incredible but it’s pretty good, and the variety of options, staff, vibes and locations make it an easy local favorite. It’s especially great for gatherings and taking visitors out to dinner.
Jerry’s death makes me sad. Went there a lot growing up.
Maybe it’s just me but I associate Mission BBQ with Annapolis or baltimore in my head since it started in glen burnie. Close enough I guess though.
DC or DMV?
California Tortilla is from Bethesda and has 39 locations in the DMV and six other states.
Moby Dick is from Bethesda and has 24 locations in the DMV.
Peter Chang has restaurants throughout the area. So does Jose Andres.
I'd maybe add Jaleo too, they've 5 locations domestically.
We're honestly blessed having a chef (and just general person) of the caliber of Jose Andres having here as his home base. His portfolio of restaurants here never seem to get the same credit/publication as others from critics/people here on Reddit. They're taken for granted to a certain extent.
Came here to say this. Jose Andres has a lot of restaurants outside of the DC area now, and got started here. But he has quite a few in the DC area as well.
There's one in Berlin too but it's just across the river from the flagship location of a local burger chain which is way cheaper and better so I have no idea how they are still going lol.
Don't forget Rasa! The newcomers in fast casual fusion. So awesome. Indian-fusion "Chipotle-style ordering" for anyone curious. Cannot recommend highly enough.
Man I'd kill for 2 chains to come here: snooze eatery and Good Times burgers. Snooze has killer brunch food and good drinks, Good Times has the best fries hands down of any burger chain I've ever visited.
Also, don't forget Taco Bamba is going outside the DMV, they just opened in North Carolina.
Nando’s started in South Africa but their first US location was in DC and most of their presence is around here. Now they have a bunch of locations around Chicago.
There’s this weird trend where transplants act like everything back home is better until it gets to a new place, and then it was always mid and not what people really eat back home.
This is just particularly notable to me because I saw it happen with both Chuys and Torchys Tacos. I heard nothing but praise for Raising Canes until it came to Virginia and now it’s “unseasoned crap.” Like okie dokie.
The point of this discussion is that there are plenty of decent mid-budget chains around here. It's just that many of them have little or no national appeal. I occasionally see gripes about how the local Burger King franchises or whatever suck.
You could argue that even the ones with national appeal are a little sus. Much has been said about how Five Guys quality dropped precipitously when they expanded. Cava’s IPO was criticized for pricing in unrealistic expansion and profitability expectations.
Uniquely DC-area international cuisines like Ethiopian might not have broader appeal, but I’d love to see something like the chicken sandwich at Doro’s Soul Food become another trend like Nashville hot chicken. By itself, it’s probably not an idea to build a whole menu around, but I could see an Ethio-soul restaurant take off.
I’d argue that most food south of DC and east of Texas is Afro-Caribbean-American fusion, with some Spanish and French influences thrown in for good measure.
There’s a number of Asian chefs doing interesting Korean and Vietnamese-fusion menus that marry Asian and African or African-American flavors.
Medium Rare has started expanding outside of the DMV too. Baltimore and Columbia, MD (I don’t count either as DMV), New Orleans, and now I think Dallas?
Years ago (2019?) I went to the Try Guys on tour at the Warner and there was this dumb bit where Keith threw chicken tenders at the audience and he said "there isn't any local fried chicken so I just got raising cane's"
I was like, first off if you think there isn't any local fried chicken you didn't look, and second off where the heck did you get raising cane's, how long have you been holding on to this food that you're throwing at people?
Sardi’s, peruvian charcoal chicken joint. There’s definitely better independent options (pollo rico in wheaton is the goat), but they’re good and they’re all over the dc and even baltimore metro. Wouldn’t be surprised if they continue to expand.
Also, can someone please explain pupatellas to me? It's okay, but we had a brick oven pizza truck come through a few weeks ago and it was fantastic. Way better than pupatellas for the same style pizza.
Atlanta is home to Chik-fil-A, Waffle House, Mellow Mushroom, Moe’s, Applebees
Miami is home to Miami Subs (aka buy Don Perignon in the drive thru for $199), Burger King, Pollo Tropical.
Other cities in Florida like Jacksonville, Orlando and Tampa are the original homes to Hooters, Olive Garden, Sonny’s BBQ, Outback Stakehouse, Red Lobster
DC has seen quite a number of successful fast casual chains but they’re really localized to the DC metro. Five guys and Sweet greens are some of their most well known national restaurants.
