Arlington Magazine Nov/Dec 2023

To build a richer life, you need advisors with two specialties: the investment world, and your world. At Evermay, our plans are tailor-made to your speci c needs and circumstances. e times are always changing—but your Evermay advisor’s commitment and ability to deliver on your longterm investment goals will always remain constant. Because to us, it’s personal.

Arlington residents John and Joyce Wanda grew up in poverty in Uganda. Now they’re giving back by building the learning environment they never had.

They lost their son in a car crash just weeks shy of his 18th birthday. One year later, a portrait of grief, community support and healing.

Guide to Giving 2023

Want to make your community a better place? Donate your time or money to one of these local nonprofit organizations.

Top Attorneys

Sometimes you need a lawyer. Here are our area’s most respected attorneys, as nominated by their peers in the legal community.

Arlington philanthropists Joyce and John Wanda

Great community health care begins with you.

Our vibrant community depends on great healthcare to strengthen and grow. But, there is more to great healthcare than our great doctors, nurses, and advanced technology. The other major component is YOU.

The VHC Health Foundation fosters that growth through their support for the programs at VHC Health. Your generosity can ensure that everyone in our community can have access to the quality care they deserve. Learn more about how to give the gift of good health at vhcfoundation.com

CON TENTS

131 Shop Local

On the hunt for gifts? Try stained glass suncatchers, cold-pressed soaps and handlettered signage by local artisans.

134 Driving Range

Get

with

and menorah

Once

A

91

Under a sloping roofline, a cozy sleeping nook for a design-savvy teen.

The area’s most expensive home sales, plus real-estate trends by ZIP code.

105 Home Plate

Where to find real-deal Neapolitan pizza, imported olive oil and Southeast Asian eats by a star chef.

108 Restaurant Review

An upscale Persian concept with a culinary dream team makes a splash in Tysons.

112 Places to Eat

Consult our dining guide for bite-size write-ups on more than 250 restaurants and bars near you.

Find out why historic Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, has earned the nickname “Christmas City.”

142 Get Away

New reasons to visit Virginia Beach; Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; and Easton, Maryland, this time of year.

144 Back Story

Born into slavery, she lived and worked at Arlington House. But her final resting place is a mystery.

letter from the publisher

Why We Give

MOST CREATURES ARE inherently selfish. Dominate a territory and repel invaders. Reshape the environment to your benefit. Eat what you kill. Survival of the fittest. Scan the news, read about history or watch a nature show and the motivation to come out on top, often at a great cost to others, is pervasive.

So why do we give, especially when there is no direct or visible benefit to us? Studies show that we get an endorphin rush and our brain’s mesolimbic pathway (the reward center) is stimulated by being altruistic. It makes us happy and gives us meaning. We tend to live longer. Giving builds relationships and enhances our communities. It can also provide us with a way to make sense of a tragedy and carry on the legacy of a lost loved one.

In this issue, we explore two local couples who have become philanthropists. Our first feature, “Back to School,” tells the story of John and Joyce Wanda, who came to the United States from Uganda. They brought with them just a few belongings and a strong belief in the value of an education. Motivated, in part, by the positive experience their children had in Arlington Public Schools—especially Arlington Traditional School—they launched REACH for Uganda, a nonprofit that, decades later, has transformed the lives of thousands in their home country through education.

Our second feature, “After Braylon,” follows Rose Kehoe and Kris Meade, who lost their 17-year-old son to a drunk driver last November. Sharing their grief, the community rallied to support them, including by donating to two scholarship funds in their son’s name. (One is housed locally at the Arlington Community Foundation; the other resides at the University of Michigan, which is the family’s alma mater.) Although I haven’t asked them, it may be safe to assume that

Rose and Kris didn’t set out to become philanthropists in this way. But as their friend, and knowing the depth of their kindness, I believe it is a role they have already embraced.

Giving is very personal. We contribute money and donate our time to causes we care about. If charitable giving is a part of your annual plan, I applaud you. There are so many worthy causes. If giving locally hasn’t been on your radar, please review our Guide to Giving on page 60. It includes more than 40 local nonprofit organizations that are working to house the unsheltered, feed the hungry, provide health care to those who can’t afford it and support those escaping domestic violence (to name just a few causes). You may find an organization and mission in our guide that resonates with you.

I hope you find our November/December issue interesting, informative and enjoyable. As you may know, the magazine comes out six times a year. If you miss us between issues, please visit ArlingtonMag azine.com. We publish new stories daily, including some that are only available on the site. If you would like our content pushed to you, sign up for our email newsletters and follow us on social media (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter/X).

We love hearing from you. Send your suggestions and feedback to me at greg.hamilton@arlingtonmag azine.com. Letters to the editor should be directed to jenny.sullivan@arlingtonmagazine.com. Have a wonderful holiday season.

Greg Hamilton Publisher & Owner

Thom Goertel

BORN IN: Bismarck, North Dakota

CURRENT HOMETOWN: Annandale, Virginia

IN THIS ISSUE: Shares photos from his recent trip to East Africa, where he documented the impact of REACH for Uganda, a nonprofit founded by Arlington philanthropists John and Joyce Wanda.

ABOUT THAT TRIP: “I spent 10 days in Uganda, splitting my time between Bududa and Namisindwa. REACH has a school and a clinic in each of those locations. Against seemingly impossible odds, the Wandas are improving lives and transforming communities. Their energy and vision have no limits.”

OTHER PRO BONO PROJECTS: “I am working with the nonprofit VAMOS! in Cuernavaca, Mexico, on a series of dayin-the-life photos of working impoverished women. And I continue to work with

Earth Wind Fire + Water, a grassroots organization dedicated to improving living standards in Kenya. I’ve also shot for Ashoka, which has programs in Mexico, Korea and India.”

PERSONAL TAKEAWAYS: “Happiness is a condition that occurs between people. It requires nothing else. In a lifetime of making pictures, what I am doing now gives me the chance to do my best, most important work ever.”

SUPPORT FOR THE ARTS: Goertel is an artist in residence at the Philadelphiabased Electronic Music Education and Preservation Project (EMEAPP), a videographer for the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage productions and a volunteer at the Shakespeare Theatre Company and Arena Stage in D.C.

ONLINE: thomgoertel.com and @thomgoertel on Instagram

PUBLISHER & OWNER

Greg Hamilton

EDITOR

Jenny Sullivan

ART DIRECTOR

Laura Goode

PRODUCTION MANAGER

Danny Ryan

DIGITAL EDITORS

Stephanie Kanowitz, Helen Partridge

WEB PRODUCER

Erin Roby

DINING CRITIC

David Hagedorn

COPY EDITORS

Sandy Fleishman, Barbara Ruben

CO-FOUNDER

Steve Hull

WRITERS

Christine Koubek Flynn, Wendy Kantor, Colleen Kennedy, Kim O’Connell, Barbara Ruben, Jennifer Shapira, Sana Hoda Sood, Amy Brecount White, Adrienne Wichard-Edds

PHOTOGRAPHERS & ILLUSTRATORS

Stephanie Bragg, Skip Brown, Alison Conklin, Thom Goertel, Tony J. Lewis, Deb Lindsey, Rey Lopez, Declan McCleaf, Matt Mendelsohn, Donna Owen, Carlos Quezada, Alex Sakes, Hilary Schwab, Joseph D. Tran, Michael Ventura, Dixie Vereen, Jenn Verrier

ADVERTISING ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES

Traci Ball, Kristin Murphy, Lori Reale

FINANCE & CIRCULATION MANAGER

Julie Rosenbaum

ARLINGTON MAGAZINE is published six times a year by Greenbrier Media LLC © 2023

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LOUISE JOHNSTON

Thom Goertel in Kenya in early 2023

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AROUND TOWN

by Colleen Kennedy

RUN FOR A CAUSE

NOV. 23, 8 A.M.

Arlington Turkey Trot

Want to earn an extra helping of stuffing and gravy? Now entering its 18th

PERFORMING ARTS

NOV. 7-19

How Sweet It Is:

The Men of Soul

Signature Theatre

This musical salute to the men of soul features such classics as “(Sittin’ on) the Dock of the Bay,” “Let’s Get It On,”

year, this annual Thanksgiving Day 5K fundraiser helps neighbors in need during the season of abundance and gratitude. Sign up to run, walk or roll in support of 18 local nonprofits, including Bridges to Independence, Arlington Food Assistance Center, OAR, PathForward and other organizations that make up

“Try a Little Tenderness” and “A Change Is Gonna Come.” See website for performance times. $45. 4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington, sigtheatre.org

NOV. 15-18

Taylor Tomlinson

Capital One Hall

Tomlinson’s big eyes and disarming smile make her dark twists and turns all the more unexpected and hilarious. The comedian has cultivated a fervent

Arlington’s social safety net. Registration $50 (adults); $25 (kids 6-17); free for children under 6 years of age. Online registration closes 8 p.m. Nov. 19. The race begins at 8 a.m. from a starting line in Lyon Park, along Pershing Drive between Fillmore and Garfield streets arlingtonvaturkeytrot.org

fan base covering the usual stand-up fare—dating and millennial malaise— through a confessional lens, laying bare her own experiences with grief, mental health and therapy. Her hour-long stand-up debut, Quarter-Life Crisis, premiered on Netflix in 2020, followed by Look at You in 2022. The Saturday performances will be recorded for her upcoming special, Have It All. See website for performance times. Tickets start at $29.75. 7750 Capital One Tower Road, Tysons, capitalonehall.com

The Arlington Turkey Trot 5K: a Thanksgiving Day tradition

A WINTRY TALE

DEC. 9-JAN. 6

Snow Maiden

The Russian fairy tale of a beautiful girl crafted from snow and her friendship with a human boy is an ode to friendship, mortality and ephemeral pleasures. Created and directed by Irina Tsikurishvili and performed by Maryam Najafzada and Vato Tsikurishvili, this 45-minute show is appropriate for all ages (no intermission). See website for ticket prices and performance times. Synetic Theater, 1800 S. Bell St., Arlington, synetictheater.org

DEC. 1-17

Madeline’s Christmas

Creative Cauldron

“In an old house in Paris, covered in vines, lived twelve little girls in two straight lines…” Ludwig Bemelmans’ picture books have delighted generations. In this enchanting stage adaptation, little Madeline must save Christmas when illness prevents her classmates from traveling home for the holidays. Performances 7:30 p.m. ThursdaySaturday; 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; and 4 p.m. Sunday. $20-$30 ($18 for students). 410 S. Maple Ave., Falls Church, creativecauldron.org

DEC. 5-17

Both Sides Now: Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen

Signature Theatre

Catch a special encore performance featuring Robbie Schaefer and Danielle Wertz singing classic songs by Canadian folk superstars Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell, including “Case of You,” “Hallelujah” and “Big Yellow Taxi.” See website for performance times. $45. 4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington, sigtheatre.org

DEC. 7-24

Quilters

1st Stage

This moving musical follows a group of women pioneers on the American frontier as they work together to create a quilt, interweaving their own histories and patching together pieces of their shared struggles and triumphs. See website for performance times. $15-$55. 1524 Spring Hill Road, Tysons, 1ststage.org

DEC. 8-JAN. 7

The Tale of the Fisherman and the Golden Fish

Synetic Theater

A humble fisherman and his ambitious wife clash over what to do with a magical fish that grants wishes. Synetic reimagines Pushkin’s famous fable about greed, love and selflessness in a dynamic 45-minute performance appropriate for all ages (no intermission). See website for ticket prices and performance times. 1800 S. Bell St., Arlington, synetictheater.org

DEC. 11-20

Holiday Cabaret Series

Creative Cauldron

Don your favorite festive apparel and celebrate the season while listening

Synetic’s Snow Maiden

to local performers belting out holiday classics. Special table reservations include wine and beer. See website for performance times. Tickets $25-$30 (general admission); $90 (tables for two); $180 (tables for four). 410 S. Maple Ave., Falls Church, creativecauldron.org

DEC. 20, 7:30 P.M.

A John Waters Christmas

The Birchmere

Baltimore’s favorite auteur director John Waters (Pink Flamingos, Hairspray, CryBaby) returns with his ribald holiday show full of mirth, joy, wit and raunchy humor. $59.50. 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria, birchmere.com

DEC. 22, 1 P.M. & 6 P.M.

The Nutcracker

Capital One Hall

The Virginia National Ballet performs Tchaikovsky’s holiday classic, complete with spinning sugarplums and an army of mincing mice. Tickets start at $39. 7750 Capital One Tower Road, Tysons, capitalonehall.com

SEASONAL

NOV. 7-8

Merry Market Dominion Guild

Ready for a little holiday shopping? Stop by the Knights of Columbus for “Bubbly and Bites” on Tuesday from 5:30-9 p.m., followed by a full day of shopping (9:30 a.m.-4 p.m.) Wednesday. The pop-up market will include 25 vendors offering all manner of holiday gifts, and proceeds will benefit local nonprofit organizations. Tickets for “Bubbly and Bites” are $45 and include admission to the Merry Market the next day. Wednesday-only admission ($15) can be purchased at the door or online. 5115 Little Falls Road, Arlington, thedominionguild.org

NOV. 18, NOON-6 P.M.

Cherrydale Holiday Art Market

Cherrydale United Methodist Church

Hosted by Alanna Rivera Studios, this makers market features an array of BIPOC

and women-owned businesses selling goods such as handmade ceramics, paintings, art prints, fine jewelry, custom wood products, comics and apparel. Youngsters can decorate ornaments at a craft table for kids. Free. 3701 Lorcom Lane, Arlington, alannarivera.com

NOV. 18-19 & DEC. 16-17

Mosaic Holiday Village with URBNmarket

Mosaic District

The artisanal street fair returns to Mosaic’s Holiday Village for two funfilled weekends, featuring gift-able items by more than 65 makers plus music, carolers, photos with Santa, hot drinks and other fun. See website for market times and schedule. 2910 District Ave., Fairfax, URBNmarket.com

DEC. 9, 10 A.M.-4 P.M.

Annual LAC Studios

Show & Sale

LAC Studios

Find pretty pottery and hand-pulled prints (etchings, monoprints, wood cuts) for sale

at LAC Studios, an Arlington studio for professional artists working in ceramics and printmaking. Free. 5722 Langston Blvd., Arlington, arlingtonva.us/Government/ Programs/Arts/Programs/LAC

DEC. 9-10, 11 A.M.-3 P.M.

Rosslyn Holiday Cheer Market

Central Place Plaza

Peruse locally made gifts such as jewelry, apparel and bath products, while sipping hot chocolate and visiting with Santa and Mrs. Claus. Free. 1800 N. Lynn St., Arlington, rosslynva.org

DEC. 10, 5 P.M.

Light Up Arlington

Chabad Lubavitch of Alexandria-Arlington

Celebrate the Jewish Festival of Lights with the lighting of a 9-foot menorah in Clarendon. This event also includes traditional music, dreidel spinning, latkes, hot cocoa, chocolate gelt and other treats. Free, but registration required. 1307 N. Highland St., Arlington, chabadalexandria.org

National Philharmonic

DEC. 14, 5:30-6:30 P.M.

Menorah Lighting

Mosaic District

The Pozez Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia presents a community menorah lighting with sing-alongs, entertainment, dreidels and other Hanukkah fun. Free. 2910 District Ave., Fairfax, thej.org

AUTHORS & BOOKS

NOV. 1, 11:30 A.M.

Invisible Warriors:

African American Women in World War II

Arlington Central Library

This film screening explores the contributions of the more than 600,000 Black women who served in industrial and government administrative roles during World War II. A Q&A with filmmaker Gregory

Handel’s Messiah

Saturday, December 16 • 7:30PM

Sunday, December 17 • 3 PM

The Music Center at Strathmore

Saturday, December 20 • 7:30PM

S. Cooke follows. Free. 1015 N. Quincy St., Arlington, library.arlingtonva.us

NOV. 4, 10:30 A.M.-3 P.M.

Local Author Fair

Columbia Pike and Central Libraries

Meet the writers in our midst and purchase books at this Arlington Public Library event celebrating the literary achievements of local authors. Find nonfiction writers at the Columbia Pike Library from 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., then head to the Central Library from 1-3 p.m. to rub elbows with fiction authors. Free. Columbia Pike Library, 816 S. Walter Reed Drive; Central Library, 1015 N. Quincy St., Arlington; library. arlingtonva.us

NOV. 8, 6:30 P.M.

Author Talk:

Chef Sean Sherman

Central Library

Join Oglala Lakota chef Sean Sherman, author of the 2018 James Beard Awardwinning cookbook The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen, for a talk about indigenous foodways. From his upbringing

Rob Ferguson is as local as they come. A lifelong Northern Virginian with over 30 years of Arlington real estate expertise, Rob knows the neighborhoods and the local market.

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in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, to an epiphany on a beach in Mexico, the chef will share his journey of discovering, reviving and reimagining Native cuisine, and efforts to decolonize our food systems. Free. 1015 N. Quincy St., Arlington, library.arlingtonva.us

NOV. 9, 7 P.M.

Operation Skyshield: Cold War Games

Arlington Historical Society

During the height of the Cold War, the U.S. and Canada prepared for the worst in a series of national defense exercises grounding all flying aircraft. Retired Smithsonian journalist Roger Mola will discuss Skyshield and its impact on Arlington and its environs. Participation is available in person or on Zoom. Free. Marymount University Reinsch Library Auditorium, 2807 N. Glebe Road, Arlington, arlingtonhistoricalsociety.org

NOV. 16, 6:30-8 P.M.

Author Talk: Emily Bowen Cohen

Shirlington Library

Using her illustrations and comic panels as storytelling devices, the author of Two Tribes—her debut graphic novel inspired by her own life—will reflect on indigenous and Jewish American themes such as the importance of places that feel like home, historical persecution, oppression and cultural traditions. Free. 4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington, library.arlingtonva.us

DEC. 14, 7 P.M.

Desegregating Libraries in Northern Virginia

Arlington Historical Society

During this presentation hosted by the Arlington Historical Society, Fairfax County librarians and authors Chris Barbuschak and Suzanne LaPierre will share the littleknown history of segregated library services in Northern Virginia, chronicling how Black activists used protests and lawsuits to gain more equitable library services. Participation is available in person or on Zoom. Free. Marymount University Reinsch Library Auditorium, 2807 N. Glebe Road, Arlington, arlingtonhistoricalsociety.org

ART

THROUGH NOV. 19

Judith Stone: Constructing Constructions

Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington

The artist’s mixed-media works reflect her decades of practice and intellectual inquiry. Free. 3550 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, mocaarlington.org

THROUGH NOV. 24

Movement & Textures

Gallery Underground

Artist Nataliya Gurshman’s solo show features oil paintings that evoke her upbringing in Leningrad. Opening reception 5-7 p.m. Nov. 3. Free. 2100 Crystal Drive, Arlington, arlingtonartistsalliance.org

THROUGH DEC. 17

Elliot Doughtie: Tomato

Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington

Elliot Doughtie’s Tomato is a Rube Goldberg-type machine exhibit composed of car parts and construction materials,

■ around town

playfully manipulated to evoke internal organs. Free. 3550 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, mocaarlington.org

THROUGH DEC. 17

Andrew Barco: Understory

Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington

Blurring the lines between fact and fiction, Barco’s installation incorporates sculpture, projection and hand-drawn texts. It tells the story of a fictional Chicago theater group creating a live-performance version of The Cave (2019), a real-life documentary about a subterranean hospital during the Syrian civil war. Free. 3550 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, mocaarlington.org

THROUGH DEC. 17

An Adventure of Being

Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington

This group show featuring works by Vincent Cy Chen, Nicki Cherry, Jeremy Olson and Stephanie J. Williams breaks down and challenges the boundaries between humans, animals, plants and otherworldly creatures. Free. 3550 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, mocaarlington.org

THROUGH DEC. 17

Marissa

Long: Blister Pearl

Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington

Marissa Long’s Blister Pearl installation is reminiscent of both a Renaissance garden grotto and a saint’s sepulcher, filled with objects that seduce and repulse. Free. 3550 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, mocaarlington.org

NOV. 27-DEC. 29

Color: Up Close & Personal

Gallery Underground

Three Arlington Artists Alliance members— Marcia Katz, Judy Landry and Sally Slifkin—present their colorful works in this vibrant exhibition. Opening reception 5-7 p.m. Dec. 1. Free. 2100 Crystal Drive, Arlington, arlingtonartistsalliance.org

MUSIC

NOV. 3-4, 7:30 P.M.

Pinchas Zukerman

The Barns at Wolf Trap

In celebration of his 75th birthday, the famed violinist performs works by Mozart, Mendelssohn and Dvořák. He is joined by his wife, cellist Amanda Forsyth, and pianist Michael Stephen Brown. $85. 1635 Trap Road, Vienna, wolftrap.org

BALLAD DAYS

NOV. 16, 7:30 P.M.

Rufus Wainwright

The Juno Award-winning singer-songwriter performs a solo show of his baroque pop hits and works from his latest album, Folkocracy (released March 2023). $69.50. The Birchmere, 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria, birchmere.com

NOV. 4, 7:30 P.M.

Diva’s Night Out with Schubert, Strauss and More

National Chamber Ensemble

NCE’s opening-night performance features renowned soprano Sharon Christman singing works by Franz Schubert, Amy Beach, Fanny Mendelssohn and Richard Strauss. A highlight will be Schubert’s famous “Die Forelle.” $40; $20 for students. Marymount University Ballston Center, 1000 N. Glebe Road, Arlington, nationalchamberensemble.org

NOV. 15, 8 P.M.

The Fixx

The Barns at Wolf Trap

Get your ’80s fix with the British new wave band known for hits such as “One Thing Leads to Another,” “Saved by Zero” and “Are We Ourselves?” Singer Kasim Sulton—who has collaborated with Meat Loaf, Joan Jett and Cheap Trick—opens. Tickets start at $49. 1635 Trap Road, Vienna, wolftrap.org

NOV. 29-30, 8 P.M.

Joan Osborne

The Barns at Wolf Trap Seven-time Grammy nominee Osborne asks the big questions—“What if God was one of us?”—in multifaceted performances melding rock, soul, R&B, blues, gospel,

country, funk and pop. Tickets start at $47. 1635 Trap Road, Vienna, wolftrap.org

DEC. 2-3, 8 P.M.

Darren Criss

The Barns at Wolf Trap

The actor and vocalist who rose to fame on Glee performs big-band Christmas classics from his new holiday album, A Very Darren Crissmas. Tickets start at $67. 1635 Trap Road, Vienna, wolftrap.org

DEC. 16, 7:30 P.M.

Holiday Cheer

National Chamber Ensemble

Delight in an evening of classical holiday music with Tchaikovsky Competition winner Dylana Jenson as the featured violinist. Jenson joins NCE artistic director and violinist Leo Sushansky to perform the “Concerto for Two Violins” by J.S. Bach and also “Introduction” and “Rondo Capriccioso” by Camille SaintSaens. The concert will also showcase winners of the 2023 NCE Young Artist Competition performing on piano. $40; $20 for students. Unitarian Universalist Church, 4444 Arlington Blvd., Arlington, nationalchamberensemble.org

En Pointe

BALLET WAS NOT Caroline Hamilton’s first love. In elementary school, she much preferred the Hannah Montana jazz summer camp at the Adagio Ballet School of Dance in Arlington.

When she did switch to ballet in second grade, it was with the stipulation that she wouldn’t wear tights. The studio let her dance in her socks.

By third grade, Hamilton was taking dance classes at both Adagio and CityDance in Bethesda, where she later joined the conservatory, and at Studio Bleu Dance Center in Ashburn.

“It was a lot of driving,” says her mom, Julianne, a real estate agent who assumed the role of chauffeur. She bought ballet performances of Giselle, La Fille Mal Gardée and Sleeping Beauty on DVD for her daughter to watch in the car.

That’s when the magic really took hold. “I loved watching these dancers,” says Hamilton, now 19 and living in Dresden, Germany, where she recently became an apprentice ballerina at the historic Semperoper Ballett. “I finally understood it as a way to tell a story.”

Committing fully to ballet had its exhilarating moments—including an early role with the Debbie Allen Dance Academy’s production of Brothers of the Knight at D.C.’s Warner Theatre in 2014, for which she earned a $50 stipend.

But it also made for a less than typical childhood. From fourth to eighth grade, Hamilton switched schools five times in a seemingly endless search for an academic program that could accommodate her rigorous dance schedule.

Her parents and two siblings made sacrifices, too—uprooting and moving as a family from Westover to Falls Church, where they hoped proximity to the Beltway would ease the young ballerina’s commute, and that a combination of public school and online classes might be easier for her to juggle.

The summer after eighth grade, Hamilton attended an intensive program at The Rock School for Dance Education in Philadelphia and decided to stay. Covid hit in the spring of her freshman year. “This was my worst nightmare,” she says. “Ballet is an art form. It’s done in a theater. You want an audience to come watch you.”

After a semester at home in Falls Church, she returned to Philly and got an apartment with her grandmother, who taught her how to grocery shop and cook for herself. In 2021, she auditioned (on Zoom) and was accepted into the Dutch National Ballet Academy’s two-year classical ballet associate degree program. Off to Amsterdam she went at the age of 16.

Hamilton graduated from that program in July and relocated to Dresden. She now dances four to 10 hours a day, cross-training with Pilates, weights and high-intensity workouts. When she’s not in rehearsals, she spends her free time breaking in and customizing her pointe shoes—“darning and sewing ’til my fingers are raw,” she says.

As one of six apprentices, she studies every role in every dance. “You’re meant to learn everything. Wherever they need you, that’s where you have to be,” she explains. “So in a way, you’re kind of every job in one.”

She admires ballerinas such as Diana Vishneva and Marianela Núñez for their ability to “dance beyond their fingers and toes” and hopes to one day land a role in her favorite ballet, Romeo and Juliet

As this issue went to press, her parents were researching flights, eager to see their daughter’s first performance in Germany.

“I love watching her dance,” her mom says. “As a family, it’s definitely given us opportunities to see the world in a way that we never would have.” ■

familiar faces ■ by Barbara Ruben | photo by

Matt Mendelsohn

Life of Pie

A tiny, homespun bakery has found its sweet spot in Arlington.

NORMALLY, THE LITTLE bakery on North Glebe Road whips up about 1,000 pies a week, in flavors ranging from Southern pumpkin praline (which in 2017 won honors in a Sports Illustrated pie-tasting contest) to salted caramel chocolate chess. But in the two weeks before Thanksgiving, its yield is close to 5,000.

rupt their busy season. During the holidays, they beef up staffing with college students home for breaks. On occasion, they have even rented a truck to transport apples from a Maryland farm to their kitchen. They typically go through 4,500 to 5,000 pounds of the fruit from October through December.