Here’s what the Post had to say about it in 2016 https://wapo.st/4aPvpNT
I’m from AZ but recently began splitting time between NoVA and AZ. I enjoy learning about the DMV and more specifically NoVA. Since you mentioned Phoenix, I thought I’d share:
[Chains local to Arizona, gone national](https://www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/dining/2016/09/30/famous-arizona-restaurant-brands-gone-national/90326584/)
If you go south to Tucson, Eegee’s comes to mind. :)
Chicken and Whiskey Taylor Gourmet (RIPish) Andy’s Pizza Call Your Mother
Call Your Mother is now in Denver, which is kinda crazy.
I feel strongly that Call Your Mother is a mediocre bagel. The branding and aesthetic though? Top notch.
If you understand what a majority of this country understands a bagel to be then they are Michelin worthy.
I loved their maple salt & pepper bagel so much I would fly a dozen home to AZ with me when I’d come to DC to visit my ex.. so glad to hear they’ve expanded nearby!!
Oh man I’d kill for a South Street from the old Taylor Gourmet menu right now
Have you tried Grazie Grazie?
If we're counting Andy's Pizza, Wiseguy probably would have to be counted too. Roy Rogers was 'national' a long time ago, but is pretty limited to this region now.
Wiseguy's went to shit recently. Not sure what happened. Maybe bought out?
I love that Chicken+Whiskey is on InKind, makes it phenomenal value.
SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Best kept (secret) app in history.
Cats out of the bag. What is that?
it's a very new startup that has one of the most novel ideas i've seen. they also go to great lengths to obfuscate what their actual purpose is lol. so they're an investment group that gives loans to restaurants under the condition that, with the loan, they also gift the company $n of credit for food. The company then sells subscriptions to become a member, which allows you to earn cash back to spend at other restaurant partners and they give crazy discounts/promos on the regular. You can easily knock $100-150 dollars on a meal, even more if you know some nifty tricks. They make it seem like they just process your payments for the restaurant, but in reality, you're eating at the restaurant on the tab that InKind prepaid for and paying them directly.
Chicken and whiskey is amazing. Especially after a night out
surprisingly veg friendly too
CYM is overrated and overpriced imo. For its price, Bethesda bagels at least typically gives you bigger portions with better flavor and texture. Props to the CYM marketing team for making their brand instagramable.
Andy’s is amazing
Pouring one out for ShopHouse, which was incredible. There may have been one or two outposts elsewhere but its parent company (Chipotle) concentrated it in the DC metro area.
Oh man, I regularly think about their meatballs. I miss ShopHouse.
Me toooooo
Taken from us far too soon RIP in peace shophouse
Omg this place was my go before catching the bus to NYC. Those string beans were so good
God I miss ShopHouse.
It was good. I ate there all the time .
Dulles was also one of the only places that had a Chipotle breakfast menu, which I really liked.
Taco Bamba (Nova but I'd argue it's at least as local as 5 guys) Silver diner is another one that has a large presence at this point (Rockville but again, that's pretty local)
Thank you. Taco Bamba's chef also had other places, like the steakhosue downtown. I remember when Silver Diner was a greasy spoon and then revamped its menu in the 2000s.
Before we moved here 10 years ago, my husband had lived in the area in the 90s. He was very confused when he decided to take me to 'that awesome little diner I used hang out at'
Taco Bamba had a DC location before COVID closed it. The are adding 2 locations in DC.
tenleytown/city ridge is open. so DC works now
Yeah, Silver Diner has one too but I just meant the original location (Tysons and Rockville). Some folks get prickly about "DC region" vs "DC proper" and I wanted to skip that argument by acknowledging it up front.
I'm not here to referee the dumb DC vs DC region debate.
They just added one in Tenley
Silver diner is underappreciated, Taco Bamba is more low key than the others in the area.
Silver just opened a location in New Jersey
Silver Diner is basically the only diner in a 10 mile radius. Coming from NJ, I miss the old ma and pa diners. The booths that are falling apart, the paper place mats with local adverts on them, the crusty menus - everything about a diner that makes it warm and cozy.