Preorders for Thanksgiving close in late October, but the bakery also sells pies to walk-in customers, and demand can get a little frenzied as Turkey Day approaches. “On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, we throw open the doors and sell every single thing we have,” says MacCallum. “We’ve had lines around the block.”

As kids, neither had pie-in-the-sky dreams of one day opening a bakery, though both had relatives who instilled a love of cooking. MacCallum’s family had a restaurant in Florida. “Baking, and sugar in particular, was always what I loved,” she says, remembering the simple Key lime pies of her childhood.

Sheire grew up in Seattle, where her uncle taught her to bake fruit pies with produce from local orchards. “I was his little acolyte. He let me roll out the dough. That’s how I got a passion for pie,” she says. Blackberry has always been her favorite.

By 2012, Sheire had moved east and was living and raising kids in Arlington. She started baking scratch-made pies out of a rented church kitchen and selling them at the Clarendon farmers market. When she met MacCallum through the Barcroft Elementary School PTA, she knew she’d found a kindred spirit and business partner.

“We laugh a lot. We were playing show tunes and got along like gangbusters from the start,” Sheire says. “It was hard physical work, but we were having so much fun. And all these years later we still like each other.”

In August, the pair were already placing orders for pie tins and bakery boxes to get ahead of any supply chain issues that might threaten to dis-

“We call it the Superbowl of pies,” says Heather Sheire, who co-owns Livin’ the Pie Life with fellow Arlingtonian Wendy MacCallum. Apple, pumpkin and pecan are the “trifecta” of Thanksgiving pies, she says, although Key lime is sometimes a wild card favorite as well.

At first, they worried there wouldn’t be enough demand to keep their venture afloat, but soon they had a devoted following. “People would be waiting

Heather Sheire (left) and Wendy MacCallum

■ familiar faces

for Heather to drive the pies still warm from the oven to the market,” MacCallum says. “That’s when I knew this was really special.”

In 2016, they began scouting for a brick-and-mortar location and found it on the first floor of a 1930s-era garden apartment building at the edge of the Glebewood Village Historic District, where they transformed two apartments into a sunny bakery with a patio.

As their farmers market fans followed them, their reputation grew. So did their repertoire, which now includes savory options such as Southern tomato pie and quiche, plus sweet treats like frosted chocolate brownies and ginger molasses cookies. “We bake every day, so everything is fresh that day,” says MacCallum.

The shop often sells out of all its inventory by closing time. When it doesn’t, it donates whatever is left to local fire and police departments, charities and friends.

To reduce its carbon footprint, the bakery uses sustainable and compostable products such as takeout containers made from sugarcane and forks made from corn starch rather than plastic. “We recycle the heck out of everything,” MacCallum adds.

Many ingredients are regionally sourced from vendors such as Catoctin Mountain Orchard in Thurmont, Maryland; Twin Springs Fruit Farm in Orrtanna, Pennsylvania; and Lois’s Produce on Virginia’s Northern Neck. (Lois’s daughter lives in Arlington.)

It’s both a family business and a neighborhood hub. MacCallum’s 91-year-old mom helps with seasonal decorations. Local high school students work as cashiers. “We are a first job for so many kids,” Sheire says. “We love watching them come in wide-eyed on their first day and then become confident in everything they do here by the time they leave for college or elsewhere.”

The staff of 35 also includes seven bakers and so-called “roller girls” who come in overnight to prepare the dough. Several of the owners’ kids (MacCallum has four; Sheire has two) worked there as teens.

Despite their sellout success—or perhaps because of it—the proprietors have no desire to expand. “Our staff are seasoned, they work quickly, and we take our cues from them as far as our work schedule and capacity,” Sheire says. “We do what we can do and no more. To de-stress, we feed people and make sure that everyone still gets time off as the holidays approach.”

Staying small and local feels just right. “We are so happy to be part of the Arlington community,” she says. “I can’t imagine where else we’d want to be.” ■

Barbara Ruben is a freelance writer in the DMV. Her favorite pies are pumpkin and cherry.

Heartland Design and Remodeling is offering a FREE KITCHEN DESIGN!

Deadline to enter: 11/30/2023

Visit for details and to enter: www.heartlanddesign.com/promo

Remember the coin tests? Hospital corners? White glove inspections? Well, at Falcons Landing you can leave the field day to us. We’ll make sure housekeeping and maintenance are kept squared away, so you have more time to devote to your favorite pursuits—and can rest easy knowing your home will always be ready to pass inspection with flying colors.

Hoda Sood

Ventura

My Hyphenated Self

Growing up, I felt neither Indian nor American enough. Now, I’ve found the blended beauty of being both.

I ONCE FOUND myself looking squarely into the face of an enraged rhino. And yet, the fear I felt then would later pale in comparison to how afraid I was the first time I landed in Arlington, Virginia.

Today, Arlington is my home—a town where I and countless other immigrants from around the world feel a sense of

belonging. But when I first arrived here as a 6-year-old in 1987, I felt extraordinarily out of place. I spoke English, but my tongue couldn’t do the gymnastics required to sound American. My peers didn’t understand me, or my accent.

Born in India in 1981, I spent my early years zigzagging across a handful of towns, courtesy of my father’s work

for the Indian civil service. My family seldom spent more than a year in one place before moving on.

One sojourn in a remote, northeastern part of the country, Tezpur, had us living near protected forests. It’s the image of India Rudyard Kipling wanted to convey—tigers, elephants and yes, rhinos. Oh my.

The author with her husband, Nitin, and sons Aarish and Arhaan

One afternoon, my mother—then in her late 20s—decided to take my sister and me for a joyride. As we barreled down a dirt road, Ammi (Mom) in her oversized Jackie O sunglasses and knotted silk scarf, my sister and me bouncing and squealing in the back seat, we came to an abrupt halt in front of a female rhinoceros who (as confirmed later by a park ranger) had lost her calf. Desperate and agitated, she hoofed the ground and charged aggressively at our car.

I remember dust flying as my mother gunned the accelerator and hightailed it out of there, intent on protecting her own offspring. My eyes stayed glued to the rhino, who chased us until she could no longer keep up.

In the years that followed, whenever I was confronted by challenges or sadness, I told myself: If that rhino didn’t

SMILE WONDERS PEDIATRIC & LASER DENTISTRY

get you, you’ll be all right now, too.

In 1987 my father was awarded a prestigious fellowship, which brought us to Virginia. I spent the next two years training myself in the arts of Americana and began to feel a bit more at home.

When my father’s fellowship came to an end, we backtracked to India where, as irony would have it, I felt like an outsider once again.

Second grade in India was a cold plunge to the system. Though I looked and sounded Indian, I had grown accustomed to student life at Barcroft Elementary in Arlington—making dried pasta necklaces, learning my vowels through song, and feeling very, very special every day. Now I was confronted with a rigorous math curriculum, zero pasta necklaces and strict teachers who seemed to have little tolerance for cre-

ativity. The place I’d missed so sorely while we were in Arlington no longer felt like home.

That chapter was short-lived, and soon we were shuttled back to Virginia in 1992 where, at age 10, I began to form my layered identity as an Indian American. I became a bit of this, and a bit of that—my accented English still too Indian, my distressed jeans too American.

There’s a saying in my native tongue of Urdu that tells of a traveling laundress who visits homes to collect people’s wash and takes their clothes down to the river to launder them. The nomadic nature of her work confuses her pet dog. He belongs neither to the homes they frequent, nor to the riverbanks.

Speakers of Urdu and Hindi across the South Asian subcontinent under-

“We treat all kids, even those afraid of the dentist!”

stand this tale to convey a sense of being neither here nor there. I understand it, too.

Children of immigrants often feel like they are walking a tightrope between two worlds, and I was no different. I had Coolio in my headphones, but turmeric in my lunch box. And I was a child of the ’90s—an era that had yet to see South Asian representation in American pop culture. Aside from a few heavily accented caricatures on TV, kids like me didn’t see ourselves reflected in the media we consumed (Apu on The Simpsons didn’t help).

Where I did find a total sense of belonging was in books. For years, I almost entirely read South Asian authors whose protagonists were Indians in the motherland, or Indian Americans like me. I met characters in these books who walked the same tightrope, their humanity reflected to me in a way totally unlike those caricatures on TV.

Books remained my passion through childhood, through my college years at Virginia Tech, through travels and into adulthood. I read when I felt happy or low. I read to fill the time. I reread the stories I loved and filled my home with so many books that I began stacking them in piles.

When I became a mother in 2012, I wanted my children to find the same joy and affirmation in literature. I brought home books filled with children of all colors, backgrounds and cultures. One day, I decided to write a book I’d always wished I had growing up. It was a children’s book about Diwali, the Indian “Festival of Lights.”

Though my immigrant family embraced Christmas (what’s not to love about presents and school holidays?), I had also grown up celebrating Diwali, an Indian festival symbolizing the victory of right over injustice, of knowledge over ignorance. Like Christmas, Diwali is a season of merriment, with packed shopping malls

Endless Possibilities

•

and extra helpings of dessert. For children like me, it was also an excuse to stay up extra late—not to catch Santa coming down the chimney, but to revel in the fireworks displays that lit up the night sky.

Arlington isn’t the same place I encountered decades ago, back when I felt lost because I pronounced words differently and had no clue that NKOTB was an acronym for a boy band. Today, Arlington Public Schools observes holidays from around the world, including Diwali. Each of these celebrations presents an opportunity to commemorate and learn about other cultural and religious traditions.

Though it may never be perfect, I do believe children today can feel at home here, regardless of where their families come from, which languages they

speak, which customs they celebrate or the contents of their lunch boxes.

I’m now in my 40s, married to an Indian man and raising two young boys who are forming their own Indian American identities. As parents, we invite them into the richness of their unique, hyphenated background through music, celebrations and books, where they can now see themselves and their peers authentically represented.

Representation matters. Mountains of research show that when young readers are exposed to characters who resemble them, with backgrounds that resonate with their own, it fosters a sense of belonging and self-acceptance. This early exposure helps shape a positive self-image and promotes empathy and understanding.

Similarly, when children encoun-

ter characters from a variety of races, cultures and experiences, they develop a broader worldview, curiosity and respect for diversity from an early age. Both are incredibly important to understanding yourself, and your broader role in a community.

I started my life in Arlington as an outsider, placating myself with the assurance that if I could survive a close call with a rhino, I could survive anything. My hope is that our children, whether they are born here or arrive by way of a winding road, wear their hyphenated identities proudly, share the richness of their cultures and celebrate the experiences of their peers. ■

Arlington resident Sana Hoda Sood is the author of Stories of the World: Diwali Find her at sanahodasood.com.

Senior Services Profiles

The Jefferson

“With all levels of senior living under one roof, The Jefferson offers for-sale condominiums with no buy-in fee beyond the price of the unit and access to community meals, activities, housekeeping and transportation.”

—Juli K. Swanson, LNHA, CMCA, Executive Director and General Manager

900 N. Taylor St. Arlington, VA 22203  703-516-9455

www.sunriseseniorliving.com/communities/ the-jefferson/about.aspx

People who are in the first few months of adjusting to a move to a senior living community often say they wish they had done it much sooner. Gone are all the chores of owning a home and its many associated expenses. Many residents free themselves of a car or two, which is not unusual in a place as centrally located as The Jefferson. In the vibrant heart of Ballston, eliminating a car eliminates maintenance and insurance expenses.

A county library is nearby, as are walking trails and a farmers’ market. So are grocery stores, dry cleaners, shoe repair, opticians, restaurants and a large movie theater. From The Jefferson campus, public transportation by bus or Metro is easy.

Residents at The Jefferson report a strong sense of community as well as individual happiness. Google Groups

is a great communication tool that announces everything from discounted entertainment tickets to nearby happy hours. Jeffersonians, as they call themselves, like to share what they love about their home and that makes it easy for new residents to find friends, as well as the time to work on hobbies or develop new interests.

One of many things residents bond over is The Jefferson’s top-notch fitness and wellness program, with water aerobics, Tai Chi, yoga, line dancing and more. There are different levels of activities from novice to advanced, as well as personal training. The heated pool is a favorite for classes, swimming laps and just relaxing. Jeffersonians also enjoy participating in the Northern Virginia Senior Olympics every year, bringing home lots of medals!

Sunrise of McLean Village

U.S. News & World Report’s Best Senior Living ratings for 2023-2024 named 130 Sunrise Senior Living communities in the categories of Best Independent Living, Best Assisted Living, Best Memory Care and Best Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRC).

1515 Chain Bridge Road  McLean, VA 22101

703-286-2095   www.SunriseMcLeanVillage.com

Situated in the heart of McLean, the newly opened Sunrise of McLean Village offers boutique-style senior living with easy access to shops and fine dining in Tyson’s, picturesque parks, and all the cultural events that Northern Virginia, D.C. and the metro area have to offer.

Residents can enjoy a maintenance-free lifestyle in these well-designed, comfortable spaces that include bright, spacious common areas and elegant suites. The community is focused on delivering activities tailored to individual preferences that create a truly exceptional experience.

Explore exquisitely landscaped green spaces, including a walking path with benches, a pristine Heritage Garden and spacious terraces perfect for enjoying the fresh air and sunshine. Sunrise of McLean Village also features a robust calendar of events and programs to

ensure plenty of opportunities to pursue passions and make new friends. The community is pet-friendly, too.

Seasonal menus feature daily specials crafted by an in-house culinary team to suit individual tastes, nutritional needs and dietary restrictions. Relaxing and socializing with fellow residents over coffee and snacks is easy in the cozy grab-and-go bistro. The community also features a fitness center, salon and massage room to help keep everyone looking and feeling their best.

Those interested can schedule a tour to discover this vibrant community, a beautiful place to consider calling home. Visitors can explore the model suites and meet the highly trained, compassionate team of caregivers who are dedicated to Sunrise’s personalized approach to assisted living and expert memory care services.

Capital Caring Health

Recently, a patient’s family member wrote, “Words cannot express how grateful our family is to you for your kind, loving, compassionate care to our father and us in our time of need.”

3180 Fairview Park Drive, Suite 500 Falls Church, VA 22042

24/7 Care Line: 800-869-2136 www.capitalcaring.org

Capital Caring Health is the region’s largest nonprofit hospice and advanced illness care provider. Serving Northern Virginia, Washington, D.C. and Maryland for nearly 50 years, they have ensured critical care for local families regardless of their ability to pay.

With Capital Caring Health’s interdisciplinary approach, support for hospice and palliative care extends beyond the patient, providing family members care and guidance from their social workers and certified counselors. Focusing on patients and their families, wherever they are in their advanced illness journey, is the organization’s sole mission.

Specialized resources are also available to veterans and those facing advanced cardiac disease, end-stage lung disease and dementia. Additionally, Capital Caring Health is the only provider of inpatient hospice care in Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia with two state-of-the-art centers. Each inpatient unit offers 24/7 care in a home-like environment.

Thanks to the generous support of the community, Capital Caring Health provides more than $3 million in hospice care and grief support annually at no cost to those in need.

Vinson Hall Retirement Community

Being a non-profit community does make a difference. At Vinson Hall Retirement Community, the Foundation’s commitment to our residents provides tremendous security for residents and peace of mind for their families.

6251 Old Dominion Drive

McLean, VA 22101

703-536-4344 www.vinsonhall.org

One of the many things that sets Vinson Hall Retirement Community (VHRC) apart from other senior residence communities is its non-profit status. Unlike for-profit communities that answer to investors who expect a return on their financial investment, Vinson Hall Retirement Community does not. The community is supported by the Navy Marine Coast Guard Residence Foundation, which raises funds to support those who live and work at VHRC. The Foundation’s mission is “to enrich the lives of those around us, so they are free to live life to the fullest,” and this mission guarantees that as residents age, their changing needs will be met by the community.

The Foundation’s confidential Resident Assistance Fund supports residents who, through no fault of their own, have depleted their resources and can no longer pay their monthly expenses.

At VHRC, no resident is ever asked to leave their home due to a lack of funds. Through its Innovation & Enhancement Fund, the Foundation looks for ways to bring residents the latest technological enrichments and other amenities, including a new resident portal, interactive digital kiosk, a state-of-the-art auditorium sound system and funding for the new Sports Park on campus. The Foundation’s Employee Caring Fund supports the dedicated staff by helping them weather financial hardships, pay for coursework or be rewarded for above-andbeyond work efforts.

Independent living at VHRC is open to commissioned U.S. military officers and immediate family as well as leadership level government employees, GS-14 or higher. Assisted living, skilled nursing, long-term nursing and memory care are open to the local community.

Photo: Vinson Hall Philanthropy and Engagement Team

Anna Novak

SIMPLY DOWNSIZED

Serving the D.C. Metro Region 703-237-1493 Anna@simplydownsized.com www.simplydownsized.com

Downsizing or clearing an estate requires hundreds of decisions both large and small.  Anna Novak of Simply Downsized delivers a strategic, seamless process that makes it easy for you to approach your move with confidence.

Anna’s expert guidance keeps your focus on your favorite and most necessary belongings, and she coordinates the efforts of trusted local services to complete your home transition on time and on budget.  Her popular “Walk Away” program sends unneeded items to private buyers, auctions, and donation centers, and provides a hands-free, efficient path to a clean, empty house.

“Downsizing can be emotional and hard work,” says Novak, “but you don’t have to figure it all out on your own. Call us first and we’ll see you through from start to finish.”

Greenspring Senior Living

Greenspring has been voted among the Best of Virginia 2023 by readers of Virginia Living Magazine. Executive Director Melissa Robson credited Greenspring’s “exceptional team members for their unwavering dedication to our mission of creating a community where residents can enjoy a vibrant retirement lifestyle and live life to the fullest.”

7440 Spring Village Drive Springfield, VA 22150  1-877-211-3699 www.GreenspringCommunity.com

Greenspring, an Erickson Senior Living-managed continuing care retirement community, is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, enhancing its dual priorities of health and well-being. Residents live in stylish apartment homes and appreciate having hundreds of resident-run clubs and activities, several on-site dining venues, fitness centers, allseason aquatics center, salon, bank, a CVS, on-site medical center, and more. The recent renovations introduced new restaurants and a revitalized theater.

STEPHANIE

Goodwin Living Foundation

The Goodwin Living Brain Health Team manages the StrongerMemory program. Together, they hope to reach 100,000 people who are living with cognitive changes and might benefit from the program. “I felt energized, and that surprised me,” said one participant. “I haven’t felt that energized about anything in quite a while.”

4800 Fillmore Ave. Alexandria, VA 22311  703-824-1200 www.GoodwinLivingFoundation.org

Goodwin Living has been redefining aging since 1967. With a solid reputation for providing options in senior living and healthcare, Goodwin Living is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing care with compassion, dignity and excellence along the aging journey. With multiple campus locations, an aging-at-home program and specialized Medicarecertified services such as home health, rehabilitation therapy and hospice, Goodwin Living also engages in philanthropic efforts. Thanks to the generosity of donors to the Goodwin Living Foundation, Goodwin Living provides additional benefits and programs to residents, team members, hospice patients and the greater Northern Virginia community. One standout program supports team members and their family members who wish to become U.S. citizens by providing them with grants to cover the application costs, plus tutoring

from residents who help them prepare for their exams. Goodwin Living offers a guide for other organizations who wish to start similar programs for their employees.

Other notable offerings include internships, educational benefits for team members, music therapy for residents, end-of-life doula services for hospice patients and an innovative brain-health program. By engaging in basic activities for just 30 minutes a day, StrongerMemory has been proven to help those with mild cognitive impairment. Fully funded through the Goodwin Living Foundation, StrongerMemory is available at no cost to users, who can start their path to better brain health by downloading a workbook at StrongerMemory.org.

With generous support from donors, The Goodwin Living Foundation makes it possible for everyone to thrive as they age.

Pictured, from left: Director of Brain Health Jessica Fredericksen, Goodwin Living Resident Candace Kent, Brain Health Specialist Ellie Pettoni, and Goodwin Living Resident Doffie Crabb

Woodbine Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center

Residents and their families routinely praise the Nurse Practitioners and all the staff at Woodbine, not just for what they do, but also for how they do it. Many choose Woodbine because of positive word-ofmouth in the community. For caregivers, there can be no greater compliment.

—Donna Shaw

2729 King St. Alexandria, VA 22302

703-836-8838  www.woodbinerehab.com

Woodbine Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center is Alexandria’s leading skilled nursing facility. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services gave it a fivestar rating for excellence in subacute rehabilitative and long-term care. Nurse practitioners (NP’s) are the heartbeat of Woodbine and the backbone of its specialty programs that include chronic kidney disease, pulmonary rehabilitation, infectious disease, physiatry, cardiac rehab, palliative care and psychiatry.

Lead by Joy Heatwole, NP, the team works under the supervision of a board-certified physician to diagnose, develop treatment plans and manage care. Taking time to listen, they educate and counsel patients and family members. Each plays an essential role in patient success by fine tuning treatments and reconciling medications.

June Lee, NP, helps patients understand and manage their kidney disease by

monitoring their physical well-being, labs, medications and nutrition to help slow and stabilize the condition.

The Physiatry Specialty Program helps patients excel at physical, occupational and speech therapy. Rubeena Vincent, NP, ensures that pain, musculoskeletal or neurologic issues are not barriers to a patient’s rehab success. Interventions include trigger point injections and managed pain medication.

Bianca Ho, NP, works diligently on the treatment and prevention of infections. Many patients go to Woodbine specifically for IV antibiotics for a known infection. Close monitoring is important for recovery. Covid shed a bright light on this problem.

For over 30 years, Woodbine has been home to the area’s largest and most progressive respiratory care center. NP’s help patients with ventilators or tracheostomies achieve the highest level of independence. Many are admitted directly from an ICU.

Culpepper Garden

Culpepper Garden is an award-winning retirement community that provides 346 affordable living housing units with services for low-income seniors over age 62. The 73-apartment assisted living wing was the first of its kind in the U.S. and the only one that exists in Arlington.

4435 N. Pershing Drive Arlington, VA 22203  703-528-0162 www.culpeppergarden.org

Culpepper Garden’s mission is to provide and advocate for affordable housing and quality services that help low-income older adults to thrive with comfort and dignity. Founded in 1975, it is the only residential community of its kind in Arlington. Arlington Retirement Housing Corporation (ARHC) is the nonprofit parent of Culpepper Garden.

The assisted-living wing was the first facility of its kind to receive much-needed HUD rental subsidies. These costs are often outside the financial ability of lowincome older residents.

“The current waitlist for assisted living is over a year and all but one person on the waitlist require a subsidy,” says Executive Director Marta Hill Gray. “Similarly, the waitlist for independent living is well over two years.” Working in partnership with Arlington County and local partners like

Arlington Food Assistance Center and Fenwick Foundation, Culpepper Garden makes financial accommodations each year to accomplish its mission.

“Our partners and volunteers are our lifeblood, interacting with residents in fun and engaging ways,” says Gray. With the help of staff and volunteers, Culpepper Garden maintains over four acres of gardens featuring daffodils and Virginia native plants. Culpepper Garden also holds annual community events—a spring event in honor of first responders and an annual BBQ fundraiser in early June for the Arlington community.

While Culpepper Garden’s work is strenuous and needed, it faces enormous challenges. In 2024, the organization aims to expand its reach within the community to enlist new partners to help serve these vulnerable adults.

Pictured from Left: Laura Orihuela, Volunteer Outreach and Program Manager, Marta Hill Gray, Executive Director and Jasmin Witcher, Development and Communications Director.

Chesterbrook Residences

Chesterbrook Residences was established by three interfaith communities: Lewinsville Presbyterian, Temple Rodef Shalom and Immanuel Presbyterian. Its board continues the original mission of providing affordable assisted living with inclusive pricing and reasonable entrance fees. This structure ensures that Chesterbrook is able to provide value, amenities and peace of mind without sacrificing quality care.

2030 Westmoreland St.

Falls Church, VA 22043

703-531-0781

www.chesterbrookres.org

Chesterbrook residents enjoy fall cocktails and fellowship on the patio.

Since 2007, Chesterbrook Residences has offered a senior living lifestyle that is second to none with vibrant and caring assisted living in a warm, close-knit Northern Virginia neighborhood. Amazing team members and friendly neighbors from all walks of life make Chesterbrook the wonderful place that it is. Robust lifeenrichment programs provide something for everyone to look forward to, whether it’s a resident social, a painting class or a game of ping pong.

Charming community spaces—from the quiet, interior courtyard to the cozy living room—welcome residents and guests alike. One- and two-bedroom apartments in a variety of styles offer comfort, flexibility

and true maintenance-free living. Plus, full kitchens are a hit for those who like to cook, entertain friends and family, or enjoy the occasional midnight snack.

Chesterbrook is a not-for-profit, nondenominational senior living community open to people of all faiths and backgrounds. Located between Falls Church and McLean, Chesterbrook is nestled beside a beautiful, wooded public park. Only minutes from the Capital Beltway, residents have easy access to all the area has to offer—from outings to local museums and theaters, to farmers’ markets and concerts. It comes as no surprise that many new families describe the community as a hidden gem among the hustle and bustle of D.C.

MICHAEL VENTURA

Woodleigh Chase

“Moving to Woodleigh Chase will take the constant maintenance of home ownership and the worry that goes along with that out of the mix.”

—Allan and Nancy J., moving to Woodleigh Chase

4595 Burke Station Road Fairfax, VA 22032  1-888-377-2032 www.WoodleighChase.com

Erickson Senior Living is known for building and managing vibrant continuing care retirement communities. With a 40-year commitment to exceptional care and services, they are opening their newest community, Woodleigh Chase, in Fairfax, Virginia in early 2024. It will offer active, independent living and higher levels of care on a beautiful campus close to plenty of shopping, dining and entertainment. Beyond Fairfax, of course, residents will have easy access to the many cultural and recreational activities in the capital region.

To enjoy the style and ease of maintenance-free living, residents can choose from a variety of stylish, open-plan apartment homes that suit every need and budget. Luxurious one- and two-bedroom floor plans with abundant square footage are available. Features include patios,

balconies, quartz countertops, crown molding, soft close cabinetry, double vanities in most primary bathrooms and underbuilding parking. The Cranford, for example, is a one-bedroom with a full and a half bath that has a patio or balcony that is screened-in.

Amenities will include a state-of-the-art fitness and aquatics center, a bocce court, dog park, unisex hair salon and spa, and spaces for learning, hobbies and socializing. Multiple dining venues will each have their own unique ambiance. A full range of health and well-being services will be available at the oncampus medical center.

The Woodleigh Chase sales center has conceptual renderings, virtual tours of the community and information about the new senior living community opening in early 2024.

Primary students at the Arlington Junior School in Bumwalukani

Back

John and Joyce Wanda grew up in poverty and left Uganda. Their commitment to education brought them full circle.

School to

BY AMY BRECOUNT WHITE | PHOTOS BY THOM GOERTEL

John Wanda was 14 when he got his first pair of shoes. He bought them second hand from a classmate for less than a dollar.

Up to that point, he had gone barefoot in the eastern Ugandan village of Bumwalukani, mired by chiggers, rocks and thorns as he went door to door selling vegetables from his family’s small farm to neighbors living in huts with dirt floors. Footwear was a luxury most couldn’t afford in this rural, landslide-prone area near the border with Kenya.

The shoes might have provided some relief when John’s family sent him and some of his siblings to a boarding school 30 miles away. To get there, they walked nine hours barefoot through forests and mountains, carrying their suitcases.

Now the shoes (a requirement at his new school) were both a practical and symbolic acquisition. “Having a shoe is more than a piece of protection,” John says. “A shoe tells you you’re going places—you have something to do. You’re a person with a future.”

Though he and his seven siblings had grown up with little, their father was more educated than most, having made it through ninth grade. He checked the kids’ schoolwork, introduced them to music and read them stories and poems. The nursery rhyme about Jack and Jill always seemed nonsensical to John—Why would they go up the hill to get water when everyone knows water runs to the bottom?—but the stories nevertheless piqued his curiosity about other lands and cultures.

“Nobody else from my class ever made it out of that

Arlington philanthropists Joyce and John Wanda

village,” says John, now 59 and himself a father of four. He would go on to earn a degree in accounting in 1988 from Makerere University in Kampala.

In 1992, mutual friends set him up with his future wife, Joyce, and he realized he had met his match. They married, started a family and moved to Arlington a few years later.

Some might have arrived in America and never looked back. The Wandas instead built a bridge to their homeland. The impact of their nonprofit, REACH for Uganda, has been exponential.

WHEN JOYCE BUTALA was a “girl child,” as they say in Uganda, in the 1980s, the average household income was about $250 per year and roughly half the nation was illiterate. Educating girls was widely viewed as a waste of time and money.

Joyce’s father did not share that belief. “For as long as you want to go to

school, I’ll do everything I can, including selling my last shirt on my body,” he told her.

Unswayed by disapproving neighbors in their village, Butinduyi, he sent Joyce to boarding school after determining that the local schools were subpar.

“His belief really helped me to focus and work as hard as I could to be successful,” says Joyce, now 54.

She was one year shy of graduating from Makerere University when she met and married John Wanda. “It was rare to find somebody in the same corner of the world at that level,” she says. Her father made them promise she’d complete her degree in marketing, and she did.

In 1995, the Wandas were living in South Africa when they entered a lottery for a U.S. State Department diversity visa and earned entry to the United States. Less than a year later, they touched down at Reagan National Airport with a toddler in tow and nowhere

to live. Joyce was seven months pregnant with their second child.

Within three days, John had landed a temp job with the American Chiropractic Association in Rosslyn, making $13 an hour. “We thought it was the most money that anyone would ever have,” he says. They found lowincome housing nearby and started to make connections.

By the time their eldest son, J.J., started first grade at Arlington Traditional School (ATS) in 2000, they were a family of five, soon to be six. John was permanently employed at the association, and Joyce was working nights as a payroll and benefits specialist for Fresh Fields (later Whole Foods).

Captivated by the tidy classrooms and engaged students at ATS, they couldn’t help drawing comparisons with the schools back home. In Uganda’s Bududa region, where both John and Joyce had grown up, it wasn’t unusual for a

The Arlington Junior School (AJS) in Bumwalukani

primary school to have 100 students crammed into one classroom with a dirt floor. Children attended school intermittently, depending on whether their parents needed them to work. Most were

hungry, shoeless and poorly clothed. Teachers were sometimes no-shows. How can we replicate a little bit of this for the kids that we have left in Uganda? they thought as they gazed upon their son’s cheerful classroom. “Because for us,” John explains, “school wasn’t a happy place.”

At that point, the couple was already sending what little money they could home to family. But they had an idea. Appealing to colleagues at work and fellow congregants at their church, they created a scholarship fund to cover school supplies, private school tuition and uniforms for promising students in Bumwalukani. By 2002, they had raised more than $10,000 in support of 142 students.

John went home to Uganda for a visit a short time later and realized it wasn’t enough. “You need to build a school of your own if you want to make all of these changes permanent,” the local parents told him. “The infrastructure we have here does not support that kind of vision.”

Energized, he and Joyce considered the possibilities. Building a school, they estimated, would cost about $36,000. (In reality, it ended up closer to $90,000, John says, but the naivete of their initial estimate may have prevented the plan from being a nonstarter.)

There were other considerations, too. Though they had established a pathway to funding from American donors, they decided to charge a modest tuition, even if that payment came from villagers in the form of bartered food or labor. It wasn’t an exorbitant amount (less than $10 per year), but the local government schools, by contrast, were free. Creating buy-in would lay the groundwork for a school system that could eventually become self-sustaining.

Making sure government officials saw them as partners—not competitors or a threat to the status quo—also required round-the-clock diplomacy.

In February of 2004, the Wandas opened the Arlington Junior School (AJS) in Bumwalukani with 78 students and eight teachers, having convinced a handful of qualified educators to relocate from Kampala with the promise of housing. Before long, it had more than 300 students and another 150 on a waiting list.

Nine months later, they registered the Arlington Academy of Hope (the school’s umbrella organization) as a 501(c)3 nonprofit in the U.S., with John serving as president.

Holly Hawthorne, then principal of Arlington Traditional School, was struck by the couple’s optimism and determination. ATS became a sister

A typical classroom with a dirt floor in Uganda’s Bududa region

A family home in Bududa

Primary school students in uniform at AJS

school, and its PTA began fundraising for AJS which—in addition to teaching English language, math, science and social studies—had adopted ATS’ “ABCs of success” framework (academics, behavior, character).

“Our goal was to introduce the same concepts we’d found at ATS,” John says. Students enrolled at AJS were given uniforms, a morning snack, lunch and growing libraries to explore.

IN UGANDA, students completing the equivalent of grade 7 must pass a mandatory Primary Leaving Exam to advance to secondary school.

When the oldest students in AJS’s inaugural class took the exam in 2006, the hope was that a handful would matriculate. All 31 students passed the exam, half of them scoring in the highest tier. (Seventeen years later, the school’s Primary Leaving Exam pass rate remains at 100%.)

By then, the Wandas’ nonprofit had implemented a sponsorship program

that invited outside donors to cover tuition and expenses for individual students—initially about $300 per year for primary school (now $480). As more AJS students matriculated out of primary school, the sponsorship program expanded, with donors stepping up to cover the cost of secondary school ($1,000 per year) and college or trade school ($2,000).

Georgetown University finance professor Jim Angel and his wife, Amy, became two such sponsors. Amy was already an avid volunteer with a passion for the Wandas’ mission. Sponsoring students and getting to know them took that commitment to the next level.

“When we get letters [from students] it really adds a personal connection,” says Jim, who now serves on the organization’s U.S. board, as does his wife. “It isn’t just that we’re doing this theoretical thing to help people we’ll never meet. We are changing lives for the better.” (The author of this article is also a volunteer and former board member.)

Year founded: 2004

Students who have attended primary school at AJS: 1,200+

AJS alumni who have graduated from certificate, diploma and degree-granting institutions: 270+

AJS alumni with bachelor’s degrees: 100

Adult literacy rate in Uganda: 79%

Share of AJS students who are girls: 51%

Students served through outreach programs via partnerships with 26 government primary schools: 20,000

Patients receiving medical care annually in REACH clinics: 30,000

Source: reachforuganda.org

John Wanda on a visit to AJS

REACH FOR UGANDA BY THE NUMBERS

Hawthorne (now retired from ATS and serving as board VP) and her husband, Dean Scribner, sponsored a student named Sarah. As their personal bond with Sarah grew stronger, the Arlington couple paid for her graduate school education to become a CPA. They also covered the cost of installing a cement floor in her family’s home. On one of their many visits to Uganda— which Scribner describes as “life changing”—Sarah joined them on safari in the western part of the country. Hawthorne says she’s like a daughter to them.

Today, the sponsorship program has a waiting list of nearly 800 students.

The nonprofit, meanwhile, continues to find new ways to make an impact. Now known as REACH for Uganda (the acronym stands for Resources, Environment, Academics, Community, Health), it’s governed by two boards in the U.S. and Uganda. The stateside body focuses mainly on fundraising, while the Uganda board directs programs and implementation on the ground.

Though the boards do not always see eye-to-eye—there have been occasional tensions—the dual model is necessary, John says. Long-term, the goal is for REACH to become self-sustaining in Uganda, at which point the U.S. board will no longer be needed.

REACH TODAY IS more than a school. Recognizing that poor health is an impediment to learning, the nonprofit built two clinics in eastern Uganda— one of them in honor of Joyce’s four sisters, all of whom died of preventable

causes. Together, the clinics serve about 30,000 patients per year, providing vaccinations, malaria treatments, HIV counseling, midwifery and other basic care. Some of the staff at the clinics are AJS graduates who went on to pursue careers in health care.

To support the surrounding community, REACH and its partners also dug a well that provides fresh water, installed solar-powered electricity to reduce the reliance on generators, and brought school-based internet access to an area where the basic infrastructure is unreliable. A second primary school, the Matuwa Junior School, came under the nonprofit’s umbrella in 2019.

“Visionary” is a word that frequently comes up in conversations about the Wandas.

“What really blew us away was that

the Wandas, through good fortune, found a way to come to America, and within short order, they started thinking about what they can do back in Uganda,” says Shashi Gupta, who with his wife, Margaret, co-founded the Gupta Family Foundation, a Herndonbased social justice nonprofit that provides financial support to REACH.

“So many people, once they come to America, the land of opportunity, they chase their individual opportunities. Not John and Joyce. I’m sure it came at a cost to their professional lives, but this mission was much more important to them than even their careers.”

Nelson Kamoti, an AJS graduate who was sponsored through his secondary school, university and MBA studies, is now the chief operating officer of REACH for Uganda in Bududa.

The Beatrice Tierney Health Centre in Matuwa

Instilling a love of learning

He’s one of 18 program graduates working for the organization after completing their education.

“John is a very democratic leader,” says Kamoti, who oversees some 1,300 students supported directly by REACH programs, more than half of whom are girls. “He involves staff, parents, community and government in making decisions for the organization. He believes that sustainable change is only possible when local people embrace its tenets and are active partners in any decisions that are made to improve their lives.”

Joyce’s impact is just as significant. “She’s extremely effective in convincing people to do what she wants without being pushy,” says Dick Burk, a former Peace Corps volunteer and government executive who has served as president of the nonprofit’s U.S. board since 2009.

Joyce became executive director of REACH in 2022. “For me, it’s not really a job,” she says. “I see it as a passion and an obligation.”

To many, she is an emblem of what is possible. “It’s so important for girls

to have role models who look like them that they can relate to. That’s the power Joyce brings to the program,” says Tammy Tibbetts, co-founder of She’s the First, an international women’s advocacy organization based in New York City and a REACH partner since 2010. Together, the nonprofits have collaborated to break down cultural taboos around sex in Uganda so that girls can understand their own bodies and take control of their futures.

Mentoring programs are key to connecting with girls. Last year, REACH had no girls drop out of school due to pregnancy. The organization also supports microfinance programs that have provided loans to some 400 female entrepreneurs.

The equal focus on women and girls is what compelled former Tuckahoe Elementary School teacher Ani Arzoomanian to join REACH’s U.S. board and lead a recent teen service trip to Uganda. “Education helps challenge traditional gender roles and stereotypes by promoting equal opportunities,” she says. “I love that REACH’s programs allow girls the same opportunities as their male counterparts.”

In 2021, REACH was awarded an $800,000 grant from USAID to build a new Arlington Vocation and Secondary School (AVSS) in Bududa. The project broke ground in July.

“Our construction team came on site to begin to build the secondary school and 300 villagers showed up to file for work,” Burk says. “Forty percent of them were women asking to do hard labor. We had used them on the addition to the primary school three years ago. That was a shock to the village, but they accepted.”

SUPPORTERS IN THE U.S.

remain an important part of the success story. Following the lead of Arlington Traditional School, other Arlington elementary schools—including Tuckahoe, Nottingham and Discovery—have organized PTA fundraisers for REACH. A partnership with Marymount University sends graduate students to Uganda to conduct

A computer lab at AJS

Primary school students in the library

teacher trainings at the schools. Volunteers also facilitate annual service trips for teens and adults to help out in the schools and clinics.

Continuing to expand its scope, REACH now provides teacher training, school supplies and Primary Leaving Exam test prep to 26 government primary schools in the region, which collectively serve about 20,000 students.

Cynthia Margeson, a retired ATS teacher, has traveled to the country nine times with a brigade of volunteers—for a total of 26 weeks in residence—to provide on-the-ground teacher training. Finding no culture of reading for pleasure during her initial visits, Margeson began leaving piles of books, which were soon “devoured,” she says. Since then, additional donations have provided enough books to build a library.

Financial contributions are also having a lasting impact. Beatrice Tierney Stradling, founder of the Children’s International School in Arlington, provided substantial funding for both of the clinics. An ongoing donation from

Arlington residents Carol Ann Bischoff and Mike Regan funds technology training for teachers and students in a new computer lab.

Many of the streetlights in Kikholo, the town closest to AJS, are now solarpowered, thanks to a partnership with Mines Without Borders, an initiative out of the Colorado College of Mines formed by a young REACH supporter who attended college there.

In 2012, 34 years after John Wanda acquired his first pair of shoes, TOMS Shoes partnered with REACH to distribute 30,000 pairs of shoes throughout eastern Uganda.

REACH FOR UGANDA

is a family business, if not a calling. All four of the Wandas’ children—J.J., Craig, Christine and Chris—grew up in Arlington and have been keenly involved in the organization’s mission. They’ve traveled, volunteered and inspired their friends to visit Uganda, sponsor students and fundraise.

In May, John retired from his job as a principal and executive with the

digital direct marketing agency Chapman Cubine Adams + Hussey in Arlington (now MissionWired), so that he can focus exclusively on REACH, and especially the new secondary school.

Last year, 89% of AJS students who took the Primary Leaving Exam scored in the standardized test’s highest tier. With support from sponsors and grant funding, they’ll be welcomed into Uganda’s best secondary schools. Many are hoping to transfer and return home to Bududa as soon as the new Arlington Vocation and Secondary School is built.

Upon its completion, one of the Wandas’ biggest dreams will become real. What started as a single school is now a thriving community that is taking the reins toward a brighter future.

“One person can change the world. I have seen it firsthand,” says Hawthorne. Or in this case, two. ■

Amy Brecount White is a former board member for REACH. She and her family have sponsored several students in Uganda, and her oldest son was on the first teen service trip.

Girls now represent more than half the students supported by REACH and its programs.

Rose Kehoe and Kris Meade on a bench dedicated to their son Braylon MICHAEL VENTURA

After

Braylon

They lost their son weeks before his 18th birthday. One year later, a portrait of grief, community support and healing.

BY ADRIENNE WICHARD-EDDS

IN THE EARLY morning hours of Nov. 11, 2022, Rose Kehoe was awakened by a knock at her door.

A competitive athlete and adjunct professor at American University, Rose had turned in early to get a good night’s sleep before her usual 6 a.m. workout. Her husband, Kris Meade, a labor and employment lawyer, was away on a business trip. Their two older children were living in L.A. and Chicago, and their youngest, Braylon, a senior at

Washington-Liberty High School, had gone out to watch football with friends and then to hang out with his girlfriend, Christine.

So Rose was alone in the house when Christine’s father, Greg Wilson, came to the front door after midnight with two police officers to deliver the news. Braylon had been killed in a car crash on his way home.

She called Kris. He was on the next flight back.

BRAYLON MEADE, 17 , was a full IB student and athlete at W-L, a redhead known to talk trash on the basketball court. A friend to everyone.

“Kindness was one of his defining qualities,” says Christine Wilson. “He could always put a positive spin on everything. I think his mom really drilled into him that it was important to look at the bright side instead of focusing on the negative.”

And so, in the aftermath of the unthinkable, Rose looked for the positive—finding a glimmer of grace when she delivered her eulogy during Braylon’s memorial service at St. Ann Catholic Church.

“I will forever be indebted to Greg Wilson…who softened the blow of the news that night,” she said. “Greg did not want me to learn from two unknown police officers that Braylon had been taken from us. I’m so glad he came.”

The news of Braylon’s death devastated the community. Two days after the accident, hundreds attended a vigil at W-L, expressing grief, anger and disbelief that someone so young and promising could be gone in an instant. Friends, coaches and school staff gave tearful tributes. Neighbors rushed to offer support.

“People have been generous with their time, and they’ve been respectful,” Kris says. “We’d have folks who would show up and spend five minutes here and others who’d spend an afternoon. It’s so hard to know how to mourn with somebody. You never really know how to deal with anything.”

When W-L’s varsity basketball season began two weeks later, Kris and Rose kept going to games. The team invited them to join the introductory handshake line at every home game (and some away games), observing a

22-second moment of silence before the tip-off. Braylon’s jersey number was 22.

On Dec. 22, 2022, what would have been his 18th birthday, his parents invited a group of his friends for a backyard cookout in the pouring rain.

“Being around people who knew Braylon, who share in the experience of grief and loss, helps me keep his memory alive,” Rose says.

“Being around people who knew Braylon, who share in the experience of grief and loss, helps me keep his memory alive.”

GRIEF IS NOT linear. There were bad days.

“For the first several months, we were dealing with the legal part of this,” Kris says. “That was hard. We had tremendous support from the detective and a lot of other folks who were involved in the investigation, but it was good to get that over with.”

The other driver in the crash, also 17, had been driving 94 miles per hour on Old Dominion Drive, seconds before his car collided with Braylon’s. He was charged with DUI and ultimately sentenced to one year in a detention facility.

Outraged by the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s handling of the case, Rose shared her family’s story publicly and unflinchingly in an opposing candidate’s political campaign. She sent

Braylon Meade on the basketball court

“The day we got the [acceptance] letter from Michigan was really hard. We framed it and put it in his room.”

formal letters to elected and nonelected officials asking them to withdraw their support for the incumbent.

Moments that should have been joyous became gut-wrenching. In the weeks before his death, Braylon had submitted seven college applications. He would receive several letters of acceptance posthumously, including one from his first-choice school, the University of Michigan. His older siblings, Bryan and Kerry, are also Michigan alumni, as are both of his parents.

“The day we got the letter from Michigan was really hard,” Kris says. “We framed it and put it in his room. None of this will ever go away, but there are moments like that…” he pauses. “That was a big one.”

Going forward, the family tradition of going to Ann Arbor for football games will be difficult. “Braylon would have been there,” he says, “so it’s going to be tough to stare at that student section.”

Some families cope with loss behind closed doors. Rose and Kris chose to shoulder theirs frequently out in the open. As the months passed, rather than avoid situations where Braylon should have been, they embraced them—and were embraced in return.

They were in the bleachers for as many W-L basketball games as their schedules would allow. In the spring,

and blue

they attended pre-prom gatherings and graduation parties for Braylon’s peers.

In June, during the graduation ceremony for W-L’s Class of 2023, they accepted Braylon’s IB diploma and fist-bumped the friends and classmates who paraded past their box seat at DAR Constitution Hall in D.C.

Privately, the couple check in with each other frequently, giving voice to whatever emotions they are feeling in the moment. Saying goodbye to Braylon’s friends as they headed off to college this fall was bittersweet.

“It’s a very strong feeling,” Rose admits. “But at least we can say it out loud, and even just stating those feelings out loud has helped us process our grief. We don’t feel negative—we

just feel like he should be here. We can acknowledge it and move on.”

Discovering the places where pain hides has been a process.

“This year was also the 10th anniversary of the death of my brother,” Kris shares. “He died in a body-surfing accident on vacation with his family in the Outer Banks. I’ve reflected a ton on that, but I didn’t like to talk about it.”

He opened up when their older son asked him to. “Bryan said, ‘You know, Dad, we’ve never really talked about you and your brother. Dealing with this from a brother standpoint would be good to talk about.’ ”

The conversations made Kris realize that verbalizing his thoughts could be healing. “If you’re open and let people

Braylon with his older siblings, Bryan and Kerry, and their parents in Michigan maize

in,” he says, “you’ll learn so much more about that person and about yourself.”

Rose, who meets with a grief counselor on occasion, is mindful that others hurt, too.

“Grief can be selfish,” she says. “Sometimes, when you’re focused on your own self-care, you’re not focused on others. It helps to acknowledge that other people are going through stuff, too. On the outside, someone may look very strong, but you have no idea what they’re going through. Other people miss Braylon, too, and you have to make room for that.”

AMONG THE MORE uplifting developments of the past year are the scholarship funds that have been created in Braylon’s memory.

One of them, the Braylon Meade Memorial Scholarship, which was established through the Arlington Community Foundation (ACF), received so much support that it is now self-sustaining. Seeded with more than $350,000

in donations from some 525 individuals and organizations, the fund provides three $2,500 academic- and need-based renewable scholarships to Arlington students—including one designated to be awarded to a member of W-L’s varsity basketball team.

“ACF held a big ceremony where they awarded all the scholarships,” Kris says. “Rose and I gave a little talk, and the recipients sat at our table.”

In July, a swim-a-thon event organized by the Donaldson Run Recreational Association, where Braylon and his siblings swam as kids, raised $20,000 for the fund.

“Braylon was driven by the example his older brother and sister set for him and by watching his parents’ hard work,” says Luke Galdiz, who first met Braylon in elementary school when they swam together at Donaldson Run. “In middle school, when we were paired up to mentor younger kids who were new to swimming, [he] would write notes to give to parents and

“Someone may look very strong, but you have no idea what they’re going through. Other people miss Braylon, too, and you have to make room for that.”

offer to teach independent lessons. He always went above and beyond.”

The Meade-Kehoe family also established a scholarship in Braylon’s name at the University of Michigan. Designated for a Michigan-bound student from one of Arlington’s public high schools, that fund has so far received more than $200,000 in donations.

“We got to meet the young woman who received the Michigan scholarship this year,” Kris says. “She was in one of Braylon’s classes.”

A memorial golf tournament founded by lifelong friends Charlie Taylor and Jack Tsuchitani—affectionately named the “Ginger Cup” in reference to Braylon’s strawberry-blond hair—raised $15,000 for the Michigan fund. Plans are already in the works for the second annual golf tournament, to be held in June at Westfields Golf Course in Clifton.

In April, a group of Braylon’s friends dedicated a bench in his memory at Fort C.F. Smith Park near the family’s home in Woodmont. Rose and

Jack Tsuchitani and Charlie Taylor founded the “Ginger Cup,” a memorial golf tournament, in memory of their friend.

Kris hosted a farewell barbecue for his friends and their families before they left for college.

BRAYLON WAS A force of nature from the time he was small. “In the early years, he was a wild child,” Rose says, remembering the time her toddler son used two forks to pry the keys off her laptop while she was on the phone. After placing them back, she realized the letter M was missing.

“I’m sure he ate that one,” she says. “He wasn’t necessarily naughty—more a victim of his own curiosity.”

Though he never lost his sense of humor (his peers still laugh, recalling the nonsense language Braylon invented in high school), he did become more disciplined.

“He changed how I viewed basketball and life in general,” says his best friend and teammate, James McIntyre. “You have to work hard to be good at something. You can’t just go through the motions.”

“He kept a list of goals,” says another friend, Jack Rosenthal, whether the action item was fitting in a workout, studying for the SAT, making the varsity team or getting into his first-choice college. “He was a really motivated person. He had his priorities straight.”

Friend and teammate Collin Lu shares that sentiment: “His work ethic was contagious. He had a huge impact. He would go out of his way to include others—he was very unselfish.”

On the anniversary of their son’s death, Rose and Kris plan to carry forth that spirit of generosity. Together, with several friends and colleagues, they’ll spend a day collecting and distributing groceries to schools on behalf of the local nonprofit Food for Neighbors.

Before they left for college, several of Braylon’s friends texted Kris. They wanted him to know they intended to “treat the new people they met the way Braylon would have treated people,” he says. “Seeing how the kids have worked

“He would go out of his way to include others—he was very unselfish.”

their way through this has certainly lifted us up in a huge way.”

IN THE FALL OF 2022, as Braylon’s 18th birthday neared, Rose wondered whether she’d done a sufficient job getting her son ready for the next stage of his life. “This whole time, I thought we were preparing him for college, but in actuality, I was getting him ready for heaven,” she said at his funeral.

“I was so focused on whether he would eat right when he was away— all these minor things that, in the end, don’t really matter,” she says. “He just skipped over everything. He skipped going to college, he skipped getting married, he skipped all those stages. But he’s still very present in our lives.

He’s here, guiding us, making sure we don’t get sad.”

Sometimes the number 22 pops up out of the blue. When Kris had to travel to Chicago for work this fall, the idea of boarding a plane brought back pangs of worry—until he felt Braylon’s presence like a knowing wink: “My flight was out of gate B22 at O’Hare,” he says. “I was seated in 22A. There are just constant reminders. We see them everywhere.”

The path to healing is filled with complex emotions. Joy is one of them. “We spend a fair bit of time talking about Braylon and remembering all the funny stuff he put out there,” Kris says. “The thing that tugs at you…is that he had so many more years to go—so much more to get done. He won’t let you go there, though. He does not want you to dwell on it. Be in this life now. Keep living.” What comes next?

“Once we get through the first year,” Rose and Kris agree, “we’ll begin to think about that.” ■

Adrienne Wichard-Edds is a writer and college essay coach in Arlington. As a fellow basketball parent, she often sat with Rose and Kris in the stands during games.

Back row, from left: James McIntyre, Brian Weiser, Christine Wilson, Jack Rosenthal, Luke Galdiz and Collin Lu with Braylon’s parents

LIVE WHERE YOU

Want to make a difference in your community? Consider a donation of time or money to one of these local nonprofits.

The following organizations are based in Northern Virginia and provide critical services to the immediate community. Many thanks to the Arlington Community Foundation for its help in compiling this resource.

An SSL next to a nonprofit’s listing indicates the availability of college internships or student servicelearning opportunities.

AHC Inc.

AHC (ahcinc.org) provides quality affordable housing to more than 3,000 lowincome families. AHC also offers onsite educational programs and social services to help residents build more stable and successful lives.

What a donation can do:

❱❱ $35 provides literacy-building afterschool activities, including audiobooks, listening devices and vocabulary puzzles.

❱❱ $150 provides emergency groceries to a family struggling with new hardships.

❱❱ $500 supports a college field trip or mobile tech devices for high school students.

Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers provide homework and studying support to elementary and middle school students, and mentor college-bound high school students. They also teach life skills and SAT prep, and provide organizational support, including staffing AHC’s food distribution sites, delivering school backpacks and serving holiday dinners. SSL

Animal Welfare League of Arlington

For more than 75 years, the Animal Welfare League of Arlington (awla.org) has provided animal sheltering, pet adoptions, community support and animal control services to help pet owners keep their animals healthy, happy and home. What a donation can do:

❱❱ $25 covers an animal’s one-day care at the shelter.