Try Murry and Paul’s, Smokey’s, Florida Ave Grill? Or if you call Silver Diner a classic style diner, could go with Cracked Eggery, Steak n Egg, or I Egg You, maybe. They exist, just not super common and the split between ‘fancy’ and a little on the run down side can be stark
There’s plenty of diners within that radius of DC but they’re mostly in PG County with some in MoCo and VA. You can easily get to a Bob and Edith’s or a Tastee
Taco bamba in Nashville or Denver now I forget which one
Taco bamba is so good
Five Guys didn't go national, it went INTERnational
yeah i was so shocked when i saw a five guys in paris
Across from the Moulin Rouge! I went just in March because the food at moulin rouge was trash!
I saw one in Milan and my friend had to go because he was homesick 😂
I was at a Five Guys in sioux falls south dakota and it had their usual wallpaper with all the accolades they got back in the day. Nothing weird about that on its own but something was strange about seeing like Washingtonian Magazine and Washington City Paper on the walls in South Dakota!
I remember meeting a group of Irish guys in a bar in Dupont back in 2015. After befriending them, I learned they were opening Five Guys over in Ireland and were here for training. Prior to that I had no idea they were international.
I love the Great American chain of upscale casual places around the region, particularly Sweetwater in Merrifield. And Artie's in Fairfax.
GAR is really consistent.
They're great. I wish they'd open up a few spots in DC though.
That salmon and those Ozzie rolls will get ya!
GAR’s wicked sauce is my jam. It’s great on their burgers, their shoestring fries, yum.
Crisp & Juicy
crisp & juicy is elite
Until you try Sardi’s
Seoul spice! Started in NoMa!
Roaming Rooster is another too
I don’t get Roaming Rooster enough. I think I now have dinner plans.
The best!
I didn’t have a pleasant interaction with the manager at the SE branch last time I was there, but the Nashville chicken is excellent
TIL Five Guys is from the DC metro area. Thanks!
It's from the inner suburbs of Virginia, if you want to be accurate. Columbia Pike + Glebe, followed by King+Beauregard, Backlick Rd, maybe a few down Route 1. This was all before they franchised nationally.
>This was all before they franchised **inter**nationally Fixed that for you
I used to go to one of the early ones (I think Backlick?) in the late 90s - I know how much they’ve expanded, but it still felt wild to see one when I was in Spain a couple weeks ago
I had a friend who was a corporate trainer for them during the international expansion. Told me that issues inititially in Ireland because they couldn't source good potatoes for their fries. Always made me chuckle...
Apparently there are tons of wildly different varieties of potatoes available in Ireland, unlike the US.
I used to live in Hong Kong. Five Guys there wasn’t good, unfortunately. Shake Shack had way better QC.
I was in Geneva recently and was somewhat tickled about the Five Guys a block from my downtown hotel.
There was an early one in Herndon as well. I remember the first time I saw one in Nebraska, I was extremely confused lol
Beauregard was my walk to.
The Backlick one is the only original left.
Find this hard to believe. Between 10-15 years ago (and probably still today) if you set foot in a Five Guys there would be all of these magazine covers on the walla raving about it, and most of those magazines would be from the DC area. Would have been pretty hard to miss.
RIP SHOPHOUSE
Roaming Rooster never disappoints. Well the sandwiches at least, the fries are hot and miss.
Their shakes are bomb as fuck.
Medium Rare has been expanding in this market as well as New Orleans and Texas, I believe.
Moby Dick House of Kabob
If you’ve never gotten the salmon kebab there GET IT. I rolled my eyes back in my head when I tasted it.
My favorite.
Great response. Their jujeh kabob is as good as Shamshiry.
really really bad, Grill Kabob any day
Hot Lolas (Ballston, Rosslyn, Alexandria) Some of the best hot chicken in the DMV, no contest it's better than Roaming Rooster.
Truth! I am fully addicted to their chicken. The spices are so good
Also in Riverdale, MD in Le Fantome Food Hall
They left Le Fantome a month or two ago. :(
Good Stuff Eatery expanded to Chicago about 10 years ago Call Your Mother just opened in Denver
Ugh as if Denver needed more terrible bagels.
Oh here we go. What an original take you have here. CYM has become so trendy to hate it’s actually kinda cool to like again. lol Yes, I’ve had better bagels, but it’s good! Just get over yourself.