❱❱ $100 funds a spay or neuter surgery before adoption.

❱❱ $200 provides specialty care to a pet in need.

Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers 18 and older are needed for dog walking, cat socialization, food prep, kennel cleaning, pantry organization, adoption counseling, front desk duties, laundry, administrative assistance and fostering.

Kitchen of Purpose

A culinary student in training

Some of these roles are also available to teens ages 16-18, as are Senior Experience and internship opportunities. SSL

Arlington Community Foundation

Arlington Community Foundation (arlcf. org) helps individuals, businesses and organizations in Arlington carry out their charitable giving, both in the short term and through permanent legacy funds.

As a grant-maker, convener and leader of programmatic initiatives, the Community Foundation strives to strengthen local nonprofits, encourage better understanding of the needs of Arlingtonians, and address the most critical issues of our time. Since 1991, ACF has awarded thousands of grants and scholarships and created a source of diverse and flexible philanthropic capital that can address changing community needs.

What a donation can do:

❱❱ $500 funds a small community grant.

❱❱ $1,500 provides one college scholarship or a prompt-response grant (e.g., a replacement washer and dryer for a homeless shelter).

❱❱ $10,000 or more can start a permanent scholarship fund or charitable giving fund to support the donor’s charitable interests.

Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers assist with fundraising events, community outreach and professional services, and serve on grant or scholarship review committees. The youth-led Arlington Youth Philanthropy Initiative (AYPI) awards grants to youth-initiated service projects and nonprofits. SSL

Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC)

The Arlington Food Assistance Center (afac.org) feeds neighbors in need by providing dignified access to supplemental groceries. The groceries are given directly and free of charge to people living in Arlington and surrounding areas who cannot afford to purchase enough food to meet their basic needs.

What a donation can do:

❱❱ $464 per month provides 100 families with a carton of eggs.

❱❱ $616 per month provides 100 families with fresh vegetables.

❱❱ $704 per month provides 100 families with fresh fruits.

❱❱ $732 per month provides 100 families with a half-gallon of milk.

Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers of all ages organize food drives. Those 12 and older may help with re-bagging bulk purchases at AFAC’s warehouse. SSL

■ guide to giving

Arlington Free Clinic

Arlington Free Clinic (arlingtonfreeclinic. org) advances health equity by providing comprehensive, whole-person health care to neighbors who would otherwise lack access. Since 1994, the clinic has been filling the gap in health care access for the community’s most vulnerable residents.

What a donation can do:

❱❱ $250 procures 10 blood pressure cuffs for at-home health monitoring, or five cases of liquid food supplements for a cancer patient.

❱❱ $1,000 covers 16 emergency dental visits for patients whose oral health needs cannot wait.

❱❱ $10,000 covers three months of generic medications. Most medications (about $3 million worth each year) are donated to the clinic, but some cannot be accessed for free.

Volunteer opportunities: AFC is always looking for volunteer physicians (primary/specialty), nurse practitioners, nurses, dentists and Spanish interpreters. Psychiatrists/psychiatric NPs, licensed counselors, dental hygienists and exercise instructors are especially needed right now.

Arlington Independent Media

AIM (arlingtonmedia.org) supports, educates and inspires diverse creators and fosters independent media production through community television, local radio and digital arts. Since its relaunch in 2021, AIM has prioritized the voices of Arlington’s youth, serving as a creative catalyst to ignite learning in people of all ages while centralizing diverse voices that take risks and drive culture forward.

What a donation can do:

❱❱ $250 supports a monthly youth journalism club for students ages 14-19 as an entry point into the world of journalism and media.

❱❱ $600 supports a scholarship for an Arlington high school student to attend two-week media-making summer camp.

❱❱ $1,000 supports the stipend for one youth journalism intern.

Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers with sufficient training and certification can assist AIM audio and video producers with content creation. Volunteers of all ages and abilities are encouraged to participate in AIM’s community events, including music festivals, neighborhood celebrations and other art, culture and social justice events. SSL

Arlington Neighborhood Village

Arlington Neighborhood Village (anvar lington.org) provides the “extra help” Arlington County residents aged 55 and older need to continue living in their own homes and communities as they age. More than 200 ANV volunteers provide services, social support and engagement for ANV’s 370 members, including some whose limited income makes these services even more critical. One third of ANV members have mobility, eyesight or hearing challenges.

What a donation can do:

❱❱ $40 supports services for a lowerincome senior for one month.

❱❱ $50 supports a criminal background and driving record check for a prospective volunteer.

❱❱ $500 provides a gift membership for a lower-income senior for a year.

Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers provide transportation to medical appointments, run errands, shop for groceries, pick up prescriptions, help with technology and household tasks, and connect with seniors via telephone and in-person visits to reduce social isolation. Volunteers also help with all the behind-thescenes tasks that make an organization run smoothly—from finance and IT to strategic fundraising and long-range planning. We welcome individuals ages 18 and over (21 for those who wish to drive). All must receive training and pass a background check.

Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing

Dedicated to solving the D.C. area’s growing affordable housing crisis, APAH (apah.org) believes that all people, regardless of their economic status, deserve a place to call home. Having an affordable home should never be a barrier to achieving one’s dreams. Currently, APAH provides more than 2,400 homes to lower-income individuals and families, and is poised to triple this impact over the next five years. Additionally, APAH offers resident-centered programming to propel residents’ efforts to achieve their personal and professional goals.

What a donation can do:

❱❱ $50 funds a student’s participation in an afterschool activity.

❱❱ $100 buys emergency groceries for a single parent who is between paychecks.

❱❱ $500 offers rent relief for two households experiencing financial hardship.

❱❱ $1,000 covers holiday gift expenses for a family of five.

Volunteer opportunities: Assistance is needed with family engagement activities, grocery distribution, literacy programming, affordable housing advocacy and volunteer management/recruitment. APAH offers internships and community service projects for student groups. SSL

Arlington Thrive

With a deep commitment to empowering individuals and families and fostering community resilience, Arlington Thrive (arlingtonthrive.org) has been serving

Bridges to Independence

Annual kickball tournament fundraiser

Care Is Around the Corner

Now Open in ANNANDALE

Convenient, cost-effective urgent and primary care. Open 8 am to 8 pm, 365 days a year, including weekends and all holidays.

• Walk-in, no appointment necessary

• Primary care available for patients who do not have a regular physician

• Wide range of on-site labs, always a lab tech on duty

• All routine x-rays on site including chest x-rays; every x-ray over-read by a radiologist

• Prescription drugs on site, regular prescription insurance accepted

• 78 locations in the mid-Atlantic region

• Most major insurance plans accepted — your claims filed for you

• Less costly than the ER — we routinely care for more than 60% of the diagnoses seen at the ER at one-third the cost

• For added convenience, Telehealth services are available

Learn more at patientfirst.com prann09082323post

John Marr Dr. ColumbiaPike LittleRiverTurnpike 1.5milestoCapitalBeltway

Annandale

7042A Little River Turnpike (703) 343-7125

■ guide to giving

Arlington County for 48 years. Arlington Thrive provides emergency financial assistance to cover unexpected medical expenses, rent, utilities and more. Without this lifeline, many individuals would be faced with the devastating reality of homelessness and unemployment, struggling to afford even the most basic necessities. By facilitating access to crucial services such as health care and child care, we play a pivotal role in building a stronger, more vibrant community.

What a donation can do:

❱❱ $100 pays for a prescription for a homeless individual.

❱❱ $500 places a low-income child in high-quality child care.

❱❱ $1,000 restores utility service for six families who, due to temporary unemployment, are unable to pay for their heat and/or electricity.

❱❱ $5,000 pays the rent for five Arlington families facing eviction so they do not become homeless.

Volunteer opportunities: Thrive is currently seeking volunteers to support its Wee Thrive Baby Box program, which pro-

vides basic infant supplies to low-income Arlington families.

Arm & Arm

Arm & Arm (armandarm.org) provides peer-to-peer behavioral health services (support, training, mentoring) to individuals re-entering the community following incarceration, military service, homelessness, substance abuse recovery and/or mental health challenges.

What a donation can do:

❱❱ $75 covers a peer mentoring support session for one individual.

❱❱ $550 provides Game on the Line immersion training (cognitive and somatic coping skills) for one individual.

❱❱ $750 pays for one individual to receive 72 hours of Peer Recovery Training (for state certification).

❱❱ $960 funds a focus group for 4-5 participants struggling with severe traumatic experiences.

Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers are needed for outreach to raise awareness of social isolation, opioid addiction, mental health issues and Covid-19 vaccination and testing, as well as connecting

with at-risk youth. Arm & Arm facilitates a monthly Shop Talk forum on issues relating to community inclusion.

Aspire Afterschool Learning

Aspire (aspireafterschool.org) expands learning opportunities to help historically underserved South Arlington students in grades 3-8 fulfill their potential through daily after-school and summer learning programs. Committed to closing the opportunity gap, Aspire offers its programs at no cost to families.

What a donation can do:

❱❱ $50 provides one day of after-school support and a literacy kit for a student.

❱❱ $250 provides one year of books for a student.

❱❱ $600 provides one month of daily after-school support for a student.

Volunteer opportunities: Aspire offers fulltime service opportunities for community members and students over age 18 through its AmeriCorps partnership. Weekly volunteers are also needed to provide in-person reading, math, science and homework support for young learners between 3:30 and 6 p.m., as well as during a full-day summer camp. High school volunteers are welcome. Aspire also hosts monthly Community Reading Nights for community members who want to get involved, but can’t commit to weekly volunteering. SSL

Borromeo Housing Inc.

Borromeo Housing (borromeohousing. org) maintains an education-first, safe, transitional housing program for single homeless mothers (ages 16-22) and their children. BHI’s mission is to break the cycle of poverty two generations at a time by empowering residents to achieve selfsufficiency through education. Families living at BHI attend school and take part in life skills training, parenting classes and counseling, with the goal of being able to live healthily and independently.

What a donation can do:

❱❱ $50 provides a month’s supply of diapers for one child.

❱❱ $100 provides a month’s supply of groceries and toiletries not covered by federal assistance (WIC) for a family.

❱❱ $250 provides educational supplies for two young mothers to attend school for one semester.

❱❱ $1,000 funds a month of shelter care for one family.

Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers serve as guest chefs, infant care supply coordinators and skills presenters (weekly), and mentors. Grant writers and research-

Dream Project

A recent scholarship recipient

ers are needed to pursue funding opportunities. Student internships are also available. SSL

Bridges to Independence

Bridges to Independence (bridges2.org) leads children and families out of homelessness and into stability and self-sufficiency. Its vision is to break intergenerational cycles of poverty. In addition to operating Arlington County’s largest emergency shelter for families, Bridges provides workforce development, rapid rehousing and a youth program that emphasizes confidence, skills-building and job readiness. A new program provides drop-in services and case management at its community services center. Current needs include gift card donations, volunteer tutors and translators.

What a donation can do:

❱❱ $125 provides a new bed for a family moving out of the shelter and into a new home.

❱❱ $250 provides a laptop to a college student.

❱❱ $1,000 provides one month’s rent for a family in an affordable housing unit. Volunteer opportunities: Bridges welcomes volunteers of all ages to coordinate food drives and deliveries, organize storage spaces, serve on committees, move furniture, and tutor or mentor youth. Sign up to receive the monthly volunteer newsletter to learn more about student internships and service opportunities. SSL

BU-GATA

BU-GATA (bu-gata.org) partners with other community organizations to produce, preserve and advocate for affordable housing in Arlington County. It also encourages youth civic and leadership development through its Buckingham Youth Brigade (BYB) program, which is geared toward underserved teens ages 14-18.

What a donation can do:

❱❱ $50 provides snacks for weekly homework help and tutoring sessions.

❱❱ $100 provides materials for a youth skills-building workshop.

❱❱ $400 supports a college field trip and other educational trips for BYB students. Volunteer opportunities: Virtual and in-person tutors (18 or older) are needed to assist with youth programs.

Capital Caring Health

As the region’s oldest and largest nonprofit provider of hospice and advanced illness care, Capital Caring Health (capi talcaring.org) is there for patients and families 24/7 at 800-869-2136.

What a donation can do:

❱❱ $250 provides two companion robotic pets for a terminally ill child and their siblings.

❱❱ $500 covers two nursing visits to an uninsured hospice patient.

❱❱ $1,000 provides a day of comprehensive hospice care for a patient at one of our inpatient facilities open 24/7 for visiting family members.

Volunteer opportunities: Essential services include comfort and companionship for individuals with life-threatening illness and their loved ones, art and music therapy, pet care (including dog walking) and counseling for those facing the loss of a loved one. Volunteers also sort, price and sell donated items in Capital Caring’s thrift store. SSL

Center for Youth and Family Advocacy (CYFA)

CYFA (cyfadvocacy.org) uses collective impact, restorative practice, education and advocacy to create and promote the community conditions necessary for all children, youth and families to thrive. CYFA was created to keep children and youth out of systems of harm, and it empowers young people to become ambassadors of transformative justice.

A community meal for people experiencing homelessness

CYFA’s programs fall along a continuum, from promotion to serious intervention, and are designed to elevate the voices of those most impacted by systemic inequity.

What a donation can do: Gifts of all amounts are appreciated. Unrestricted gifts support the mission by funding programs focused on educational enrichment, community-building, racial and social justice and community justice.

❱❱ $100 provides funding for Know Your Rights educational materials for youth.

❱❱ $250 provides funding for one community-building conversational restorative process.

❱❱ $750 funds nine sessions of educational and prosocial activities for one student.

❱❱ $2,500 provides funding to host a PEER Ambassador Academy or YPC Ambassador Academy.

Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers assist with special events, community outreach and professional services. Grant writers and researchers are needed to pursue funding opportunities. Student internships are available, and CYFA regularly hosts young people for senior experience projects. SSL

New Hope Housing

■ guide to giving

A team-building exercise in the Emerging Leaders Program

The Clothesline for Arlington Kids

The Clothesline (clotheslinearlington.org) collects clothing donations and funding so that low-income Arlington families with kids can get a season’s worth of clothes, free of charge, in a welcoming store. Families can shop twice a year for students in kindergarten through high school. The aim is for kids to feel dignified and comfortable in the classroom so they can focus on their education. More than 1,200 children and teens rely on The Clothesline for quality clothing each year.

What a donation can do:

❱❱ $60 provides socks and underwear for a family with four kids.

❱❱ $120 gives shoes to four kids.

❱❱ $180 delivers a full wardrobe of clothing to a child.

Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers sort and hang clothing donations and assist families shopping in the store. Older teens (15+) are welcome on sorting days or can organize a clothing drive. SSL

Communities in Schools NOVA Communities in Schools (cisofnova.org)

empowers students to stay in school and achieve in life. School-based counselors bring resources into schools to remove barriers that put students at risk of dropping out.

What a donation can do:

❱❱ $250 provides school supplies for 10 students.

❱❱ $1,000 covers supplies and snacks for an after-school program serving 50 students.

❱❱ $5,000 funds paid internships for high school students.

❱❱ $10,000 funds dental, hearing and vision exams for 500+ families.

Volunteer opportunities: Tutors and homework buddies work with students at partner schools. Volunteers also serve as guest speakers at career events and assist with outreach, marketing and development.

Culpepper Garden

Culpepper Garden (culpeppergarden. org) provides quality affordable housing, assisted-living services and programs to lower-income seniors. It currently offers 273 independent-living units and 73 assisted-living units in a caring commu-

nity where older adults are able to age in place with dignity and independence. What a donation can do:

❱❱ $100 covers one month of toiletries and incontinence products for residents.

❱❱ $250 provides one month of water and nutritious snacks for resident activities and events.

❱❱ $500 provides household items and technology assistance to formerly homeless seniors moving into the independent-living residence.

❱❱ $700 provides seven days of supportive services for one frail, low-income, assisted-living resident who can no longer afford the cost of care.

Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers 18 and older are needed to provide technology assistance to residents. Donations of face masks are also appreciated. Internships and service opportunities for middle school, high school and college students are available. SSL

Doorways

Every day, thousands of adults, youth and children in Arlington suffer the impacts of domestic violence and sexual assault. Intimate partner violence is a leading cause of homelessness, especially among women and families. As Arlington’s only provider of emergency shelter, services and supportive housing for survivors and their families, Doorways (doorwaysva.org) has in recent years seen a dramatic increase in those requiring emergency shelter to escape harm. The nonprofit is expanding its capacity to meet this growing need while also maintaining a full spectrum response to domestic and sexual violence, from prevention programming for youth to community-based services and supportive housing.

What a donation can do:

❱❱ $250 provides a play- or art-based therapy session for a child healing from the impacts of domestic violence.

❱❱ $500 supports a family graduating from Doorways’ shelter to its HomeStart supportive housing program by funding essentials like a new bed and kitchen supplies.

❱❱ $1,000 provides one week of emergency shelter in safe housing for a survivor escaping domestic violence.

Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers 18 or older who have graduated from high school are needed to assist with shelter coverage, children’s activities, interpretation, administrative support and fundraising. Individuals working directly with clients must complete at least 40 hours

Edu-Futuro

of training and a background check. Community groups, including youth and children, can help by organizing collection drives and fundraisers. SSL

Dream Project

Founded in 2011, the Dream Project (dreamproject-va.org) empowers students whose immigration status creates barriers to education by helping them access scholarships and mentoring, as well as scholar, alumni and family support. This year the nonprofit awarded 100 scholarships of $3,500 each, for a total of $350,000.

What a donation can do:

❱❱ $100 allows one Dream Scholar to attend the Dream Summit conference.

❱❱ $500 allows one student to participate in college coaching and support.

❱❱ $3,500 funds a Dream Scholarship for one student.

Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers serve as mentors, serve on committees and assist with fundraising events.

EcoAction Arlington

EcoAction Arlington (ecoactionarling ton.org) educates, advocates and acts

to create a sustainable community by improving our natural environment, encouraging environmentally friendly behaviors, ensuring environmental justice and addressing the climate crisis. EcoAction Arlington offers regular education programs (both virtual and in-person) and volunteer service opportunities. What a donation can do:

❱❱ $250 buys and plants one tree.

❱❱ $1,000 covers materials for energyand water-efficiency improvements in the homes of 25 low-income families.

❱❱ $10,000 provides hands-on environmental education programs for 4,000 Arlington students.

Volunteer opportunities: EcoAction Arlington offers regular public stream and park cleanup events for volunteers of all ages, including students, groups and families. Outdoor service projects can be customized for business, community and school groups. The Energy Masters program (a one-year commitment for volunteers 16 and older) trains volunteers to make energy- and water-saving building improvements in affordable-housing complexes. High school students hold positions on the nonprofit’s board of direc-

tors and can complete senior experience internships in May/June. SSL

Edu-Futuro

Edu-Futuro (edu-futuro.org) empowers disadvantaged Latino and other immigrant children, youth, first-generation college students and families to succeed and fully contribute to their community. The nonprofit emphasizes education, leadership, parent engagement, and workforce development to break the cycle of poverty and close the achievement gap. Since the pandemic, Edu-Futuro has provided individual case management to program participants who lost their jobs due to the health and financial crisis, including emergency financial assistance for rent, utilities, food and other needs.

What a donation can do:

❱❱ $250 covers supplies for five middle school students attending our annual regional robotics competition.

❱❱ $500 covers a stipend for a lowincome high school student to hold an internship before beginning college.

❱❱ $1,500 covers the rental fees for two buses, enabling 90 underserved students to tour a college campus.

50 YEARS OF COMPREHENSIVE AND COMPASSIONATE CARE

n Multidisciplinary team approach

n Highly specialized medical oncology, hematology, radiation therapy, orthopedic oncology/surgery, breast surgery, thoracic surgery, genetic counseling, palliative medicine and research

n Highly-rated physicians and surgeons in our community

n State-of-the-art technology, labs and on-site pharmacy

n Access to Clinical Trials, including Phase I

Robert Christie, MD, FACP John Feigert, MD

Keeran Sampat, MD

Patricia Rodriguez, MD

Jessica Heintz, MD, FAAHPM

Isabelle Le, MD

■ guide to giving

Volunteer opportunities:

Volunteers are needed to mentor high school students in a leadership development and college readiness workshop series offered three times per year. In addition, professional volunteers may serve as college and career panelists, speech/essay competition judges and committee members for the Emerging Leaders Program (ELP). Financial literacy coaches with expertise in budgeting and personal credit are needed for the Parent Empowerment Services (PES) program.

Encore Learning

Encore Learning (encorelearning.net) is dedicated to providing high-quality, lifelong learning at a reasonable cost for anyone over 50 in the D.C. metro area, via daytime college-level courses, clubs and special events. Courses are taught by working and retired scholars and business professionals. Classes, clubs and events are offered both inperson and virtually. The Encore Learning Presents series includes public lectures, panels and film screenings.

Encore Learning and its donors support the Arthur W. Gosling Scholarship, which awards $2,500 annually to an Arlington Public Schools graduate to attend George Mason University or Marymount University.

What a donation can do:

❱❱ $175 funds an annual membership and one class per semester for a limited-income student.

❱❱ $850 buys a laptop for part-time staff.

❱❱ $5,000 covers the cost of marketing for one semester to include design, advertising, printing and mailing of fliers. Volunteer opportunities: Encore Learning is a volunteer-led organization, with administrative support provided by part-time staff. Volunteers serve as course instructors who develop and teach semester-long courses over a 4- to 10-week period. Volunteers also recruit new instructors; seek speakers and performances for special events; write and edit course catalogs; initiate and maintain clubs; advise on office technology; organize social functions; and recruit, train and support class aides. Encore Learning welcomes

volunteers of any age and has worked with college students on academic projects. SSL

English Empowerment Center

Formerly known as the Literacy Council of Northern Virginia, the English Empowerment Center (englishempower mentcenter.org) teaches adults the basic skills of reading, writing, speaking and understanding English so they can access employment and educational opportunities and more fully and equitably participate in the community. EEC is currently providing both in-person and live-streamed group instruction.

What a donation can do:

❱❱ $85 provides a student scholarship.

❱❱ $100 trains two volunteer instructors.

❱❱ $500 supports five families in EEC’s Family Learning Program.

Volunteer opportunities: Volunteer teachers lead classroom instruction 2-3 times a week per 3-month semester. Class aides support learners in the classroom once or twice a week. Tutors provide supplemental instruction before or after class. Assessment specialists assess learners for appropriate program placement and measure their progress six times a year. Others help with class registration, outreach, office tasks and special projects. Unpaid internships are available to students over 18. SSL

Food for Neighbors

Food for Neighbors (foodforneighbors. org) tackles teen food insecurity by mobilizing communities and partnering with Northern Virginia middle and high schools to connect vital resources with students. Over 2,500 volunteers strong, FFN establishes in-school pantries and fills them with supplemental food and toiletries, and—for the most vulnerable—offers grocery store gift cards that enable students and their families to select food that meets their cultural, religious and situational needs. FFN is currently working with 42 schools, to which it anticipates providing over 100,000 pounds of donations this year to help approximately 5,800 students. What a donation can do:

❱❱ $100 provides supplemental food to 20 students so they don’t go hungry over a weekend.

❱❱ $500 provides grocery gift cards for 10 area families to purchase the food they need most.

❱❱ $1,500 builds a food pantry for a newly partnering school to store food and toiletries.

Volunteer opportunities: Five massive Red Bag Events every school year invite community members to donate food and toiletries. Volunteers 9 and older may help collect and sort the donations at sites in Arlington, Fairfax and Loudoun counties. Individuals and groups are welcome, and students may earn service hours. Food drive and team-building service opportunities are also available. SSL

Homestretch

Homestretch (homestretchva.org)

empowers homeless families to secure permanent housing and attain the skills, knowledge and hope they need to achieve self-sufficiency. The most pressing current needs are for Uber cards for transportation, food gift cards (Aldi, Giant, Safeway, Harris Teeter and Target), household cleaning products, toilet paper, large kitchen trash bags and dishwasher detergent. What a donation can do:

❱❱ $250 buys shoes for 15 children or 10 gas or Uber cards for working parents.

❱❱ $500 buys a week’s worth of groceries for three families.

❱❱ $1,500 funds dental work for 2-3 homeless adults, or car repairs for parents who need their cars to get to work.

❱❱ $20,000 covers one family’s housing costs for one year.

Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers tutor adults or children, teach life skills classes, prepare apartments for incoming families, organize donation drives, assist with property landscaping, help in the preschool or nursery, and provide pro bono expertise in their given professional fields. Service projects can be adapted to fit school service commitments or learning credits. SSL

Just Neighbors

Just Neighbors (justneighbors.org) supports immigrant communities in the DMV by providing high-quality immigration legal services to low-income immigrants, asylees and refugees. The nonprofit builds community through education, advocacy and volunteerism. What a donation can do:

❱❱ $50 allows a Dreamer to renew their work permit.

❱❱ $100 reunites an unaccompanied youth with their family.

❱❱ $500 helps a refugee family apply for lawful permanent residency (green cards). Volunteer opportunities: In-office volunteers help with client intake via phone (Spanish-speaking volunteers are needed), on-site reception, interpretation and translation services and legal casework (Tuesday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.). Immigration clinic volunteers (once a month in the evenings) help clients fill out documents and prepare their immigration applications. Because cases require written translation of client statements, translators are occasionally needed. Volunteer attorneys and law students provide face-to-face counsel for low-income immigrants and refugees. Volunteers who are not attorneys may represent the organization at various outreach events. Covid-19 vaccination is required for all in-office staff and volunteers.

Kitchen of Purpose

Kitchen

of Purpose

(kitchenofpurpose. org), formerly known as La Cocina VA, creates socioeconomic change using the power of food. Open to the public, its café on Columbia Pike is part of a social

Vinson Hall Retirement Community residents come from a variety of backgrounds, but they have one thing in common: a spirit of adventure. Whether they are returning from a vacation to Italy or a trip to the grocery store, military officers and their families, and leadership level (GS-14 and higher) government employees from any federal agency, love coming home to Vinson Hall Retirement Community.

■ guide to giving

enterprise that supports transformative programming, including culinary job training that leads to career pathways with a 90% job placement rate; a smallbusiness incubator supporting entrepreneurs of color with a shared kitchen; and an innovative food assistance program with fresh meals delivered to those who need them most.

What a donation can do:

❱❱ $100 covers the study materials for one Small Business Incubator Signature participant.

❱❱ $500 offers 60 healthy meals delivered to low-income individuals.

❱❱ $250 covers study materials and supplies (i.e., forms, thermometer, kitchen knives, books) for one culinary student.

Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers are needed for meal preparation, small-business mentorship and professional “skill sharing.”