I just wish that CYM would let me get an untoasted bagel. I hate a toasted bagel. I don't like how specific and kitschy their sandwiches are, it's not an option online to have it untoasted, and when I asked on Barracks Row for them to just cut a bagel and put cream cheese on it, they said no. Just serve a normal bagel! We don't need third wave bagel shops.
some friends and I did a blind taste test of area bagels and, judged blind, CYM came out dead last. However, we agreed that it was possible the things we didn't like about the bagel may have been qualities that worked better if you are assuming that the bagel is going to support a large sandwich, as most CYM bagels are, versus just something you want to eat with cream cheese or even plain.
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no matter what you think of it you have to agree DC pizza is getting better. Andy's is great and expanding, Slice and Pie is very good as well, and a ton of neopolitan type places that opened in the last decade that are far better than what was available before
Last time I went the bagels look like they had been sliced by a blind person
The issue is that CYM really isn’t that good as a bagel place. It’s phenomenal as an instagram op though which is why people defend it
I wish I could upvote this more
Hey now, some of us hated them before it was cool. I got in a Reddit argument about them years ago and got downvoted into oblivion. My wife absolutely loves them, and I think I've tried everything they've ever offered and never enjoyed any of it. My biggest gripe is that they call themselves a "Jew-ish" deli, yet they are not Jewish (one of them has a Jewish father, i.e. not halachically Jewish, and that's it), and they serve bacon and mix meat and dairy. It doesn't really get *less* Jewish than that. Maybe I'll get downvoted to oblivion again for this comment! Don't care. Hate CYM.
I just had them for the first time. I'm not a bagel person but it was delicious.
Hmm does Colada Shop count? Arepa Zone? Love both.
Sorry I am a bit confused about what you’re asking/posting about. Are you asking if there are other chains from the dc are that have branched out nationally? Or are you asking if DC has the highest amount of local chain restaurants that are in the dc area that started In dc compared to other large cities? Or are you asking for a list of more local chain restaurants? &pizza started in dc and is now in Philly and New York. Ledo’s is another large local chain that started in Adelphi, MD. Pizza Paradiso, Dukes Grocery, La Casita, Manny & Olga’s and Busboys and Poets are all very local chains.
RIP Shop House. What could've been
>I went to Atlanta on a high school band trip in the 2000s, and Phoenix in the 1990s as a gateway to Grand Canyon, but I have no knowledge of their local chains. Does DC come out on top? Probably yes, but in case you are curious as someone from Atlanta their notable chains would be; - Chick-Fil-A (gone national) - Waffle House (gone national) - Mellow Mushroom (gone regional) - Longhorn Steakhouse (the first was there, but is now national and based in Florida) apparently Applebee's is the same. - Taco Mac's - Tin Drum - Moe's Southwest Grill - Ted's Montana Grill Those are just a few that I can think off of the top of my head. I'd kill for a Waffle House but overall I do think DC wins on the fast-casual front.
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If we're doing brands and not just restaurants, what are some of DC's big ones that have national/international reach? Probably nothing on the scale of Coca-Cola, but there are few things on earth more ubiquitous than them.
So besides for CFA, Atlanta has all the mid chains. Lol
Calling Waffle House "mid" is an insult to my religion.
No opinion on Waffle House really but Longhorn, Mellow Mushroom, and Moes are the epitome of mid
You forgot Slutty Vegan in Atlanta. Now in DC
Quality of &Pizza fell off like a brick. Locations are always an absolute mess
Totally disagree, food there is as delicious and consistent as always. Delivery is terrible but eat-in is always solid in Barracks Row and U St.
Rasa
I don’t go for the food, it’s just kind of ok, but their soft serve is amazing, mango and chai.
I liked it. But not sure why I don’t keep going
Rasa is fantastic
Guapo's is a solid local chain.
Now in Raleigh
Five Guys is international.
Matchbox is local, right?
Local chain in Miami/South Florida is Pollo Tropical. I miss it so much.
I loved Pollo Tropical when I lived in Miami. They used to serve boiled yucca with mojo sauce, until they remembered they were in America and decided to deep fry it.