Legal Aid Justice Center

The Legal Aid Justice Center (justice4all. org) partners with communities and clients to fight for racial, social and economic justice, and to dismantle the systems that create and perpetuate poverty. The center provides free legal services on noncriminal matters (such as housing, consumer debt, criminal record-sealing, court fines and fees, immigration, and youth and education) to low-income people in Virginia. Through community organizing and advocacy it also partners with low-income communities to change local and statewide policy and address systemic injustices.

What a donation can do: Gifts of all amounts are appreciated. Unrestricted gifts support the mission by funding ambitious programs, leadership, internal equity, staff excellence and stability, operational support, technology, professional development, communications, fundraising, a healthy working environment, and a strong, supportive presence in low-income communities and communities of color.

Volunteer opportunities: Spanish-speaking volunteers help with food distribution in Culmore and Annandale on Thursday mornings.

National Capital Treatment & Recovery

For over 60 years, National Capital Treatment & Recovery (natcaptreatment.org) has provided high-quality, evidence-based treatment to individuals suffering from substance use disorder and related mental health issues. In treatment, patients gain

the skills needed to manage their recovery and go forward to lead independent, productive and drug-free lives. Treatment services are offered to eligible individuals regardless of their financial resources. NCTR’s continuum of care includes gender-specific residential treatment facilities for adult men and women. Outpatient programs include tiered programming of comprehensive patient services, support groups, individual/group counseling and education. Family involvement is encouraged through a weekly “Concerned Persons Conversations” group.

What a donation can do:

Donations to the Patient Assistance Fund or Young Adult Treatment Fund in Memory of John Buck financially support treatment costs for those who lack insurance or otherwise could not afford care.

❱❱ $250 purchases one weekly dinner for adolescent patients in our outpatient treatment program and their families.

❱❱ $500 contributes to the outdoor landscape renovation campaign at our Demeter House Women’s Residential Treatment Program.

❱❱ $1,100 supports one day of equine therapy sessions for six patients.

Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers serve on NCTR’s board and committees and assist with fundraising and marketing. Internships are available for college students majoring in counseling or related fields. SSL

New Hope Housing

New Hope Housing (newhopehousing. org) serves more than 1,600 people a year through shelter, rapid rehousing, permanent supportive housing, support services and outreach programs for homeless individuals across Northern Virginia. Last year, NHH rehoused more than 225 people and assisted hundreds more with employment services.

What a donation can do:

❱❱ $250 gives someone a new bed for their new home.

❱❱ $1,000 covers the security deposit for a person experiencing homelessness to become housed.

❱❱ $5,000 helps more than 25 people land jobs via our Employment Scholarship Fund.

Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers help with meal prep and delivery, tutoring, résumé writing, job search assistance, game nights, building repairs and maintenance, landscaping, yard work, office tasks, and New Hope’s annual Over the Edge event in June. Commitments can be one-time or ongoing.

Internships and service-learning hours are available to students pursuing careers in social services, communications and marketing. SSL

Northern Virginia Family Service

Northern Virginia Family Service (nvfs. org) supports an average of 30,000 individuals and families each year on their journey to self-sufficiency, providing them with the support and resources they need to thrive.

What a donation can do:

❱❱ $50 provides a portable crib for one newborn.

❱❱ $100 covers health screenings for 50 children.

❱❱ $500 provides five nights of emergency shelter for a family in need.

Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers are needed to assist with classroom activities in the NVFS Head Start classrooms in Arlington. The Clock Tower Thrift Shop in Falls Church offers volunteer opportunities daily, including weekends (youth 12+ must be accompanied by a parent). Volunteers are also invited to organize donation drives for food; hygiene supplies; and new and gently used clothing and coats for 3-5-year-olds. SSL

OAR of Arlington, Alexandria and Falls Church

OAR (oaronline.org) envisions a safe and thriving community where those impacted by the legal system enjoy equal civil and human rights. Through its “upstream” work, OAR is confronting and dismantling individual racism and racism in the legal system and across all systems. “Downstream” work allows OAR to be on the journey with individuals of all genders returning from incarceration and their families. OAR also offers alternative sentencing options (including community service) and diversion programs so people can avoid the trauma of incarceration and instead help the community to thrive.

What a donation can do:

❱❱ $100 provides transportation for five participants recently released from incarceration.

❱❱ $500 covers up to three months of coaching for one participant.

❱❱ $5,000 provides up to a year’s worth of re-entry services (housing and transportation assistance, ID retrieval, mental health services, food, clothing, laptops with internet, smartphones with minutes and data, family reunification, and more) for one participant.

Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers are needed for data entry, special events and to serve as court volunteers. Interested candidates must attend a virtual Tour of OAR’s Mission (bit.ly/ tourregis). Volunteers working with OAR participants and their families are required to go through OAR’s racial justice and liberation training.

PathForward

PathForward (pathforwardva.org) envisions an inclusive and equitable community where all neighbors live stable, secure and independent lives, free from the threat of homelessness. Its mission is to transform lives by delivering housing solutions and pathways to stability. In the past year, PathForward’s medical program provided 1,008 free-of-charge in-person and 439 telehealth visits to uninsured or underinsured people experiencing homelessness. Current needs include PPE such as disposable gloves, disinfectant wipes, masks, hand sanitizer and disinfectant spray.

What a donation can do:

❱❱ $100 purchases 10 boxes of disposable gloves.

$250

❱❱ $250 purchases a 3-month supply of hand sanitizer

❱❱ $750 purchases a 3-month supply of disinfectant spray.

Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers are needed to help with dinner service at the Homeless Services Center. PathForward serves three meals per day, including a delicious hot dinner made fresh in its commercial kitchen. Dinner service is cafeteria style with volunteers needed at the service line. Dinner serves upwards of 80-90 people and volunteers are a great help in making sure that everyone is served a meal with a smile.

Phoenix Bikes

Phoenix Bikes (phoenixbikes.org) combines youth educational programs with a full-service bike shop. Every year, 300400 local middle and high school students benefit from free youth programming that includes learning hands-on mechanics skills, riding and racing, and building meaningful relationships with peers and mentors.

What a donation can do:

❱❱ $25 provides one U-lock and helmet for an Earn-a-Bike program graduate.

OAR of Arlington, Alexandria, and Falls Church

❱❱ $30 provides a new floor pump for youth learning how to fix flat tires.

❱❱ $120 provides new cables (for shifting and braking) for 15 Earn-a-Bike students.

Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers help plan and execute community events, assist with youth rides, tinker with bikes in the shop and support youth education and community service programs.

Postpartum Support Virginia

Postpartum Support Virginia (postpartumva.org) is on a mission to educate families, health care providers and communities about perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs) and to provide resources to help new and expectant mothers and their families overcome anxiety, depression and other PMADs.

What a donation can do:

❱❱ $100 funds the operation of PSVa’s Warm Line for one week.

❱❱ $250 covers one month of free support group meetings.

❱❱ $1,000 provides a full-day training session for peer mentor and social support volunteers.

Volunteer opportunities: Trained

1400 N. Uhle St. Suite 704, Arlington, VA 22201

1400 Uhle Suite 704, Arlington, 22201

703-228-7030 | www.OARonline.org 703-228-7030 | www.OARonline.org

GIVING GUIDE

Donations of all levels are welcome

covers ID retrieval for OAR participants, which is needed to secure housing and employment.

$500 provides up to one month of rent for at least an OAR participant(s).

covers up to three months of coaching for an OAR participant(s) including wrap-around direct services and employment assistance.

$1,000 $2,500 $5,000

provides up to 90 days worth of reentry services (transportation, housing assistance, mental health support, laptops with internet, smartphones with minutes/data, etc.) for an OAR participant(s). support OAR’s Upstream efforts - OAR’s Action Network (advocacy, legislation, and outreach) and scholarships for OAR’s 3-Month Racial Justice + Liberation Cohorts.

$10,000

covers support for over 200 children in OAR’s children and families programs who have a parent currently experiencing incarceration or has been recently released.

Donate online on the OAR website at http://bit.ly/oardonate

For all mailed donations mail to this address: P.O. Box 41030, Arlington, VA 22204

OAR is a community-based nonprofit organization that envisions a safe and thriving community where those impacted by the legal system enjoy equal civil and human rights. “Upstream,” we are confronting and dismantling individual racism and racism in the legal system and across all systems. “Downstream” we are on the journey with individuals of all genders returning from incarceration and their families and offer alternative sentencing options (community service) and diversion programs so people can avoid the trauma of incarceration and instead help the community thrive.

Follow OAR on social media! @OARJustice

Board, Staff & Patients

Painted by a Patient Painted by a Patient

■ guide to giving

volunteers lead support groups, serve as peer mentors and field calls to the PSVa Warm Line. Volunteers also assist with fundraisers, special events, community outreach, social media and administrative tasks. Internships and service hours available. SSL

PRS and PRS CrisisLink

PRS (prsinc.org) provides behavioral health, crisis and suicide intervention services to adults, youth and families. Its vision is to change and save lives by empowering hope, safety, recovery, wellness, independence and community integration. Services include the PRS CrisisLink hotline, textline and chat, as well as Recovery Academy day programs, employment support services, peer services and outpatient therapy.

What a donation can do:

❱❱ $100 funds program supplies for music and art recovery activities, health and wellness, and coping skills for clients in Recovery Academy day programs.

❱❱ $250 sponsors training for one PRS CrisisLink hotline volunteer who can answer 450 calls per year.

❱❱ $500 provides five hours of skillbuilding sessions to uninsured clients needing assistance with medication management, housing and independent living skills.

Volunteer opportunities: Crisis workers provide crisis and suicide intervention services via phone, text or chat to community members contacting CrisisLink. Volunteers must be 21 or older, undergo intensive training and make a weekly commitment for a minimum of one year via remote call center. Volunteer opportunities also are available in the Recovery Academy programs, events and the administrative offices. Internships available. SSL

Read Early and Daily (READ)

Read Early and Daily (readearlyand daily.org) was created to address reading inequities faced by our community’s youngest and most economically vulnerable children. The Arlington nonprofit puts new, free, quality, culturally relevant books into the hands of babies and toddlers every month.

What a donation can do:

❱❱ $50 funds one month of texting weekly reading and parenting tips to 200 families.

❱❱ $100 provides five uninsured pregnant moms-to-be with a bundle of five bilingual board books with reading tips.

Read Early and Daily (READ)

A young reader with a board book

❱❱ $500 funds a full year of participation in the READ With Me monthly book club for five babies in need.

Volunteer opportunities: Adult volunteers deliver books to enrolled families, assist with administrative tasks and help out at community pop-up sales and school book fairs. READ offers young people a variety of ways to volunteer, including (but not limited to) tracking inventory of new books and assisting at community pop-up sales and book fairs. READ is happy to work with families to create parent-child volunteering opportunities for young children. SSL

Rock Recovery

Rock Recovery (rockrecoveryed.org) provides affordable therapy services and support groups to help people find freedom from eating disorders and body image issues. Since 2009, Rock Recovery has provided treatment and support

services to hundreds of clients and families who couldn’t otherwise access the care they needed to heal.

What a donation can do:

❱❱ $30 provides two meals for a client in a meal support group.

❱❱ $50 sponsors one client’s screening fees.

❱❱ $100 provides one individual therapy session.

Volunteer opportunities: Rock Recovery is always looking for volunteers to support its services and help with events and fundraising.

VHC Health

VHC Health (vhchealth.org), a not-forprofit and independent health system, is a member of the Mayo Clinic Care Network—a national network of independent health care organizations with locations across Northern Virginia. Through the VHC Health Foundation, the health sys-

tem ensures the needs of each patient are met with the most comprehensive and advanced level of care.

What a donation can do:

❱❱ $100 provides medications for 20 underserved children in Arlington.

❱❱ $250 provides special at-home care kits to underserved pregnant women in Arlington.

❱❱ $1,000 provides training to a nurse in the emergency room to be an expert in trauma care.

❱❱ $5,000 helps secure essential medical tech for services in the new outpatient pavilion.

Volunteer opportunities: The health system’s Volunteer Services Group provides various kinds of support to patient representative services, inpatient hospital units, outpatient services and specialized services. VHC Health Auxiliary members help with wheelchair transportation and gift shops, and staff information desks.

Wesley Housing

Wesley Housing (wesleyhousing.org) supports 3,600+ low-income residents living in its affordable housing communities

with personal development opportunities that foster self-sufficiency.

What a donation can do:

❱❱ $25 covers a month of internet access for one family.

❱❱ $200 provides a month of healthy groceries for a senior.

❱❱ $500 grants a family of four’s wish list for the holiday season.

Volunteer opportunities: Graduate students pursuing a master’s degree in social work serve as interns each semester and gain valuable experience while earning college credit. Translators fluent in Spanish, Amharic, Farsi, Korean and other languages ensure all residents have equal access to resources. Volunteers also facilitate the Holiday Help drive (sorting, wrapping and delivering gifts), assist with youth afterschool and summer camp programs, serve as aides in adult education programs, and provide event and marketing photography.

YMCA Arlington

Each year, YMCA Arlington (ymcadc. org) provides nearly 4,000 residents with wellness facilities and program-

ming, child care, summer camps, sports (including court sports), aquatics and other family programs. The Y offers wellness programs for all ages, and scholarships and financial assistance to those in need. In 2022, the YMCA of Metropolitan Washington, which includes YMCA Arlington, provided almost $500,000 in financial assistance to area children, families and seniors. What a donation can do:

❱❱ $1,750 covers five weeks of camp for one child.

❱❱ $2,500 provides nine months of before- and after-school care for a working parent.

❱❱ $5,000 provides one year of healthy living classes and activities for seven senior couples.

❱❱ $13,500 allows 25 teens to participate in the Model General Assembly.

❱❱ $25,000 provides free after-school enrichment programs at elementary schools in challenged neighborhoods throughout Arlington.

Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers are needed to assist with birthday parties, various after-school programs and community wellness programming. ■

TOP ATTORNEYS

Our area’s most respected attorneys as nominated by their peers in the legal community

This feature reflects the results of a survey conducted by Arlington Magazine in which area attorneys were asked to nominate their peers in 21 practice areas. Participants were allowed to recommend attorneys in their own firms, provided they also recommended an equal number of attorneys (or more) in other firms. The list is limited to attorneys who are located in Arlington County, Fairfax County, the City of Falls Church and the City of Alexandria. Arlington Magazine administered the survey but was not involved in the selection process.

APPELLATE

Patrick Blanch

Blanch & Hart

John Cottrell

Cottrell Fletcher & Cottrell

Raighne Delaney

Bean, Kinney & Korman

Lawrence Diehl

Barnes & Diehl

Laura Dove

Mullett Dove & Bradley Family Law

David Ginsberg

Cooper Ginsberg Gray

Tashina Gorgone

Maddox & Gerock

David Gutkowski

Odin, Feldman & Pittleman

Matt Kaplan

The Kaplan Law Firm

Kristen Kugel

Cooper Ginsberg Gray

Monica Monday

Gentry Locke

Juli Porto

Blankingship & Keith

Robert Worster Worster Law

BANKRUPTCY/ CREDITORS’ RIGHTS

Xue Connelly

Wade Grimes Friedman Meinken & Leischner

Andrea Davison

Bean, Kinney & Korman

Marguerite Lee DeVoll

Watt Tieder

Alex Laughlin

Odin, Feldman & Pittleman

Stephen Leach

Hirschler

Brian Lee Lee Legal

Left to right: Lamya Moosa, MWM Legal Group; Nathan Olson, Cooper Ginsberg Gray; Carla Brown, Charlson Bredehoft Cohen Brown & Nadelhaft; and Mikhael Charnoff, Charnoff Simpson

Robert Marino

Redmon, Peyton & Braswell

Ashley Morgan

Ashley F. Morgan Law

Daniel Press

Press & Chung

Steven Ramsdell

Tyler, Bartl & Ramsdell

Jeremy Root

Blankingship & Keith

Madeline Trainor

Redmon, Peyton & Braswell

BUSINESS/CORPORATE

Zack Andrews

Bean, Kinney & Korman

Adam August

Holland & Knight

Seth Berenzweig

Berenzweig Leonard

Ryan Brown

Arlington Law Group

Kathleen Kelley

Bean, Kinney & Korman

Michael Kim

Blankingship & Keith

David Kuhnsman

Protorae Law

Eric Lemmer

Arlington Law Group

Tom Quinn

Odin, Feldman & Pittleman

Jennifer Schiffer

Bean, Kinney & Korman

Colin Smith

Holland & Knight

CONSTRUCTION

Shannon Briglia

Smith Currie

Edward Cameron

Cameron McEvoy

Juanita Ferguson

Bean, Kinney & Korman

David Gogal

Blankingship & Keith

Sally Ann Hostetler

Odin, Feldman & Pittleman

Tim Hughes

Bean, Kinney & Korman

Steven Krieger

Steven Krieger Law

Alison Mullins

Cipriani & Werner

Michelle West

Smith Currie

CRIMINAL DEFENSE

James Abrenio

Abrenio Law

Aaron Book

Webster Book

Amy Bradley

Blankingship & Keith

Brendan Harold

Harold Law Firm

Carly Hart

Blanch & Hart

Matt Kapuscinski

Odin, Feldman & Pittleman

Manuel Levia

Leiva Law Firm

Misha Lopez

Lee Lopez Law

Lana Manitta

The Law Office of Lana Manitta

Marina Medvin

Medvin Law

Ann Thayer

Law Office of Ann Thayer

Libbey Van Pelt

Libbey Van Pelt Law

Rebecca Wade

Wade Grimes Friedman Meinken & Leischner

ELDER

Carole Capsalis

Bean, Kinney & Korman

Jenn Crane

Odin, Feldman & Pittleman

Cary Cuccinelli

Cucinelli Geiger

Evan Farr

Farr Law Firm

Valerie Geiger

Cucinelli Geiger

Deborah Matthews

Law Offices of Deborah Matthews

Lamya Moosa

MWM Legal Group

Gene Robinson

Gene Robinson Law

Elizabeth Wildhack

MWM Legal Group

EMPLOYMENT (EMPLOYEE)

John Berry

Berry & Berry

Carla Brown

Charlson Bredehoft Cohen

Brown & Nadelhaft

Maureen Carr

Bean, Kinney & Korman

John Cook

Cook Craig & Francuzenko

Broderick Dunn

Cook Craig & Francuzenko

Josh Erlich

Erlich Law Office

Katie Lipp

Lipp Law

Monique Miles

Old Towne Associates

Marc Pasekoff

Shannon & Wright

Tom Spiggle

The Spiggle Law Firm

Doug Taylor

Bean, Kinney & Korman

EMPLOYMENT (EMPLOYER)

Maureen Carr

Bean, Kinney & Korman

John Cook

Cook Craig & Francuzenko

Edward Isler

Isler Dare

Nicholas Johnson Berenzweig Leonard

Laurie Kirkland

Blankingship & Keith

Declan Leonard Berenzweig Leonard

Katie Lipp

Lipp Law

Thomas Murphy

Jackson Lewis

Jon O’Connell

Odin, Feldman & Pittleman

Doug Taylor

Bean, Kinney & Korman

FAMILY

Carolyn Abbate

Grenadier Duffett Levi Winkler

Rubin

Emily Baker

Feldesman Tucker

Jennifer Bradley

Mullett Dove & Bradley Family Law

David Clarke

Blankingship & Keith

Kristina Cruz

Odin, Feldman & Pittleman

Laura Dove

Mullett Dove & Bradley Family Law

David Ginsberg

Cooper Ginsberg Gray

Julie Gerock

Maddox & Gerock

Dan Gray

Cooper Ginsberg Gray

Carolyn Grimes

Wade Grimes Friedman Meinken & Leischner

Sandra Havrilak

The Havrilak Law Firm

Lynn Hawkins Bean, Kinney & Korman

Mary Huff

Blankingship & Keith

Karen Keyes

Arlington Collaborative Law

Christian Lapham

Bean, Kinney & Korman

Jennifer McCammon

Bean, Kinney & Korman

Jennifer Mullett

Mullett Dove & Bradley Family Law

Nathan Olson

Cooper Ginsberg Gray

Carrie Patterson

Patterson Bookwalter

Sarah Piper

Hicks Crandall Juhl

Jill Seiferth

Bean, Kinney & Korman

Rebecca Wade

Wade Grimes Friedman Meinken & Leischner

GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS

David Black

Holland & Knight

John Cafferky

Blankingship & Keith

Richard Kelley

Bean, Kinney & Korman

Jim Miller

Odin, Feldman & Pittleman

Daniel Strouse

Cordatis Law

Stephanie Wilson

Berenzweig Leonard

IMMIGRATION

Pratibha Agarwal

Agarwal Law Group

Eileen Blessinger

Blessinger Legal

James Montana

Law Office of James Montana

Kristin Zech

Berenzweig Leonard

Financial Planning is Personal

Our holistic financial planning goes beyond just managing and preserving your wealth to advising you on every decision that involves a dollar sign. Your goals and needs are unique, and we believe your investment strategy should follow suit. It’s all part of our very concerted effort to serve you and your family – today and for every significant milestone along the way. It’s time to see what a difference we can make in your life.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Clyde Findley

Berenzweig Leonard

Michael Fortkort

Protorae Law

Daniel Gropper

Rees Broome

Kandis Koustenis

Bean, Kinney & Korman

Tim Maier

Maier & Maier

Kevin Oliveira

Odin, Feldman & Pittleman

Ryen Rasmus

Lipp Law

Jeff Smith

Millen White Zelano & Branigan

LAND USE/ZONING

Thomas Colucci

Walsh Colucci Lubeley & Walsh

John Foote

Walsh Colucci Lubeley & Walsh

Giff Hampshire

Blankingship & Keith

Jon Kinney

Bean, Kinney & Korman

Sara Mariska

Odin, Feldman & Pittleman

Evan Pritchard

Cozen O’Connor

Michelle Rosati

Holland & Knight

Roy Shannon

Shannon & Wright

Theodora Stringham

Offit Kurman

Mark Viani

Bean, Kinney & Korman

LEGAL AID/PRO BONO

Nermin Abdelwahab

Legal Services of Northern Virginia

Jennifer Banks

Odin, Feldman & Pittleman

Ryan Brown

Arlington Law Group

Chidi James

Blankingship & Keith

Nora Mahoney

Legal Services of Northern Virginia

LITIGATION

Sam Banks

Bean, Kinney & Korman

Stephen Caruso

Bean, Kinney & Korman

Mikhael Charnoff

Charnoff Simpson

John Coffey

Redmon, Peyton & Braswell

Craig Franco

Odin, Feldman & Pittleman

Rebekah Green

Shannon & Wright

Richard Holzheimer

McGuire Woods

James Kinsel

Protorae Law

Steven Krieger

Steven Krieger Law

Alex Lewis

Cooper Ginsberg Gray

Bill Porter

Blankingship & Keith

Doug Ross

Odin, Feldman & Pittleman

Stephanie Smith

Cooper Ginsberg Gray

Rip Sullivan

Bean, Kinney & Korman

NONPROFIT

Tim Hughes

Bean, Kinney & Korman

Kathleen Kelley

Bean, Kinney & Korman

Ben Kinder

Odin, Feldman & Pittleman

Eric Lemmer

Arlington Law Group

PERSONAL INJURY/ WORKERS COMP

James Abrenio

Abrenio Law

Amy Bradley

Blankingship & Keith

Bruce Blanchard

Odin, Feldman & Pittleman

Mark Cummings

Sher & Cummings

Allyson Kitchel

Kitchel Law

Charles O’Donnell

The Law Offices of Charles W. O’Donnell

Libbey Van Pelt

Libbey Van Pelt Law

Matt Perushek

Frei, Mims & Perushek

Juli Porto

Blankingship & Keith

REAL ESTATE

John Altmiller

Pesner Altmiller

Philip Chung

Chung & Press

Justine Fitzgerald Hirschler

David Hannah Hirschler

John Kelly

Bean, Kinney & Korman

Steven Krieger

Steven Krieger Law

Antonia Miller

Walsh Colucci Lubeley & Walsh

Ellen Sharpe

Odin, Feldman & Pittleman

Theodora Stringham

Offit Kurman

Minturn Wright

Shannon & Wright

SCHOOLS & EDUCATION

John Cafferky

Blankingship & Keith

Amanda DeFede

McIntyre DeFede Law

Carly Hart

Blanch & Hart

Juliet Hiznay

J.D. Hiznay

Joan Proper

The Law Office of Joan H. Proper

TAX

Bridget Alzheimer

Arlington Law Group

Scott Dondershine

Reston Law Group

Eric Horvitz

Miles & Stockbridge

John Loveland

Odin, Feldman & Pittleman

Catherine Schott Murray

Odin, Feldman & Pittleman

John Pontius

Pontius Tax Law

Arthur Rosatti

Ashley F. Morgan Law

Kevin Thorn

Thorn Law Group

Chris Wright

Shannon & Wright

TRUSTS & ESTATES

Paul Abraham PJI Law

Kathi Ayers

Vaughan, Fincher & Sotelo

Brent Baxter

Manning, Murray, Barnett & Baxter

Ryan Brown

Arlington Law Group

Miriam Epstein

MDE Law Group

Foster Friedman

Wade Grimes Friedman Meinken & Leischner

Valerie Geiger

Cucinelli Geiger

Lauren Jenkins

Offit Kurman

David Knasel

Protorae Law

Jennifer Lucey Lucey Law

Gretchyn Meinken

Wade Grimes Friedman Meinken & Leischner

Lamya Moosa

MWM Legal Group

Pam Morand

Odin, Feldman & Pittleman

Elizabeth Morrogh

Blankingship & Keith

Alison Noll

Offit Kurman

Seth Royster

Shannon & Wright

Jennifer Schiffer

Bean, Kinney & Korman

Cameronne Taillon

Geller Law Group

Chris Wright

Shannon & Wright

Profiles

The Lipp Law Firm

KATIE LIPP

RYEN RASMUS

Katie Lipp, Owner of The Lipp Law Firm, dedicates her practice to employment separation guidance and labor law, representing employers, select executives and educators. Ryen Rasmus, Transactions Practice Lead, dedicates his practice to IP, complex business transactions and technology law.

4000 Legato Road, Suite 1100 Fairfax, VA 22033

703-896-7704

katie@lipplawfirm.com www.lipplawfirm.com

Q: What is Lipp Law known for?

A: Katie Lipp: We are known for our focus on HR Law in the DMV, and our clients operate heavily in the technology, government contracts and public education sectors. Many people think of Lipp Law as an employment law firm, but we also have corporate, intellectual property and business litigation legs to our practice. We will continue to grow those areas of the firm.

Q: What is your primary practice area, and why do you like it?

A: Katie Lipp: My primary practice area is labor and employment law, for employers, executives and educators. I help with HR law issues like employee termination, noncompetes, union negotiations, disability accommodations, medical leave and workplace investigations. It feels good to help employers create safe working

environments for their employees and advocate for them.

Q: What makes you different from other lawyers/law firms?

A: Ryen Rasmus: We pride ourselves on our responsiveness and efficiency. I know the comfort that comes from knowing that your advocate is aware of your needs and is working on a resolution—without churning the file.

Q: What brings you the most satisfaction in your work?

A: Ryen Rasmus: Providing people with comfort. We often encounter clients in times of stress and uncertainty, faced with dilemmas they do not understand. Just letting them know what risks are in play and what the best next steps may be goes a long way. It allows clients to trade fear and confusion for calm and clarity.

Mullett Dove & Bradley Family Law, PLLC

Awards/Honors:

Washingtonian Top Lawyers, 2018-2023

Best Law Firms™ 2015-2024

Best Lawyers™ 2013-2024

Best Lawyers™ 2022 Lawyer of the Year— Family Law

Best Lawyers™ 2024 and 2021 Lawyer of the Year—Collaborative Law

Super Lawyers™ 2013-2023

Virginia Business Magazine Top Lawyers

Northern Virginia Magazine Top Lawyers

Three Ballston Plaza

1100 N. Glebe Road, Suite 1100

Arlington, VA 22201

703-522-8100

mdb@mdbfamilylaw.com | www.mdbfamilylaw.com

Q: How do you relate to your clients?

A: The number one complaint we hear from clients who come to us after working with other firms is that their calls and emails were rarely returned, which left them feeling as if they didn’t know what was happening in their own case. We make client communication a priority, ensuring our clients are involved in developing a strategy for reaching the best resolution possible for their unique circumstance.

Q: What do your clients say about you?

A: “A class act. Competent, smart and tough when needed—yet unfailingly respectful and professional to everyone involved.”

• “Took the time to listen to my concerns. I was never treated like a number or a customer.”

• “Top-notch representation. Stuck to the

relevant points, worked for a quick resolution and kept me abreast of every step as we reached a favorable conclusion.”

• “I have recommended MDB to my friends, which I think is the litmus test of their competency.”

• “Kind, professional, knowledgeable, attention to detail.”

• “Incredibly responsive, offered excellent advice and was an exceptional listener.”

• “Available on short notice, provided intelligent analysis/advice along the way.”

• “Prompt responses to my emails and phone calls.”

• “Always punctual when something needed to be addressed.”

• “Honest and answered my questions based on the law and her experience, not just with an answer I wanted to hear.”

• “Superb work ethic and extensive knowledge of the law.”

MWM Legal Group, PLLC

Contemplating and dealing with major life events is incredibly stressful. Our experienced and compassionate team at MWM Legal Group is here to help you plan for your family’s present and future.

200 N. Glebe Road, Suite 1000 Arlington, VA 22203

703-237-0027

www.mwmlegalgroup.com

Q: What should potential clients know about your firm?

A: We listen first. We dedicate each consultation to carefully understanding the needs of each individual and each family. Our lawyers never go into a meeting with a potential client with a list of services to sell. We want to help. We stay focused on what is best for our clients, realizing that most of their concerns and objectives are highly personal and, at times, stressful and emotionally charged. Our ultimate goal is to help our clients plan for and navigate successfully through some of their most difficult times.

Q: How do you relate to your clients?

A: At MWM Legal Group, we understand

that every person, family and situation is unique. We develop real and personal relationships with our clients, and as fiduciaries for many of them, we work diligently to establish their trust. In fact, we have many families for whom we have served multiple generations.

Q: How do you employ technology to help your clients?

A: If the recent pandemic taught us anything, it was the importance of being able to communicate with clients who are all over the world, who are too ill to travel or who are homebound. Additionally, many of our clients prefer using secure technology to communicate, pay bills and transfer documents to us.

Standing, from left: Tesia Kempski, Elisabeth Swanbery, Courtney McCarthy, Hannah Littlefield, Elizabeth Wildhack; (seated) Lamya Moosa

Bean, Kinney & Korman, P.C.

Awards/Honors:

Best Places to Work in Virginia, 2020, 2022

Best Places to Work in Arlington, 2021-2022

Arlington Magazine Top Attorneys, 20192023

Arlington Magazine Best Family Law Practice, 2018

Leadership Arlington Ethics Award, 2015 Arlington Chamber of Commerce Green Business of the Year

2311 Wilson Blvd., Suite 500, Arlington, VA 22201 703-525-4000 | info@beankinney.com beankinney.com

Q: What services does Bean, Kinney & Korman offer its clients?

A: We represent clients in D.C., Maryland and Virginia in all aspects of family law. We can help, whether it be a paternity and child support matter, custody or a divorce encompassing not only custody and child support but also property division to include retirement allocations, business evaluations, stock option division or spousal support. We also assist clients with prenuptial agreements.

Q: What makes you different from other law firms?

A: any firms that do family law only have attorneys that do family law. Our clients typically have substantial and complicated financial situations. Here at BKK our clients have at their disposal an arsenal of knowledge and

professionals to counsel them in areas such as business formation and planning, business dissolution or buyouts, as well as employment law. We also have trust and estate lawyers to help understand existing structures, as well as guide our clients with future estate planning once the divorce process concludes.

Q: What do you enjoy most about working with your clients?

A: Our clients are going through the most stressful time of their lives. It’s our job to give them counseling and legal advice that will help them get through it. The unknown creates fear —we can help by giving them information so that they’ll be less fearful and will be able to get through this difficult process. We know they need responsive, personal attention—and that’s what we give each of our clients.

Family Law Practice, from top left: Christian Lapham, Taylor Klauza, Jill Seiferth, Jennifer McCammon, Theresa Mihalik, Alexandra Fletcher, Lynn Hawkins, Michelle Bieber

Blankingship & Keith

Q: What should potential clients know about Blankingship & Keith?

A: Founded in 1979 and headquartered in Fairfax, Blankingship & Keith is a general practice law firm recognized for its exceptional legal services. For nearly 45 years, Blankingship & Keith has been known for its commitment to serve our clients diligently, expertly and comprehensively. Our 28 partners and 43 lawyers overall handle most aspects of civil practice, for a diverse clientele, including large corporations, small businesses and individuals.

Q: How do you serve your clients?

A: Our areas of practice encompass civil litigation, appellate and trial consulting, commercial real estate, condemnation, personal injury, land use, education and

local government law, family law, creditor’s rights, estate planning, and general business matters. This broad spectrum of legal services underscores our versatility and depth. We understand that law is a service profession and make every effort to deliver services to our clients in accordance with the highest standards.

Q: How would you summarize your business philosophy?

A: Blankingship & Keith founder John Keith articulates our central mission: “Our primary focus is on delivering exceptional service and tangible results for each client. The unique blend of talent, creativity and sound judgment displayed by our lawyers affords us a level of depth and adaptability rarely found in firms of our size.” This distinctive capability remains pivotal to our sustained success.

TONY

Arlington Law Group

RYAN A. BROWN, ESQ.

ERIC M. LEMMER, ESQ.

Awards/Honors:

Ryan A. Brown, Esq.: Arlington Magazine Top Attorney Business/Corporate (2019, 2021, 2022, 2023), Legal Aid/Pro Bono (2023), Nonprofit (2019, 2021), Tax (2019), Trusts & Estates (2019, 2021, 2022, 2023); Washingtonian Magazine Top Financial Advisor (Estate Planning Attorney), 2022; Northern Virginia Magazine Top Lawyer, Financial Law, 2019; Eric M. Lemmer, Esq.: Arlington Magazine Top Attorney Business/Corporate (2019, 2023), Nonprofit (2023); Bridget Alzheimer, Esq.: Arlington Magazine Top Attorney Tax (2023)

1739 Clarendon Blvd., Arlington, VA 22209 703-842-3025 | clients@arlingtonlawgroup.com www.arlingtonlawgroup.com

Q: What is your impact on the Arlington community?

A: On the weekends when I’m running errands or visiting the farmers market with my children, I love pointing out all of the places where Arlington Law Group has had an impact on our community after sixteen years of practicing law: “We helped that restaurant negotiate their commercial lease. That’s the Salvation Army where I volunteer. There’s the house where I visited a client to sign her estate plan when she was in home hospice care. That’s where we had our last Chamber of Commerce meeting.” One time, my son asked “Is everyone in Arlington your client?”

As our firm has grown in Arlington, it has been a pleasure to connect with the individuals, businesses and nonprofits that make Arlington a thriving

community. We leverage our network as we assist our clients, helping them find the best possible resources and opportunities. We are involved in and give back to community organizations, non-profits, schools and other institutions that are vitally important to building and maintaining our community.

Q: What makes the Arlington Law Group team stand out?

A: After starting as a solo law practice in 2007, we have grown to five attorneys and two paralegals. Each new member of the firm has brought their own expertise, but we are all committed to taking care of our clients and each other. We have been lucky to build a supportive, collaborative environment for our staff, which is reflected in how we help our clients each day.

John Pontius, Esq.

PONTIUS TAX LAW, PLLC

Awards/Honors:

Top Attorneys, Arlington, Northern Virginia and Bethesda Magazines Super Lawyers, DC and MD Super Lawyers Chair, State/Local Tax Committee, DC Bar Tax Section Council, Maryland State Bar Association

Offices in Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland www.PontiusTaxLaw.com

Q: What areas have you represented clients with complex tax issues?

A: I represent individual and business clients with sensitive and serious tax matters before the IRS and state authorities. Areas include FBAR exams, offshore and domestic disclosures, FATCA, FIRPTA, tax planning, unfiled tax returns, tax liens and levies, employment taxes, trust fund recovery penalty, audit exams as well as appeals, penalty abatement, and US Tax Court litigation along with defense of tax fraud and tax evasion.

From Left: Attorneys Matthew Haghiri and John Pontius

Reese Law

CATHERINE “KATE” REESE, ESQ.

American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers Masters in Counseling Leader of the Year 2020, Virginia Lawyers Weekly The Best Lawyers in America® DC and VA Super Lawyers

3050 Chain Bridge Road, Suite 510 Fairfax, VA 22030

703-279-5140 reeselawoffice.com

Q: What is the most significant change in the legal profession during your career?

A: The introduction of collaborative law in family law has been monumental, letting people utilize self-determination to avoid litigation. Collaborative law is the “kinder, gentler divorce,” with a built-in mental health professional. An early commitment to civility eliminates many disagreements long before the expense of a trial. The best part is that the clients interact pleasantly and know they are working for a peaceful resolution.

MICHAEL VENTURA

Joshua Erlich

THE ERLICH LAW OFFICE

Awards/Honors:

Washingtonian, D.C.’s Best Lawyers

Virginia Super Lawyers

Washington, D.C. Super Lawyers

Virginia Business Magazine, Virginia Legal Elite

Faculty, Virginia State Bar Harry L. Carrico Professionalism Course

1550 Wilson Blvd., Suite 700

Arlington, VA 22209

703-791-9087

www.erlichlawoffice.com

Q: How did you get started in civil rights law?

A: I started out at a class action firm, and I quickly learned that I wanted to work with individual clients. With a class action, you may represent 40,000 people, but you rarely speak to any of them.

In 2012, I started my firm and I’ve worked closely with hundreds of clients since then. I get to spend my time talking to people about their problems and trying to use the law to get them some justice—whether they’ve been fired unfairly, subjected to police violence or otherwise hurt by individuals in power.

Q: What is keeping you busy right now?

A: Virginia has vastly expanded its

employment protections in recent years. Virginians have recently been empowered to pursue claims for unpaid wages and our discrimination laws now cover sexual orientation and gender expression. We’ve outlawed noncompetition agreements for low wage workers. And we finally have a private sector whistleblower law so you can’t be fired for reporting illegal activity to your supervisor or to the government.

Our cases often involve workplace violence, sexual assaults and racial discrimination. We are always busy fighting for our clients who have been subject to abuse.

We just try to help where we can.

The Geller Law Group

CAMERONNE M. TAILLON

4000 Legato Road, Suite 1100, Fairfax, VA 22033

703-687-6188 | ctaillon@thegellerlawgroup.com www.thegellerlawgroup.com

Q: How is The Geller Law Group different than other firms and what motivates your team?

A: Since 2011, our woman-powered firm has provided jobs for working parents in the legal field. Our flexible, remote culture harmonizes family and career, resulting in happy employees who provide outstanding client results. Our team thrives on easing stress and delivering peace of mind to clients. From navigating divorce, crafting end-of-life plans, assisting LGBTQIA+ adoptions, to nurturing business startups, our clients’ successes fuel our motivation.

Q: What career accomplishment are you most proud of?

A: Since becoming a widow in 2020, I’ve channeled my personal tragedy into helping clients understand the importance of well-thought-out estate plans. For lasting client support, I introduced GLG+, an innovative program that keeps essential documents accurate and up-to-date.

Manning, Murray, Barnett & Baxter PC

BRENT

E. BAXTER

6045 Wilson Blvd., Suite 300, Arlington, VA 22205

703-532-5400 | www.mmbb.law

Q: What should potential clients know about your firm?

A: MMBB provides tailor-made solutions for clients and their families for estate planning and estate and trust administration. We provide plans for clients’ unique situations and needs, from estate planning to end-of-life care, to estate and trust administration. Our specialized experience and individual attention for our clients allow us to provide solutions that bring peace of mind.

Q: And what should potential clients know about you personally?

A: I genuinely seek to provide the best legal advice and representation to each client. Every client’s situation is different, and I am very deliberate in growing and delivering expertise in my practice area. I have been a lawyer for 22 years, but I learn something new about my practice area every day.

STEPHANIE

Sher, Cummings & Ellis

MARK CUMMINGS

Arlington Magazine Winner, Best Personal Injury Law Firm, 2019 and 2023

Virginia Lawyers Weekly Hall of Fame (Class of ’23)

Martindale-Hubbell “Preeminent” rating Super Lawyers since 2007

AVVO Rating 10

3800 Fairfax Drive, Suite 7

Arlington, VA 22203

703-525-1200 www.shercummingsandellis.com

Q: What sets you apart from other law firms?

A: We are a teaching law firm. I have been an adjunct professor at George Mason University Law School for over 22 years teaching Virginia Practice and Virginia Remedies. We routinely employ law student externs in our office. The partners also both serve on state-wide legal committees dedicated to educating and improving Virginia lawyers. Finally, I was inducted into the Virginia Lawyers Weekly Hall of Fame Class of 2023 for my contributions to the bar and the community.

Q: What brings you the most satisfaction in your work?

A: Achieving the best possible result for our clients. Recently, we achieved a $3 million recovery for a severely injured bicyclist, a $330,000 recovery for a client

injured by a defective escalator and a $300,000 recovery for a dog bite victim.

Q: What has been your most notable achievement?

A: Turning a client’s injury and misery into a legacy that gave her suffering lasting meaning. Vicky Collins was a wonderful young lady who, at 33, suffered a debilitating stroke which left her in “locked in syndrome.” After a favorable settlement, she asked us to continue as her counsel to help her with day-to-day challenges. Sadly, physical complications ultimately took her life in 2003. Prior to her death, we helped her create a charitable foundation to help indigent, disabled children. She asked my law partner and I to promise to carry forth her vision. Today, the Vicky Collins Charitable Foundation creates hope in our community for thousands of disabled and challenged children—Vicky’s greatest wish fulfilled.

Maddox & Gerock, P.C.

8111 Gatehouse Road, Suite 410, Falls Church, VA 22042 703-883-8035 | www.maddoxandgerock.com

Q: What makes Maddox & Gerock unique?

A: Our ability to knowledgeably handle all aspects of a family law case, including those that require more skilled representation such as international custody cases, third-party custody and visitation cases, and high-asset equitable distribution and support cases. We have the experience to handle cases in the courtroom or through negotiation or collaboration. We also handle family law appeals, two of our partners are certified mediators and we offer estate planning services.

Q: What is the most significant change in the legal profession during your career?

A: The flexibility demanded of our profession during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our hybrid system allows for meeting clients remotely or in person, helping them to better manage their personal and professional lives while involved in time-consuming family law disputes.

Smollar Kuntz

Locey, PLLC

We are a full-service matrimonial law firm serving clients in the DMV with our considerable experience in a broad range of pre- and post-divorce matters.

1850 M St. NW, Suite 880 Washington, D.C. 20036 202-318-7155 Contact@SKLFamilyLaw.com  www.SKLfamilylaw.com

Q: Is now the right time to speak to a divorce lawyer?

A: Every situation is unique, but there never is a bad time to seek information. Seeing an attorney does not commit you to getting divorced right away. An initial conference with one of our attorneys is the best way to gain valuable information about the process and to have an expert assess your situation. We welcome the opportunity to help you explore all possibilities.

JOSEPH TRAN

TONY J. LEWIS

great spaces ■

by Jennifer Shapira | photo by Jenn Verrier

A Fresh Angle

INTERIOR DESIGNER

Cindy Eyl doesn’t need an excuse to refresh spaces in her own home. Sometimes all she needs is her family’s buy-in. So, two years ago, when her daughter said she was ready to update her bedroom, Eyl pounced.

“As a designer, I love redoing things,” says the owner and principal of Jefferson Street Designs. And if the redo involves finding clever uses for quirky spaces? All the better. That’s partly what made her house in Arlington’s Bluemont neighborhood so appealing when she and her husband bought it 15 years ago.

The pitched wall that follows the roofline in her daughter Johanna’s topfloor bedroom is a prime example. Where others might have seen an awkward and

unusable space with insufficient standing room, Eyl saw a built-in alcove for a bed when Johanna was 5. (Her son, Jack, has a similar nook in his room.)

Fast-forward to 2021, and Johanna wanted to update her room with new accents and a hanging chair. Watching a few house tours together on TikTok revealed the teen’s affinity for bright colors and bold prints. Eyl gathered samples accordingly. Johanna “was like a client,” she says. “I presented to her!”

The rattan chair by Artesia arrived without instructions, though it did include the rope from which the chair is suspended. “I Googled a lot of knots,” says the Arlington mom, laughing. For pops of color, they added throw pillows,

including a pink-and-blue print from Etsy whose pattern reminded them of fabrics seen on a family trip to Turkey.

The built-in bed is tucked beneath Johanna’s choice of wallpaper—a midnight blue-and-white chinoiserie showstopper by Thibaut, its effect almost like a starry sky. An integrated bedside shelf, also wallpapered, houses chargers for devices. It’s topped with a pair of foo dog bookends that Johanna (now 17 and a high school senior) spray-painted hot pink.

The tasseled bedding is from Etsy by way of India. A nook-within-a-nook at the head of the bed frames a sconce topped with a pleated lampshade, also found on Etsy.

Mother and daughter agree the experience was a successful collaboration. “I love that she was a part of it,” Eyl says. “I love that she loves the space.” ■

August’s Most Expensive Home Sales

22201 (Arlington)

135 N. Edgewood St.

List Price: $2.9 million

Sale Price: $2.8 million

Days on Market: 21

Listing Office: TTR Sotheby’s International Realty

Neighborhood: Lyon Park

Year Built: 2023

Bedrooms: 5

Full/Half Baths: 5/2

22202 (Arlington)

2623 S. Lynn St.

List Price: $1.35 million

Sale Price: $1.42 million

Days on Market: 5

Listing Office: Keller Williams Capital Properties

Neighborhood: Aurora Hills

Year Built: 1910

Bedrooms: 3

Full/Half Baths: 2/1

22203 (Arlington)

5323 Fifth St. N.

List Price: $1.8 million

Sale Price: $1.8 million

Days on Market: 29

Listing Office: Fairfax Realty of Tysons

Neighborhood: Bonair

Year Built: 1934

Bedrooms: 5

Full/Half Baths: 4/1

22204 (Arlington)

4504 Sixth St. S.

List Price: $1.75 million

Sale Price: $1.73 million

Days on Market: 82

Listing Office: Urban Living Real Estate

Neighborhood: Barcroft

This information, courtesy of Bright MLS as of Sept. 15, 2023, includes homes sold in August 2023, excluding sales in which sellers have withheld permission to advertise or promote. Information should be independently verified. The Bright MLS real estate service area spans 40,000 square miles throughout the mid-Atlantic region, including Delaware, Maryland, Washington, D.C., and parts of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. As a leading Multiple Listing Service (MLS), Bright serves approximately 100,000 real estate professionals who in turn serve over 20 million consumers. For more information, visit brightmls.com.

WHERE TRUST AND PARTNERSHIP ARE THE KEYS TO YOUR SUCCESS.

CLOS E PARTNERS

■ prime numbers

Year Built: 2023

Bedrooms: 5

Full/Half Baths: 5/0

22205 (Arlington)

6023 21st St. N.

List Price: $2.2 million

Sale Price: $2.2 million

Days on Market: 4

Listing Office: Long & Foster Real Estate

Neighborhood: Overlee Knolls

Year Built: 2023

Bedrooms: 6

Full/Half Baths: 5/1

22206 (Arlington)

2727 S. Lang St.

List Price: $1.7 million

Sale Price: $1.69 million Days on Market: 15

Listing Office: D.S.A. Properties & Investments

Neighborhood: Oakcrest

Year Built: 2023

Bedrooms: 5

Full/Half Baths: 4/1

22207 (Arlington)

4A N. Ridgeview Road

List Price: $3.2 million

Sale Price: $3.61 million

Days on Market: 438

Listing Office: McEnearney Associates

Neighborhood: Dover Balmoral Riverwood

Year Built: 2021

Bedrooms: 5

Full/Half Baths: 6/1

22209 (Arlington)

1781 N. Pierce St., #2601

List Price: $3.8 million

Sale Price: $3.8 million

Days on Market: 3

Listing Office: KW United

Neighborhood: Rosslyn

Year Built: 2021

Bedrooms: 3

Full/Half Baths: 2/1

22213 (Arlington)

6134 36th St. N.

List Price: $2.05 million

Sale Price: $2.17 million

Days on Market: 3

Listing Office: Compass

Neighborhood: Minor Hill

Year Built: 2008

Bedrooms: 5

Full/Half Baths: 4/1

22101 (McLean)

1937 Birch Road

List Price: $5.4 million

Sale Price: $5.2 million

Days on Market: 118

Listing Office: Washington Fine Properties

Neighborhood: Chesterbrook

Year Built: 2006

Bedrooms: 8

Full/Half Baths: 7/1

22102 (McLean)

7681 Ballestrade Court

List Price: $6.5 million

Sale Price: $5.5 million

Days on Market: 20

Listing Office: TTR Sotheby’s International Realty

Neighborhood: Garfield Park

Year Built: 2002

Bedrooms: 6

Full/Half Baths: 6/3

22041

(Falls Church)

6361 Lakeview Drive

List Price: $1.14 million

Sale Price: $1.14 million

Days on Market: 1

Listing Office: Long & Foster Real Estate

Neighborhood: Lake Barcroft

Year Built: 1953

Bedrooms: 3

Full/Half Baths: 3/0

22042 (Falls Church)

6431 Quincy Place

List Price: $1.7 million

Sale Price: $1.85 million

Days on Market: 2

Listing Office: RLAH @properties

Neighborhood: Sleepy Hollow

Year Built: 2006

Bedrooms: 6

Full/Half Baths: 4/1

22043 (Falls Church)

2239 Beacon Lane

List Price: $2.1 million

Sale Price: $2.25 million

Days on Market: 1

Listing Office: Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices PenFed Realty

Neighborhood: Churchill

Year Built: 2023

Bedrooms: 6

Full/Half Baths: 6/1

22044 (Falls Church)

6562 Brooks Place

List Price: $2.18 million

Sale Price: $2.13 million

Days on Market: 50

Listing Office: Smith & Schnider

Neighborhood: Hudson Quarter

Year Built: 2022

Bedrooms: 5

Full/Half Baths: 5/1

22046 (Falls Church)

6602 Gordon Ave.

List Price: $2.45 million

Sale Price: $2.4 million

Days on Market: 18

Listing Office: RE/MAX Distinctive Real Estate

Neighborhood: Westmore Gardens

Year Built: 2023

Bedrooms: 6

Full/Half Baths: 6/1

7681 Ballestrade Court, McLean SALE PRICE: $5.5 MILLION

The Trusted Real Estate Resource in Arlington

Real Estate Sales Trends

22201

22202

22204

22205

22206

22207

What sets Monument Home Loans apart?

Our service. While our interest rates are quite competitive, our customer service is what sets us apart. From your first phone call until your final signature, our loan officers and processing team are fully accessible whenever needed, day or night, weekday or weekend. We also understand that mortgages should not be one-size-fits-all; that’s why we offer one of the widest arrays of mortgage products in the DMV, and work closely with clients to identify the program that best meets their needs and goals. As a result, we enable people from all walks of life to experience a smooth, predictable process that results in the best mortgage for their circumstances – and to have an experienced loan officer with them every step of the way.

22209

22102

Number

22213

22041

Number

22101

22042

22044

22046

Kitchen and Bath Showcase

Classic Cottages

433 E. Monroe Ave., Alexandria, VA 22301

703-844-9936 | sales@ccottages.com www.ccottages.com

BIO:

Classic Cottages is a Northern Virginia-based custom home builder that builds primarily in Arlington County and provides turnkey solutions for families looking to build a new home. Whether families are looking to build a beautiful model home or a custom home from scratch, Classic Cottages can handle everything from concept to completion.

THE PROJECT:

Attention to detail is a must when designing a home that will not only “wow” buyers but also function practically for comfortable, everyday living. For a smaller new construction home, this kitchen is anything but small. Listening to buyers’ feedback over the years, the kitchen truly is the heart of the home. Keeping an open concept focus on the main level, this kitchen is undoubtedly center stage, perfect for hosting both small and large gatherings. Every inch of space serves a purpose and storage is abundant (a top “need” on a buyer’s new home checklist). Trendy warm neutrals and classic black and white elements are stylistically carried throughout the home, including the luxury primary bath with sleek matte black hexagon shower floor tile and polished marble subway tile. Elegant sconce lighting, framed mirrors, quartz counter tops and contemporary black fixtures are just some of the incredible details that make up each of the two bathroom vanities, which are set apart by a gorgeous soaking tub, making one feel like they are at a luxury spa from the comfort and convenience of their own home.

Bowers Design Build

703-506-0845 | info@BowersDesignBuild.com www.BowersDesignBuild.com

BIO:

For 33 years, our on-staff architects, interior designers and construction professionals have focused on creating beautiful, functional homes for each of our clients. Creative, needsbased designs, married with our professional budget/project management approach, have garnered a loyal client base. At any given time, 30% of our work is repeat business.