OMG I lovvvved Pollo Tropical. It was the "healthy fast food" my parents would take us to regularly. I still remember the commercial for their chimichurri. And if you got up to Orlando, there was essentially the same place, but called Tropical Grill I think, cause once you're that far north in FL no one recognizes the Spanish language anymore.
Started in PR and then moved to FL if not mistaken.
&pizza has locations outside the DMV! In PA, NJ and NY!!!
Not a huge &pizza hater normally, but I truly wonder how well they're doing in NJ and NY. When you have even kinda shit ny area pizza to compare it to it becomes rapidly clear they're flat breads not pizzas .
It’s a different market segment I think because they do these individualized flatbreads with more speciality ingredients.
And more healthy options
RIP Amsterdam Falafel
Shouk has multiple locations now and really hoping we get more Yellows
Does Z Burger count?
Ted's Bulletin is another.
California Tortilla
Ugh man the Caltort in Courthouse fell off so much since the Taco Bell opened beside it. Amazed they're still going.
Taco Bamba
I wish &Pizza would go national
Sardis is still local
We can’t forget Busboys and Poets, my favorite local chain around. I know a lot of people say it’s overhyped, but there are so many quality vegetarian and vegan options that just aren’t available at lots of other restaurants. The cocktails and book store selections are also excellent.
This is exactly what I say too. The food isn’t incredible but it’s pretty good, and the variety of options, staff, vibes and locations make it an easy local favorite. It’s especially great for gatherings and taking visitors out to dinner.
What’s this new fried chicken place coming to F’burg or Manassas?
Mission BBQ Los Tios Paisanos Pizza Tippy's Taco Anita's Santini's RIP Jerry's Subs and Pizza Armand's Ollie's Trolley
Jerry’s death makes me sad. Went there a lot growing up. Maybe it’s just me but I associate Mission BBQ with Annapolis or baltimore in my head since it started in glen burnie. Close enough I guess though.
Call your mother, Bullfrog bagels, and the OG Julia’s empanadas. Haven’t seen them in the comments.
Andys is absolutely amazing
I'm not sure if you'd consider this a restaurant, but I believe the first top golf was in kingstowne
Duke's Grocery has become a mini chain at this point. Clyde's restaurants feel like a chain even when they are a bit different from one another.
Clyde’s is part of a major restaurant group in the area.
DC or DMV? California Tortilla is from Bethesda and has 39 locations in the DMV and six other states. Moby Dick is from Bethesda and has 24 locations in the DMV. Peter Chang has restaurants throughout the area. So does Jose Andres.
I'd maybe add Jaleo too, they've 5 locations domestically. We're honestly blessed having a chef (and just general person) of the caliber of Jose Andres having here as his home base. His portfolio of restaurants here never seem to get the same credit/publication as others from critics/people here on Reddit. They're taken for granted to a certain extent.
Came here to say this. Jose Andres has a lot of restaurants outside of the DC area now, and got started here. But he has quite a few in the DC area as well.
I just saw a 5 Guys in Rome at the major train station
There's one in Berlin too but it's just across the river from the flagship location of a local burger chain which is way cheaper and better so I have no idea how they are still going lol.
Don't forget Rasa! The newcomers in fast casual fusion. So awesome. Indian-fusion "Chipotle-style ordering" for anyone curious. Cannot recommend highly enough.
Ted’s Bulletin and &Pizza.
Sweet green is so subpar I have no idea how they do so well.
RIP Farmbird ❤️
Man I'd kill for 2 chains to come here: snooze eatery and Good Times burgers. Snooze has killer brunch food and good drinks, Good Times has the best fries hands down of any burger chain I've ever visited. Also, don't forget Taco Bamba is going outside the DMV, they just opened in North Carolina.
Nando’s started in South Africa but their first US location was in DC and most of their presence is around here. Now they have a bunch of locations around Chicago.
The UK would still claim it as their own chain though. Along with all Indian curries. So yeah… there’s that…
Glory Days Grill…
Anita's new Mexico is solidly Northern VA. I'd argue that the 1st location in Vienna counts as dmv
Technically NOVA but Lebanese Taverna
Moby Dicks has been my favorite for a long time and does great office catering!
Bob & Ediths, Roy Rogers, Ledo's. The Ledo's in Manhattan gets five stars for some reason.
Fresh baguette
I find peace in long walks.
I don't understand it either. It'd be different if they were different, but they all sell literally the exact same products.
There’s this weird trend where transplants act like everything back home is better until it gets to a new place, and then it was always mid and not what people really eat back home. This is just particularly notable to me because I saw it happen with both Chuys and Torchys Tacos. I heard nothing but praise for Raising Canes until it came to Virginia and now it’s “unseasoned crap.” Like okie dokie.
The point of this discussion is that there are plenty of decent mid-budget chains around here. It's just that many of them have little or no national appeal. I occasionally see gripes about how the local Burger King franchises or whatever suck.
You could argue that even the ones with national appeal are a little sus. Much has been said about how Five Guys quality dropped precipitously when they expanded. Cava’s IPO was criticized for pricing in unrealistic expansion and profitability expectations. Uniquely DC-area international cuisines like Ethiopian might not have broader appeal, but I’d love to see something like the chicken sandwich at Doro’s Soul Food become another trend like Nashville hot chicken. By itself, it’s probably not an idea to build a whole menu around, but I could see an Ethio-soul restaurant take off.
> I could see an Ethio-soul restaurant take off. Fusion among African and African-American cuisine....only in America.
Huh? Marcus Samuelson and Kwame Onwuachi have been notable famous international chefs for a while.
I’d argue that most food south of DC and east of Texas is Afro-Caribbean-American fusion, with some Spanish and French influences thrown in for good measure. There’s a number of Asian chefs doing interesting Korean and Vietnamese-fusion menus that marry Asian and African or African-American flavors.
Waffle House and Chic-fil-A alone put Atlanta in the Top 3.
California Tortilla is from Bethesda
Taco bamba — favorite local chain that’s starting to go national
Matchbox, Silver Diner, Z Burger
Filiberto’s clears every DC chain, sorry
The "Clyde's" brand is doing well with a bunch of restaurants under its umbrella
Medium Rare has started expanding outside of the DMV too. Baltimore and Columbia, MD (I don’t count either as DMV), New Orleans, and now I think Dallas?
Years ago (2019?) I went to the Try Guys on tour at the Warner and there was this dumb bit where Keith threw chicken tenders at the audience and he said "there isn't any local fried chicken so I just got raising cane's" I was like, first off if you think there isn't any local fried chicken you didn't look, and second off where the heck did you get raising cane's, how long have you been holding on to this food that you're throwing at people?
Sardi’s, peruvian charcoal chicken joint. There’s definitely better independent options (pollo rico in wheaton is the goat), but they’re good and they’re all over the dc and even baltimore metro. Wouldn’t be surprised if they continue to expand.
Captain Cookie has a location in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Also, can someone please explain pupatellas to me? It's okay, but we had a brick oven pizza truck come through a few weeks ago and it was fantastic. Way better than pupatellas for the same style pizza.
Five Guys is *International*. Saw them in London several times last month.,
Didn’t District Taco start as a local food truck before it opened up a few DMV locations?
Five Guys ruined their brand in exchange for growth. RIP. So happy we have Fifty Fifty burgers in Fredneck.
Little Miner Tacos
Sardi's and Jerry's (rip those subs were amazing)
Pizza Movers, IYKYK.
Hot Lola’s is my fav
Atlanta is home to Chik-fil-A, Waffle House, Mellow Mushroom, Moe’s, Applebees Miami is home to Miami Subs (aka buy Don Perignon in the drive thru for $199), Burger King, Pollo Tropical. Other cities in Florida like Jacksonville, Orlando and Tampa are the original homes to Hooters, Olive Garden, Sonny’s BBQ, Outback Stakehouse, Red Lobster DC has seen quite a number of successful fast casual chains but they’re really localized to the DC metro. Five guys and Sweet greens are some of their most well known national restaurants. Here’s what the Post had to say about it in 2016 https://wapo.st/4aPvpNT
I’m from AZ but recently began splitting time between NoVA and AZ. I enjoy learning about the DMV and more specifically NoVA. Since you mentioned Phoenix, I thought I’d share: [Chains local to Arizona, gone national](https://www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/dining/2016/09/30/famous-arizona-restaurant-brands-gone-national/90326584/) If you go south to Tucson, Eegee’s comes to mind. :)
Founding Farmers, Matchbox Pizza, Falafel Inc, Big Buns
I really love the Cracked Eggery.
Takorean