OUR WORK:

Our goal is 100% client satisfaction! Our award-winning kitchen design/build process starts with an in-depth understanding of the client’s needs: how they shop, store, cook, entertain and live in the house every day. This needs analysis is critical to designing and building a final product that will exceed client expectations, providing the perfect renovated space that will be enjoyed for years to come. This McLean family wanted a comprehensive redesign of their main-level living space to better utilize their existing square footage in a way that more closely matched how they live. While the kitchen is the heart of this renovation, “right sizing” of the formal living areas allowed for a large beverage area and storage, a functional cooking island, and a custom banquette for casual dining. The result is beautiful and highly functional. While we love winning awards for our work, the true measure of our success is happy clients.

TriVistaUSA Design + Build

3103 N. 10th St., Suite 200 Arlington, VA 22201 703-243-3171 info@trivistausa.com www.trivistausa.com

BIO:

TriVistaUSA Design + Build provides innovative, award-winning designs to homeowners in Arlington, Falls Church, Alexandria and NWDC. Michael and Deborah Sauri built their team around one mission: “Our thoughtful design builds fine living.” TriVistaUSA provides creative high-design solutions on time and on budget to achieve functional solutions for every client’s lifestyle.

THE PROJECT:

With style and grace this primary bath was transformed for the owner’s needs to create a design that made her feel more at home. The original bathroom had a large unnecessary beam in the middle of the room, tan and brown tones covering the floors and walls, and a shower with walls built all around making it feel like a dark cave.

The pain points for our client included, not enough natural light, outdated features, and a dysfunctional layout. Our client desperately desired a bathroom metamorphosis. To accomplish this, we took out that random beam, changed the layout of the space, and added design features and elements that our client loves! Now the space radiates bright light, and an elegant spa-like feel that will never go out of style.

Alair Homes Arlington

Chad Hackmann | 202-409-1280 www.AlairHomes.com/Arlington

BIO:

Alair Arlington provides custom home building and renovations in Arlington, Alexandria, McLean and D.C. Having lived and worked in Arlington for over 20 years, Alair Regional Partner Chad Hackmann understands the constraints of Arlington’s smaller home lots and loves to help clients create the home of their dreams.

PROJECT:

The homeowners of this Arlington bungalow dreamed of two home offices, an open floor plan and space for their children. We maintained the home’s original footprint while adding a second and third floor, plus a rooftop deck. The result? More than double the living space, including four bedrooms and 4.5 baths.

The main level effortlessly blends practicality and modern luxury, incorporating an office, mudroom, powder room and an open living-kitchen area. The renovated basement serves as a spacious playroom with a bathroom. On the second floor, you’ll find three bedrooms, three bathrooms and an owner’s suite with a balcony. Ascend to the third-floor loft, where an office, cozy common area and a rooftop deck with stunning D.C. views inspire productivity and leisure.

Built in a modern farmhouse style with board and baton siding and black-clad windows, this home is a testament to Alair’s commitment to building dreams.

Heartland Design and Remodeling

6712 Old McLean Village Drive, McLean, VA 22101 703-369-3000 | info@heartlanddesign.com www.heartlanddesign.com

BIO:

Heartland Design and Remodeling is a full-service home remodeling and design-build contractor serving Northern Virginia for over 37 years. We are driven to help homeowners transform their houses into their dream homes, using high-quality materials and expert craftsmanship to create beautiful, functional spaces that reflect their unique style and personality.

OUR WORK:

As a design-build firm, Heartland Design and Remodeling offer a seamless, all-in-one approach to home remodeling. Whether you’re looking to update your kitchen, remodel your bathroom, or add an addition (guest house addition pictured)—Heartland Design has got you covered! We are committed to helping every client achieve their unique vision for their home. From the first phone call to the final punch list, we make sure that everything is managed professionally, and it all starts with our preconstruction process. Heartland Design has created a simple streamlined design process to help our clients envision their finished remodel. Using 3D computer renderings and production software ensures our clients are engaged through the process and track their project in realtime. If you value quality, integrity, and personalized service, look no further than Heartland Design and Remodeling. Contact us today to schedule a consultation and turn your renovation dreams into reality!

Arlington Designer Homes Construction, LLC

ANDREW MOORE, PRESIDENT

4719 24th Road North, Arlington, VA 22207

703-475-9313 | arlingtondesignerhomes@gmail.com www.ArlingtonDesignerHomes.com

BIO:

Arlington native Andrew Moore, president of Arlington Designer Homes, has served his community as a translator at the Free Clinic, on public school planning commissions and as President of the Custom Builders Council. Most recently he was presented the prestigious Best Green Building, Gala award by the Northern Virginia Building Industry Association (NVBIA).

OUR WORK:

Arlington Designer Homes Construction is a design and build firm specializing in green, high efficiency custom remodeling and new construction. We have certified more houses than any other company under the Arlington County Green Home Choice Program. We work with our customers to define and then create their unique project.

As true custom builders we have developed systems to address the challenges and opportunities that come with custom building in Arlington. Our systems are meant to guide our clients through the design, selection and ultimately the building process. Is remodeling or a new build the right choice for you? Our processes can give you the information you need to decide. We build for the way you live!

One taste of the Margherita pizza at A Modo Mio, with its puffy, charred crust, wisps of fresh basil and soupy center of buffalo mozzarella cheese and San Marzano tomato sauce, and it’s easy to understand why the Arlington pizzeria was named one of 2023’s 50 best in the U.S. by 50 Top Pizza, an Italian guide that annually ranks the world’s best pies.

A Modo Mio, which means “in my fashion,” opened in October 2020 as a rebranding of Joe’s Place Pizza and Pasta, an Italian restaurant known

for its pasta and salad buffet that had operated in the same space on Langston Boulevard since 1985. The pandemic necessitated a pivot away from the buffet model, so the owners— McLean resident Rosario Farruggio and his brother, Vincenzo—decided to emulate Il Canale, the full-service restaurant their uncle, Joe Farruggio, opened in Georgetown in 2010.

They acquired a liquor license, added a bar to the space (which seats 130 inside and 24 outside) and welcomed Falls Church resident Antonio Biglietto, who served as Il Canale’s chef and pizzaiolo from 2010 to 2014, as a partner. Biglietto imported a pizza oven from Italy and had his pies certified as Vera Pizza Napoletana, an Italian designation of authenticity awarded to pizzerias adhering to strict Neapolitan tradition. To achieve VPN certification, pizzas must be cooked in 90 seconds or less in an 800- to 900-degree oven using only certain types of (mostly) Italian ingredients.

Biglietto’s devotion to quality extends to the entire menu. Try

ORDER THIS now Lao

Factor

Chef Seng Luangrath, a leader of the Lao food movement, has moved her blockbuster Lao restaurant Padaek from its original Falls Church location to the former Delia’s restaurant space in Arlington Ridge, preserving its menu and adding regional Thai and Burmese dishes. (The previous location is now home to a fast-casual version of Padaek called Met Khao). That’s all good news, but the best news of all is that my favorite dish, naem khao thadaeu—crispy coconut rice salad with peanuts, lime juice, cilantro, scallions and chilies served with green lettuce wraps—is available at both places. padaekdc.com

the creamy “violet” burrata ($15) on a bed of thinly sliced beets; bucatini croquettes ($11) stuffed with Bolognese sauce, peas and mozzarella; and the ethereal gnocchi ($19), tossed in a silken tomato sauce laced with mozzarella, Parmesan and fresh basil. Twenty red and white pizzas are offered in personal ($11 to $20) or family ($21 to $34) sizes. amodomiopizza.com

Margherita pizza at A Modo Mio

Rosario and Joe Farruggio with chef Antonio Biglietto

Liquid Gold

There’s gold in the Sabina Hills between Tuscany and Rome, but it comes in the form of olive oil. That’s what Washington-Liberty alumna Julia Franchi Scarselli discovered when visiting her father, who moved there from Rome in 2009. In fact, oil has been produced in this region for centuries—Emperor Augustus, the founder of the Roman Empire, sold the “gold of Rome” throughout the ancient world starting around 12 BC.

As a sophomore at Smith College in 2016, Scarselli won a competition for women entrepreneurs. Her business plan was to create a collective of Sabina farmers—most of whom own between 100 and 200 olive trees passed down through generations—process the oil in a central location and sell it mostly by subscription. She named the organic, cold-pressed oil Libellula (“dragonfly” in Italian) as a testament to its purity. “Dragonflies can’t survive where air is contaminated with chemicals,” she maintains.

After graduating from Smith in 2018, Scarselli devoted more time to the venture and established an American LLC in 2022. Her father, Camillo, oversees production and development for Libellula while she tends to sales and marketing from Geneva, where she works in the climate policy field.

The oil is available in three sizes (50, 375 or 500 ml) and two varieties. The “classico” ($8-$38) is for everyday use while the “riserva” ($10$44) is used as a finishing oil.

“Riserva is made when the olives are still green and have less juice,” Scarselli explains. “It’s greater in omega-3 fatty acids and has a peppery, rich flavor.”

As a holiday treat for your favorite cook, consider a two-bottle gift box ($74-$82) or an adopt-a-grove subscription ($68 per month) that includes monthly shipments of Sabina gold. The Italian Store sells Libellula olive oil at its two Arlington locations. libelluladopt.com

Libellula olive groves in Italy’s Sabina Hills

W-L

alumna and entrepreneur Julia Franchi Scarselli

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Whole roasted chicken with apricots, apples and prunes

Swoon Joon for

An upscale Persian concept with a culinary dream team makes a splash in Tysons.

BY DAVID HAGEDORN | PHOTOS BY DEB LINDSEY

The server makes his way through the peacock blue dining room, platter in hand, and arrives at my table beaming to present, with theatrical flair, a spit-roasted chicken. The plump bird—brined overnight and rubbed with olive oil, garlic, saffron and spices—rests majestically on a stuffing of apricots, apples and prunes, surrounded by a mahogany jus.

After the big reveal, it’s whisked away to be carved, returning minutes later with fanned breast slices and crackly skin encircling a mound of chelow (basmati rice). The rice is crowned with the crunchy, saffron-infused, addictive crust known in Persian cooking as tahdig. Soon enough, I’m in heaven, reveling in the dish’s balance of sweetness, citrus and spice.

Joon (a Farsi term of endearment akin to “dear”) opened in Tysons in June with a considerable pedigree. Chef consultant and co-owner Najmieh Batmanglij, a native of Tehran, fled to France in 1979 during the Iranian Revolution and settled in Washington in 1983, where she became a doyenne of Iranian culture and cuisine and a prolific cookbook author. Her works include Joon: Persian Cooking Made Simple; Silk Road Cooking: A Vegetarian Journey and the seminal opus Food of Life: Ancient Persian and Modern Iranian Cooking and Ceremonies.

Co-owner and culinary director Chris Morgan also co-owns the Caribbean eatery Bammy’s in D.C.’s Navy Yard and was previously co-executive chef at Michelin-starred Maydan and its sister restaurant Compass Rose, also in the District.

Helming Joon is a homecoming of sorts for Morgan, a Langley High School alumnus who was born and raised in McLean and holds degrees from the University of North Carolina Wilmington (economics) and the California

8045 Leesburg Pike, Tysons 571-378-1390 | eatjoon.com

HOURS

Sunday to Thursday: 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday: 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.

PARKING

Complimentary valet parking

PRICES

Starters: $12 to $17; Entrées: $20 to $50; Rice dishes: $13 to $35; Large format platters: $65 (for whole rotisserie chicken that feeds two or three) to $190 (lamb shoulder that feeds six to eight); Desserts: $9 to $14

Culinary Academy in San Francisco. After returning to the DMV in 2014, he took a cooking class at Batmanglij’s Georgetown home on a tip from his mother, who had attended one a couple years earlier.

WHAT TO DRINK

The cocktail list features eight cleverly crafted quaffs imbued with Persian touches, among them the Majnoon (vodka, Genepy, dry vermouth, mint, cucumber, rose petal tea and clarified labneh) and a Tehrooni Negroni, served over saffron flecked ice.

There are 36 offerings on the wine list (5 sparkling; 9 white; 4 rosé; 14 red; 4 dessert) ranging from $45 to $215, with most in the $60 neighborhood. Nineteen are offered by the glass ($12 to $18). The selections are mostly French and Californian, plus a few from Italy and Spain.

Don’t miss the nonalcoholic tap sodas ($8), which include doogh (a minty carbonated yogurt beverage); sour cherry and tarragon; and apricot.

“We hit it off,” Morgan says of Batmanglij. “I started helping her with the cooking classes and her cookbook recipes. She’s like a second mother to me.”

Restaurateur and Joon co-founder Reza Farahani, also a McLean resident, is the business’s primary investor.

On the occasion of my first visit, complimentary valet parking puts me in a good mood even before I cross Joon’s threshold to find loungy seating areas outfitted with velvet sofas, marble coffee tables, backgammon sets and copies of Batmanglij’s books.

The restaurant’s midcentury décor, designed by Michelle Bove of D.C.’s DesignCase, features an entry fountain, lots of lush paneling, herringbone-patterned wood floors inlaid with turquoise tiles, floral wallpaper and modern chandeliers hanging from indigo tray ceilings.

The vast 9,700-square-foot space, which replaces Chef Geoff’s in Tysons,

seats 240 in several rooms, plus 24 at a turquoise-tiled bar. (A 60-seat outdoor patio is planned.)

Settle in with a cocktail—say a Sazerac made with cognac, fig cordial and a rinse of anise-flavored aragh; or a daiquiri enhanced with Persian dried black lime.

Joon’s lavish and complimentary bread service features house-baked lavash tucked into a dinner napkin to keep it warm. It’s served with olive and walnut spread drizzled with pomegranate molasses, whipped herb butter and a blend of goat and feta cheeses. Just be sure to save some of that bread for dipping in flavor-packed spreads such as kashk-e-bademjan (roasted eggplant with fermented yogurt) and mast-o khiar (a luscious, garlicky dip made with cucumbers, walnuts, mint, tarragon and dill).

Abundant herbs are a hallmark of Persian cooking, as in the herb kuku, a delicate, puffy frittata packed with parsley, cilantro, dill, fenugreek, spring onions and walnuts. This heavenly dish is topped with tart caramelized barberries (similar to tiny, dried

Grilled prawns with tahdig chelow.

Left: chefs Chris Morgan and Najmieh Batmanglij

cranberries) and a dollop of minty yogurt dip.

Other items not to be missed include Batmanglij’s signature meatballs, a harmonic combination of earthy ground lamb and crunchy pistachios in a sweet-tart pomegranate reduction.

A thick pistachio potage emboldened with cumin, coriander, ginger, sour orange and grape molasses is comfort in a bowl. This soup is a hearty choice as we head into cold weather, and a better option than the chilled mint and yogurt soup I tried, which had an acrid, acidic finish and seemed to have soured.

Morgan offers a variety of kebabs, all served with grilled tomatoes, onions and peppers, plus a hefty portion of chelow with tahdig. I’m a fan of all three of the skewers I tried—large, head-on prawns; Cornish hen; and four thick lamb rib chops—each one redolent with perfume-y notes. What makes the kebabs stand out, aside from careful cooking to ward off dryness, are the chef’s tenderizing yogurt-based marinades imbued with lime, saffron, butter, coriander and honey. (Rose water and orange zest also enhance the chops.)

I have to give Morgan credit for taking on the challenge of chelow with tahdig. It’s not easy to pull off that crunchy topping—especially in a high-volume restaurant—because making it is both tricky and time-consuming. I learned how to prepare it years ago in a Batmanglij class, and it always inspires gasps at dinner parties.

The execution was inconsistent on my visits (at times, the top was rubbery), but Morgan claims he’s now per-

fected it, having purchased the specialized molds that are needed to make it.

“The rice has been the hardest thing to get right,” he says. “We have a whole table laid out with them in the back. They take 13 minutes to bake, so we keep making five or six at a time throughout service.”

Joon’s menu also features several large-format dishes meant for sharing, among them the aforementioned (and utterly delicious) whole rotisserie chicken. Other options include whole roasted branzino; whole, dry-aged roasted duck; lamb shoulder; and an assorted kebab platter for six to eight people that ranges in price from $65 (chicken) to $190 (lamb). Platters come with rice in the form of chelow (accompanying kebabs), sour cherry with tahdig (duck) or speckled with dill and fava beans (lamb, branzino, whole chicken).

For another noteworthy entrée— fesenjoon—Morgan cures and sears duck legs, then braises them with walnuts, cinnamon, turmeric and Persian hogweed. The braising liquid is subsequently pureed into a thick, dreamy sauce that’s draped over the duck with a flourish of pomegranate seeds.

Less successful is a dry (and not optimally fresh) pan-seared barramundi in a tamarind and fenugreek-laced sauce.

I am partial to many trademark ingredients of Persian cooking—roses, saffron, warm spices, pistachios, walnuts, pomegranate—so I’m particularly happy with the desserts at Joon. The aptly named Persian Love Cake is a wedge of rosewater and almond fla-

vored yellow cake topped with a rosewater glaze and served with strawberry-barberry compote and lemon-curd whipped cream. The stunner, though, is a wonderfully tart and refreshing sour cherry sorbet with hints of cinnamon and cardamom.

End a meal at Joon with tea service, which finds a teapot and cup presented on a gold platter with Persian saffron rock candy. It’s that kind of attention to detail that makes me leave a place with a smile—just like the one I had when I handed the valet my car key without having to take my wallet out of my pocket. ■

Lamb-pistachio meatballs and herb kuku

Persian Love Cake

places to EAT

ARLINGTON

A Modo Mio Pizzeria

5555 Langston Blvd., 703-532-0990, amodomio pizza.com. Dig into authentic Neapolitan pies, house-made gnocchi, lasagna, spaghetti del mare and cannoli. o L D V $$

Aladdin Sweets & Tandoor

5169 Langston Blvd., 703-533-0077. Chef Shiuli Rashid and her husband, Harun, prepare family recipes of curries and kebabs from their native Bangladesh. L D $$

Ambar Clarendon

2901 Wilson Blvd., 703-875-9663, ambarrestau rant.com. Feast on Balkan fare such as stuffed cabbage, mushroom pilav and rotisserie meats.

O R L D G V $$

Arlington Kabob

5046 Langston Blvd., 703-531-1498, arlingtonka bobva.com. Authentic Afghan fare includes kebabs, wraps, shawarma and quabli palou (lamb shank with rice). L D $$

Arlington Rooftop Bar & Grill

2424 Wilson Blvd., 703-528-3030, arlrooftop.com. There’s plenty of bar food to go with the games, from burgers and wings to oysters and flatbread.

O C R L D A G V $$

Assembly 1700 N. Moore St., 703-419-3156, assembly-va. com. The food hall above the Rosslyn Metro contains a smorgasbord of dining concepts, from oys-

ters and cocktails to Asian street food, tacos and diner fare. B R L D G V $$

Astro Beer Hall

4001 Campbell Ave., 703-664-0744, astrobeer hall.com. The space-themed saloon and coffee shop promises a fun time with made-to-order doughnuts, fried chicken, burgers and old-school arcade games. o B R L D A $$

B Live

2854 Wilson Blvd., 571-312-7094, bliveva.com. Go for beach-inspired eats, a Bloody Mary bar and live music five nights a week in the former Whitlow’s space in Clarendon. o R L D A $$

Bakeshop

1025 N. Fillmore St., 571-970-6460, bakeshopva. com. Hit this tiny storefront for coffee, cupcakes, cookies, macarons, icebox pies and other treats. Vegan sweets are always available. B V $

Ballston Local s

900 N. Glebe Road, 703-852-1260, ballstonlocal. com. Pair your local brew with a plate of poutine or a New York-style pizza. L D V $$

Banditos Tacos & Tequila

1301 S. Joyce St., 571-257-7622, banditostnt. com. Mexican street food, tequila, mezcal and sugar-skull décor keep the party going at this Westpost cantina. o L D G V $$

Bangkok 54

2919 Columbia Pike, 703-521-4070, bangkok54res taurant.com. A favorite for Thai curries, grilled meats, stir-fry, noodles and soups. L D V $$

Bar Bao

3100 Clarendon Blvd., 703-600-0500, barbao.com. The trendy watering hole serves dishes reminiscent of Chinese and Taiwanese street food, plus sake, soju and Asian fusion cocktails. L D V $$

Bar Ivy

3033 Wilson Blvd., 703-544-8730, eatbarivy.com. Executive chef Jonathan Till turns out seasonal dishes like squash blossom panzanella and octopus with elderberry teriyaki. O B R L D V $$$

Barley Mac

1600 Wilson Blvd., 703-372-9486, barleymacva. com. Upscale tavern fare, plus more than 100 kinds of whiskey and bourbon. R L D A G V $$

Bartaco

4238 Wilson Blvd. (Ballston Quarter), 571-3908226, bartaco.com. A lively spot for tacos (13 kinds) and tequila. Feels like vacation. L D V A $$

Basic Burger

1101 S. Joyce St., 703-248-9333, basicburger. com. The homegrown eatery (and food truck) cooks with locally sourced, certified Angus beef and cagefree, antibiotic-free chicken. L D $$

Bayou Bakery, Coffee Bar & Eatery 1515 N. Courthouse Road, 703-243-2410, bayou bakeryva.com. Chef David Guas’ New Orleans-inspired menu changes often, but you can always count on beignets and gumbo. Breakfast all day on weekends. O C B R L D G V $

Beauty Champagne & Sugar Boutique

576 23rd St. S., 571-257-5873, beautybysociety fair.com. Find champagne, cookies, cocktail fixings, small plates and gifts at this woman-owned bistro and market. Closed Mondays. L D $$

KEY: Price designations are based on the approximate cost per person for a meal with one drink, tax and tip.

$ under $20

$$ $21-$35

$$$ $36-$70

$$$$ $71 or more

o Outdoor Dining

c Children’s Menu

B Breakfast

R Brunch

L Lunch

D Dinner

A After Hours/Late Night

G Gluten-Free

V Vegetarian

s Best of Arlington 2022 or 2023 Winner

Colada Shop

■ places to eat

Bethesda Bagels

1851 N. Moore St., 703-312-1133, bethesdabagels. com. The popular D.C.-area chain has an outpost in Rosslyn. Eat a sandwich! O L V $

BGR the Burger Joint

3129 Langston Blvd., 703-812-4705, bgrtheburger joint.com. Top your dry-aged beef, veggie or turkey burger with add-ons like grilled jalapeño, pineapple or fried egg. C L D V $

Big Buns Damn Good Burger Co. s 4401 Wilson Blvd., 703-276-3032; 4251 Campbell Ave., 703-933-2867, eatbigbuns.com. Satisfy your cravings with “designer” burgers, shakes, beer and booze. L D $$

Bob & Edith’s Diner

2310 Columbia Pike, 703-920-6103; 539 23rd St. S., 703-920-2700; 5050 Langston Blvd., 703-594-0280; bobandedithsdiner.com. Founded in 1969, the 24hour eatery whips up pancakes, eggs, grits, meatloaf, shakes and pie à la mode. C B L D A V $

Bollywood Bistro Express

4238 Wilson Blvd. (Ballston Quarter), 571-3121071, bollywoodbistroexpress.com. Build your own bowl with fillers such as chicken tikka, paneer, chana masala and pickled onions. L D V $$

Bonsai Sushi at Crystal City

553 23rd St. S., 703-553-7723, crystalbonsai sushirestaurant.com. A go-to for sushi, sashimi, yakisoba, tempura, teriyaki. Closed Mondays. L D $$

Bostan Uyghur Cuisine

3911 Langston Blvd., 703-522-3010, bostanuyghur. com. Discover the wonders of Uyghur Chinese dishes such as kebabs, lagmen (hand-pulled noodles), manta (dumplings) and honey cake. L D $$

Brass Rabbit Public House

1210 N. Garfield St., 703-746-9977, brassrabbit pub.com. Pair carrot “fries” and lettuce wraps with craft cocktails like the El Conejo, featuring tequila, carrot juice, ginger, lime and cilantro.

O R L D V A $$

Bronson Bierhall

4100 Fairfax Drive, 703-528-1110, bronsonbier hall.com. You’ll find communal tables, German and regional beers, sausages, schnitzel and cornhole in this 6,000-square-foot ode to Munich.

O L D A $$

Buena Vida

2900 Wilson Blvd., 703-888-1528, buenavida gastrolounge.com. Savor the flavors of Mexico, from tacos to churros, and head to the top floor for one of the best rooftop bars around. O R L D $$

Busboys and Poets

4251 S. Campbell Ave., 703-379-9757, busboys andpoets.com. Known for its poetry slams, onsite bookstore and social justice programming, the café offers an eclectic menu with oodles of options for vegetarians. O C B R L D G V $$

The Café by Kitchen of Purpose

918 S. Lincoln St., 703-596-1557, kitchenofpur pose.org/cafe. Operated by the nonprofit Kitchen of Purpose (formerly La Cocina VA), this lunch spot serves soups, salads, sandwiches, pastries and Swing’s coffee. L V $

Café Colline

4536 Langston Blvd., 703-567-6615, cafecolline va.com. The cozy French bistro in the Lee Heights Shops satisfies with paté maison, duck confit and chocolate pots de creme. O L D $$

Café Sazón

4704 Columbia Pike, 703-566-1686, cafesazon. com. A homey Bolivian café specializing in dishes such as silpancho and empanadas. B L D V $$

Caribbean Grill

5183 Langston Blvd., 703-241-8947. Cuban preparations such as jerk-style pork, fried plantains and black bean soup are mainstays. C L D G V $

Carlyle

4000 Campbell Ave., 703-931-0777, greatamerican restaurants.com/carlyle. The original anchor of Shirlington Village is a reliable pick for fusion fare, happy hour and Sunday brunch. O C R L D G V $$$

CarPool Beer and Billiards

900 N. Glebe Road, 703-516-7665, gocarpool. com. Mark Handwerger’s garage-themed watering hole has pool, pub grub and an extensive beer list, including “house” suds brewed at sister bar the Board Room. D A $

Cava

1201 Wilson Blvd., 703-652-7880; 4121 Wilson Blvd., 703-310-6791; cava.com. Build your own salad, wrap or bowl, choosing from an array of Greek dips, spreads, proteins and toppings. L D G V $$

Cava Mezze

2940 Clarendon Blvd., 703-276-9090, cavamezze. com. Greek small plates include octopus, roasted eggplant, zucchini fritters, souvlaki, briny cheeses and succulent lamb. R L D G V $$$

The Celtic House Irish Pub & Restaurant 2500 Columbia Pike, 703-746-9644, celtichouse. net. The pub on the Pike serves up pints alongside favorites like corned beef and traditional Irish breakfast. C R L D A $$

Charga Grill

5151 Langston Blvd., 703-988-6063, chargagrill. com. How do you like your chicken? Choose Peruvian, jerk, Tandoori or Pakistani charga or sajii at this flavor-packed eatery and takeout. L D $$

Chase the Submarine

1201 S. Joyce St., 703-865-7829. Subs at this Westpost sandwich shop include meatball, banh mi, and PBJ with potato chips. L V $

Cheesetique

4024 Campbell Ave., 703-933-8787, cheesetique. com. The cheese shop and wine bar offers small plates, cheese boards and more. O B L D V $$

Chicken + Whiskey

3033 Wilson Blvd., 703-740-1990, chickenand whiskey.com. Dig into pollo frito sandwiches, pork belly arepas, yuca fries, pisco punch and whiskey cocktails at Enrique Limardo’s Peruvian chicken joint. c L D A $$

Chiko s

4040 Campbell Ave., 571-312-0774, chikodc.com. Fan favorites at this Chinese-Korean joint include cumin lamb stir-fry and double-fried chicken wings. C D G V $$

Circa at Clarendon

3010 Clarendon Blvd., 703-522-3010, circabistros. com. Bistro fare ranges from salads and small plates to steak frites and wild mushroom pizza. Sit outside if you can. O R L D A G V $$$

Coco B’s

2854 Wilson Blvd., 571-312-7094, lovecocobs. com. The sister to B Live (in the former Whitlow’s space) features a rooftop bar, live music, tiki drinks and tropical dishes like ceviche and jerk chicken. Closed Monday and Tuesday. O D A V $$$

Soul Rebel at The Kitchen Collective

Colony Grill

2800 Clarendon Blvd., 703-682-8300, colonygrill. com. The Stamford, Connecticut-based pizza chain specializes in ultra-thin-crust “bar pies” with a spicy, pepper-infused hot oil topping. L D G V $$

Copperwood Tavern

4021 Campbell Ave., 703-522-8010, copperwood tavern.com. The hunting-and-fishing-themed saloon serves up steaks and chops, draft beers and 30 small-batch whiskeys. O R L D $$$

Cowboy Café s

4792 Langston Blvd., 703-243-8010, thecowboy cafe.com. Cool your heels and fill up on sandwiches, burgers, brisket and chili mac. An outdoor beer garden features a mural by Arlington artist MasPaz. Live music on weekends. O C R L D V $$

Crafthouse

901 N. Glebe Road, 703-962-6982, crafthouse usa.com. Locally sourced bar food, plus Virginia beer, wine and spirits equals a good time. O L D A $$

Crystal City Sports Pub

529 23rd St. S., 703-521-8215, ccsportspub.com. Open 365 days a year, it’s a sure bet for big-screen TVs, pool tables, trivia and poker nights, beers and bar snacks. C B R L D A G V $$

Crystal Thai

4819 First St. N., 703-522-1311, crystalthai.com. A neighborhood go-to for traditional Thai curries, grilled meats and house specialties like roast duck. L D V $$

Dama Pastry Restaurant & Cafe

1503 Columbia Pike, 703-920-3559, damapas try.com. The Ethiopian family-owned business in-

cludes a breakfast café, market and dining room. B L D V $$

Darna

946 N. Jackson St., 703-988-2373, darnava.com. Grilled kebabs, mezze and traditional Lebanese comfort foods are served in a modern setting. The upstairs is a hookah bar. L D V $$

Delhi Dhaba Indian Restaurant

2424 Wilson Blvd., 703-524-0008, delhidhaba.com. The best bargain is the “mix and match” platter, which includes tandoori, seafood, a curry dish and a choice of rice or naan. O L D G V $$

Detour Coffee

946 N. Jackson St., 703-988-2378, detourcoffee co.com. This comfy cafe has a college vibe and serves up locally roasted coffee, light bites and weekend brunch. O B R L V $

District Taco

5723 Langston Blvd., 703-237-1204; 1500 Wilson Blvd., 571-290-6854; districttaco.com. A local favorite for tacos and gargantuan burritos. C B L D G V $

Don Tito

3165 Wilson Blvd., 703-566-3113, dontitova.com. Located in a historic building, the sports bar specializes in tacos, tequila and beer, with a rooftop bar. O R L D $$

Dudley’s Sport & Ale

2766 S. Arlington Mill Drive, 571-312-2304, dudleyssportandale.com. A spacious sports bar with wall-to-wall TVs, a roof deck, a ballpark-inspired beer list and weekend brunch. O C R L D A $$

Earl’s Sandwiches

2605 Wilson Boulevard, 703-647-9191, earlsinarling

ton.com. Made-to-order sandwiches use prime ingredients, like fresh roasted turkey. O B L D G V $

East West Coffee Wine

3101 Wilson Blvd., 571-800-9954. The Clarendon cafe serves espresso drinks, brunch (try the massive Turkish breakfast spread), sandwiches, tapas, beer and wine. B L D $

El Charrito Caminante

2710-A N. Washington Blvd., 703-351-1177. This bare-bones Salvadoran takeout counter hits the spot with tacos, burritos and pupusas. L D V $ Eli’s Taqueria

3207 Columbia Pike, 703-663-4777. Dig into beef birria tortas, shrimp tacos and pupusas at this homey spot (a spin-off of the Taqueria La Ceibita food truck) run by Nevi Paredes and his daughter, Yorktown alum Elizabeth Marquez. L D $

El Paso Café

4235 N. Pershing Drive, 703-243-9811, elpaso cafeva.com. Big portions, big margaritas and bighearted service make this Tex-Mex cantina a local favorite. C L D G V $$

El Pike Restaurant

4111 Columbia Pike, 703-521-3010, elpikerestau rant.com. Bolivian dishes satisfy at this no-frills institution. Try the salteñas stuffed with chicken or with beef, olives and hard-boiled egg. L D $

El Pollo Rico

932 N. Kenmore St., 703-522-3220, elpollorico restaurant.com. A local institution, this rotisserie chicken mecca gained even more street cred after a visit from the late Anthony Bourdain. L D V $

■ places to eat

El Rey

4201 Wilson Blvd., 571-312-5530, elreyva.com. The Ballston outpost of the beloved U Street taqueria serves tacos, margs and draft brews in a colorful interior featuring street-art murals by Mike Pacheco. L D A $$

Elevation Burger

2447 N. Harrison St., 703-300-9467, elevationburger. com. Organic, grass-fed beef is ground on the premises, fries are cooked in olive oil and the shakes are made with fresh-scooped ice cream. O L D V $

Endo Sushi

3000 Washington Blvd., 703-243-7799, endosu shi.com. A neighborly spot for sashimi, teriyaki, donburi and maki. L D V $$

Epic Smokehouse

1330 S. Fern St., 571-319-4001, epicsmoke house.com. Wood-smoked meats and seafood served in a modern setting. O L D G $$$

Federico Ristorante Italiano

519 23rd St., 703-486-0519, federicoristorante italiano.com. Find pasta, chianti and red-checkered tablecloths at this Crystal City trattoria co-owned by Freddie’s Beach Bar proprietor Freddie Lutz. L D V $$

Fettoosh

5100 Wilson Blvd., 703-527-7710. Overstuffed pita sandwiches and kebabs keep the kitchen fired up at this bargain-priced Lebanese and Moroccan restaurant. C R L D G V $

Fire Works

2350 Clarendon Blvd., 703-527-8700, fireworks pizza.com. Enjoy wood-fired pizzas and more than 30 craft beers on tap. You can also build your own pasta dish. O C L D A G V $$

First Down Sports Bar & Grill

4213 Fairfax Drive, 703-465-8888, firstdownsports bar.com. Three cheers for draft beers and snacks ranging from sliders to queso dip. L D A V $$ Four Sisters Grill

3035 Clarendon Blvd., 703-243-9020, foursisters grill.com. A go-to for banh mi sandwiches, papaya salad, spring rolls and noodle dishes. O L D $$ The Freshman

2011 Crystal Drive, thefreshmanva.com. This modern cafe has something for every time of day, from coffee and breakfast sandwiches to after-work oysters and negronis. O B L D V $$ Galaxy Hut

2711 Wilson Blvd., 703-525-8646, galaxyhut.com. Pair craft beers with vegan bar foods like “fricken” (fake chicken) sandwich melts and smothered tots with cashew cheese curds. L D A G V $$ Gharer Khabar

5157 Langston Blvd., 703-973-2432, gharerkhabar togo.com. Translated as “home’s food,” this artfilled, 14-seat café serves Bangladeshi fare cooked by chef Nasima Shreen. L D $$

Good Company Doughnuts & Café 672 N. Glebe Road, 703-243-3000; 510 14th St. S., 703-894-1002; gocodough.com. The family- and veteran-owned eatery serves house-made doughnuts, Intelligentsia coffee and savory cafe fare. B L V $$

Good Stuff Eatery

2110 Crystal Drive, 703-415-4663, goodstuff eatery.com. Spike Mendelsohn’s Crystal City outpost offers gourmet burgers (beef, turkey or mushroom), shakes, fries and salads. L D G V $

Grand Cru Wine Bar and Bistro

4301 Wilson Blvd., 703-243-7900, grandcrubistro. com. This intimate European-style café includes a wine shop next door. O R L D G $$$ Green Pig Bistro

1025 N. Fillmore St., 703-888-1920, greenpig bistro.com. Southern-influenced food, craft cocktails,

happy hour and brunch draw fans to this congenial neighborhood hideaway. R L D G V $$$

Guajillo

1727 Wilson Blvd., 703-807-0840, guajillo mexican.com. Authentic Mexican dishes such as carne asada, mole poblano and churros are favorites. O C L D G V $$

Guapo’s Restaurant

4028 Campbell Ave., 703-671-1701, guaposres taurant.com. Expect hearty portions of all the TexMex standbys—quesadillas, enchiladas, fajitas, tacos and burritos. O C R L D G V $$

Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ

1119 N. Hudson St., 571-527-0445, gyu-kaku.com. Marinated meats, veggies and seafood are cooked on tabletop grills. L D $$

Gyu San

4300 Wilson Blvd., 571-312-7373, gyusan.com. Go for Japanese barbecue, sushi, soba noodles and saki. L D G $$$

Hanabi Ramen

3024 Wilson Blvd., 703-351-1275, hanabiramen usa.com. Slurp multiple variations of the namesake noodle dish, plus rice bowls and dumplings. L D $$

Happy Eatery

1800 N. Lynn St., 571-800-1881, thehappy eatery.com. Asian comfort foods (think banh mi, noodle soups, rice bowls and bubble tea) are the draw at this Rosslyn food hall from the team behind Roll Play, Lei’d Poke and Chasin’ Tails. L D $$

Haute Dogs

2910 N. Sycamore St., 703-548-3891, hautedogs andfries.com. Cookout fare goes gourmet with hot dog toppings ranging from banh mi with sriracha mayo to a buffalo dog with blue cheese, celery and ranch. L D $

Hawkers Asian Street Food

4201 Wilson Blvd., 703-828-8287, eathawkers. com. Satisfy your craving for hot chicken, pork belly bao and other Asian street foods, plus sake, whiskey and zero-proof quaffs. G V L D $$ Heidelberg Pastry Shoppe

2150 N. Culpeper St., 703-527-8394, heidelberg bakery.com. Treat yourself to baked goods as well as Old Country specialties such as bratwurst and German potato salad. Closed Mondays. B L $ Highline RxR

2010-A Crystal Drive, 703-413-2337, highlinerxr. com. A Crystal City bar offering draft beers, draft wines, a whiskey menu and a retractable wall that opens up in nice weather. O L D A $$

Hot Lola’s

4238 Wilson Blvd. (Ballston Quarter), 1501 Wilson Blvd. (Rosslyn), hotlolas.com. It’s all about Kevin Tien’s Nashville-meets-Sichuan hot chicken sandwiches. L D $ Inca Social

1776 Wilson Blvd., 703-488-7640, incasocial.com. Empanadas, saltados, ceviche, sushi and pisco sours round out the menu at this Peruvian cousin to the original in Dunn Loring. R L D G V $$

Ireland’s Four Courts

2051 Wilson Blvd., 703-525-3600, irelandsfour courts.com. Stop in for a pint and an EPL game over an order of fish and chips. C R L D A $$

Istanbul Grill

4617 Wilson Blvd., 571-970-5828, istanbulgrill virginia.com. Feast on Turkish meze and kebabs at this homey spot in Bluemont. L D V $$

The Italian Store

3123 Langston Blvd., 703-528-6266; 5837 Washington Blvd., 571-341-1080; italianstore.com. A cultstatus favorite for pizzas, sandwiches, prepared entrées, espresso and gelato. O L D G V $

Kabob Palace

2315 S. Eads St., 703-486-3535, kabobpalaceusa. com. Open 24 hours, this Crystal City storefront serves grilled Halal meats, pillowy naan and savory sides. L D A G V $$

Khun Yai Thai

2509 N. Harrison St., 703-536-1643, khunyaithai va.com. The family-owned restaurant serves “homestyle Thai” cuisine. L D G V $$

King of Koshary

5515 Wilson Blvd., 571-317-7925, kingofkoshary. com. Washington Post critic Tim Carman dubbed its menu “Egyptian food fit for royalty.” Try the hearty namesake dish, grilled branzino, beef kofta, roasted chicken or any of the tagines (stews). L D G $$

Kusshi

1201 S. Joyce St., 571-777-1998, kusshisushi. com. Feast your way through shishito peppers, sushi, oysters and mochi at this Westpost café. Or splurge for omakase. O L D G V $$$

L.A. Bar & Grill

2530 Columbia Pike, 703-685-1560, labargrill.com. Regulars flock to this dive bar on the Pike (L.A. stands for Lower Arlington) for cold brews and pub fare. D A $$

La Coop Coffee

4807 First St. N., 571-257-7972, lacoopcoffee. com. Stop by this cheery café for single-origin Guatemalan coffee, house-made horchata, breakfast sammies, empanadas and ice cream. B L $

La Côte D’Or Café

6876 Langston Blvd., 703-538-3033, lcd6876.com. This little French bistro serves standards like crepes and steak frites. O R L D G V $$$

Lebanese Taverna

5900 Washington Blvd., 703-241-8681; 1101 S. Joyce St., Pentagon Row, 703-415-8681; lebanese taverna.com. A hometown favorite for mezze, kebabs, flatbreads and more. O C L D G V $$

The Liberty Tavern

3195 Wilson Blvd., 703-465-9360, thelibertytavern. com. This Clarendon anchor offers a spirited bar and creative cuisine fueled by two wood-burning ovens. O C R L D A G V $$$

Livin’ the Pie Life

2166 N. Glebe Road, 571-431-7727, livinthepielife. com. The wildly popular pie operation started as an Arlington farmers market stand. B L V $$

Lost Dog Café

5876 Washington Blvd., 703-237-1552; 2920 Columbia Pike, 703-553-7770; lostdogcafe.com. Known for its pizzas, subs and beer selection, this deli/café supports pet adoption through the Lost Dog and Cat Rescue Foundation. L D G V $$

Lucky Danger

1101 S. Joyce St., Unit B27 (Westpost), luckydanger. co. Chefs Tim Ma and Andrew Chiou put a fresh spin on Chinese American takeout with dishes such as duck fried rice and lo mein. L D V $$

Lyon Hall s

3100 N. Washington Blvd., 703-741-7636, lyonhall arlington.com. The European-style brasserie turns out French, German and Alsatian-inspired plates, from charcuterie and sausages to moules frites.

O C R L D A V $$$

Mah-Ze-Dahr

1550 Crystal Drive, 703-718-4418, mahzedahr bakery.com. Café fare at this bright and tempting bakery includes coffee, pastries, focaccia, sandwiches and snacks. O B L D $

Maison Cheryl

2900 Wilson Blvd., 703-664-0509, maisoncheryl. com. Seared duck breast, steak frites and madeleines are among the offerings at this French American bistro. R L D V $$$

Maizal Latin Street Food

4238 Wilson Blvd. (Ballston Quarter), 571-3966500, maizalgrill.com. South American street food—arepas, empanadas, yuca fries, Peruvian fried rice, street corn and churros. L D V $

Mala Tang

3434 Washington Blvd., 703-243-2381, mala-tang. com. Chef Liu Chaosheng brings the tastes and traditions of his hometown, Chengdu, to this eatery specializing in Sichuan hot pot. O L D G V $$

Mario’s Pizza House

3322 Wilson Blvd., 703-525-0222, mariospizza housemenu.com. Open into the wee hours, it’s been cooking up subs, wings and pizza since 1957. O C B L D A $

Mason’s Famous Lobster Rolls

4017 Campbell Ave., 571-431-6530, masons lobster.com. Order lobster rolls your way (butter or mayo) at this Shirlington outpost of the Annapolisbased seafood chainlet. L D $$

Mattie and Eddie’s

1301 S. Joyce St., 571-312-2665, mattieand eddies.com. It’s not just an Irish bar. Chef Cathal Armstrong’s kitchen serves farm-to-table dishes like lobster pot pie, house-cured corned beef, sardines on toast, and Irish breakfast all day. O R L D $$$

Maya Bistro

5649 Langston Blvd., 703-533-7800, bistromaya. com. The family-owned restaurant serves Turkish and Mediterranean comfort food. L D V $$

McNamara’s Pub & Restaurant

567 23rd St. S., 703-302-3760, mcnamaraspub. com. Order a Guinness and some corned beef

or fish and chips at this friendly watering hole on Crystal City’s restaurant row. O R L D A $$

Meda Coffee & Kitchen

5037 Columbia Pike, 571-312-0599, medacoffee kitchen.com. A casual café serving coffee, baked goods and traditional Ethiopian dishes like kitfo and tibs. C B L D G V $$

Me Jana

2300 Wilson Blvd., 703-465-4440, mejanarestau rant.com. Named for an old Lebanese folk ballad, this Middle Eastern eatery offers prime peoplewatching in Clarendon. O C L D G V $$

Mele Bistro

1723 Wilson Blvd., 703-522-0284, melebistro.com. This farm-to-table Mediterranean restaurant cooks with fresh, organic, free-range, regionally sourced, non-GMO ingredients. O R L D G V $$

Meridian Pint

6035 Wilson Blvd., 703-300-9655, meridianpint. com. A brewpub serving craft suds, burgers, salads and bar food. C R D A G V $$

Metro 29 Diner

4711 Langston Blvd., 703-528-2464, metro29. com. Classic diner fare includes triple-decker sandwiches, mile-high desserts, burgers, roasted chicken and breakfast. C B R L D V $

Mexicali Blues

2933 Wilson Blvd., 703-812-9352, mexicali-blues. com. The colorful landmark dishes out Salvadoran and Mexican chow. O C R L D G V $$

Moby Dick House of Kabob

3000 Washington Blvd., 703-465-1600; 4037 Campbell Ave., 571-257-8214; mobyskabob.com.

Satisfy that hankering for Persian skewers and flavorful sides. L D $$

Mpanadas

2602 Columbia Pike, 571-312-0182, mpanada usa.com. Try barbecue pork and cheeseburger empanadas, birthday cake paletas and java chip macaroons. B L D $

Mussel Bar & Grille

800 N. Glebe Road, 703-841-2337, musselbar.com. Chef Robert Wiedmaier’s Ballston eatery is known for mussels, frites, wood-fired pizza and more than 100 Belgian and craft beers. O L D $$

Nam-Viet

1127 N. Hudson St., 703-522-7110, namvietva.com.

The venerable restaurant in what was once Arlington’s “Little Saigon” neighborhood specializes in flavors of Vietnam’s Can Tho region. O L D V $$

Nighthawk Pizza

1201 S. Joyce St., nighthawkpizza.com. Visit this Westpost brewpub and sports bar for personal pizzas (both thick and thin crust), beer and smash burgers. L D V $$

Northside Social Coffee & Wine

3211 Wilson Blvd., 703-465-0145, northsidesocial va.com. Tucked inside a red house on the edge of Clarendon, the two-story coffee and wine bar with a big patio is always busy...which tells you something. O B L D V $$

Oh K-Dog

4238 Wilson Blvd. (Ballston Quarter), 703-5673376, ohkdog.com. Try a fried Korean rice dog with add-ins like sweet potato, cheddar or squid ink. L D $

■ places to eat

Old Dominion Pizza

4514 Langston Blvd., 703-718-6372, olddominion pizza.com. Order thin crust or “grandma style” pies named after local high school mascots. L D G $ Open Road

1201 Wilson Blvd., 703-248-0760, openroadgrill. com. A solid pick for burgers and beers or a proper entrée and a craft cocktail. O L D $$ Origin Coffee Lab & Kitchen

1101 S. Joyce St., 703-567-7295, origincoffeeco. com. The industrial-chic coffee shop roasts its own beans and serves all-day breakfast, as well as bar munchies and dinner plates. O B R L D V $$ Osteria da Nino

2900 S. Quincy St. (Village at Shirlington), 703820-1128, osteriadaninova.com. For those days when you’re craving a hearty portion of spaghetti and clams, or gnocci with pesto. O D G V $$$ O’Sullivan’s Irish Pub

3207 Washington Blvd., 703-812-0939, osullivans irishpub.com. You’ll find owner and County Kerry native Karen O’Sullivan behind the bar, pouring pints and cracking jokes. L D A $$

Our Mom Eugenia

4044 Campbell Ave., 571-970-0468, ourmom eugenia.com. See Falls Church listing. L D $$

Padaek

2931 S. Glebe Road, 703-888-2890, padaekdc. com. Chef Seng Luangrath’s kitchen in Arlington Ridge turns out Lao, Thai and Burmese fare—satay, curries and noodle dishes. O L D G V $$ Palette 22

4053 Campbell Ave., 703-746-9007, palette22.com. The Shirlington gallery-café specializes in international small plates and is a hoppin’ brunch spot. O R L D V $$

Pamplona

3100 Clarendon Blvd., 703-685-9950, pamplona va.com. Spanish tapas, paella, pintxos, cocktails and sangria in a moody setting. O R D A V $$

Peking Pavilion

2912 N. Sycamore St., 703-237-6868. This family-owned restaurant serves standbys such as moo shu pork and beef with broccoli. L D $$ Peruvian Brothers

1450 S. Eads St., 703-625-6473, peruvianbroth ers.com. The Peruvian “comida criolla”—food with Andean, Spanish, African and Asian influences—includes empanadas, saltado and chicharron sandwiches with grilled sweet potato. O L D $ Peter Chang Arlington s

2503-E N. Harrison St., 703-538-6688, peterchang arlington.com. The former Chinese Embassy chef brings his fiery and flavorful Sichuan cooking to the Lee Harrison Shopping Center. C L D $$ Pho 75

1721 Wilson Blvd., 703-525-7355, pho75.res taurantwebexpert.com. Purported to have curative properties, the piping-hot soup at this local institution is all about fresh ingredients. O L D V $ Pie-tanza s

2503-B N. Harrison St., 703-237-0200, pie-tanza. com. Enjoy pizza (including gluten-free options), calzones, lasagna, subs and salads. C L D G V $$ Pines of Florence

2109 N. Pollard St., 703-566-0456, pinesofflor encearlingtonva.com. The classics include linguine with pesto, veal parm and chicken cacciatore, plus housemade pizza and subs. L D V $$ Pirouette

4000 Fairfax Drive, pirouette.cafe. Pair your favorite vino with cheese, whole roasted fish, a pork cutlet for two and other enticing plates at this Ballston cafe and wine shop. L D G V $$

Poppyseed Rye

818 N. Quincy St., poppyseedrye.com. Pick up sandwiches, biscuits, salads, flower bouquets and gift items (beer and wine, too) at this pretty café in Ballston. O r L D G V $ Pupatella s

5104 Wilson Blvd.; 1621 S. Walter Reed Drive, 571-312-7230, pupatella.com. Enzo and Anastasiya Algarme’s authentic Neapolitan pies are considered among D.C.’s best. O L D V $$ Pupuseria Doña Azucena

71 N. Glebe Road, 703-248-0332, pupuseriadona azucena.com. Beans, rice and massive pupusas at dirt-cheap prices. C L D V $

Quarterdeck

1200 Fort Myer Drive, 703-528-2722, quarterdeck arlington.com. This beloved shack has served up steamed crabs for 40 years. O C L D V $$

Queen Mother’s Kitchen

1601 Crystal Drive, 703-997-8474, queenmother cooks.com. Grab a fried chicken sandwich and a side of duck fat fries at chef Rock Harper’s kiosk in the Water Park at National Landing. O L D $

Quincy Hall

4001 Fairfax Drive, 703-567-4098, quincyhallbar. com. Go for pints, meatballs and New York-style pizza at this spacious beer hall in Ballston. L D $

Quinn’s on the Corner

1776 Wilson Blvd., 703-640-3566, quinnsonthe corner.com. Irish and Belgian favorites such as mussels, steak frites, and bangers and mash, plus draft beers and a big whiskey selection. B R L D A $$

Ragtime

1345 N. Courthouse Road, 703-243-4003, ragtime restaurant.com. Savor a taste of the Big Easy in offerings such as jambalaya, catfish, spiced shrimp and oysters. There’s a waffle and omelet bar every Sunday. O R L D A V $$

Rasa

2200 Crystal Drive, 703-888-0925, rasagrill.com. Build a bowl with options like basmati rice, chicken tikka, lamb, charred or pickled vegetables, lentils, chutneys and yogurt sauces. O L D G V $

Ravi Kabob House

350 N. Glebe Road, 703-522-6666; 250 N. Glebe Road, 703-816-0222. Curries, kebabs and delectably spiced veggies keep this strip-mall café plenty busy. C L D V $$

Rebellion on the Pike

2900 Columbia Pike, 703-888-2044, rebellionon thepike.com. The irreverent tavern sports a deep list of craft beers and whiskeys, and serves burgers, six kinds of wings and other pub grub.

O R B D A $$

The Renegade

3100 Clarendon Blvd., 703-468-4652, renegadeva. com. Is it a coffee shop, restaurant, bar or live music venue? All of the above—with snacks ranging from lambchop lollipops to lo mein. B L D A $$

Rhodeside Grill

1836 Wilson Blvd., 703-243-0145, rhodeside grill.com. Find chops, meatloaf, burgers and po’boys accompanied by every kind of hot sauce imaginable. O C R L D A V $$

Rice Crook

4238 Wilson Blvd. (Ballston Quarter), ricecrook.com. Korean-inspired rice bowls, salads and wraps made with locally sourced meats and produce. L D $$

Rien Tong Asian Bistro

3131 Wilson Blvd., 703-243-8388, rientong.com. The large menu includes Thai and Chinese standards, plus sushi. L D V $$

Rocklands Barbeque and Grilling Co. s

3471 Washington Blvd., 703-528-9663, rocklands. com. Owner John Snedden has been slow-cooking

barbecue at this Arlington favorite since 1990. O C L D G V $

Rosa Mexicano

1100 S. Hayes St., 202-783-5522, rosamexicano. com. Dive into ceviche, margaritas, guacamole made tableside and mains such as duck carnitas enchiladas. O C R L D V $$$

Ruffino’s Spaghetti House

4763 Langston Blvd., 703-528-2242, ruffinosarling ton.com. Dig into classics such as veal Parmigiana and chicken piccata. C L D V $$ RusUz

1000 N. Randolph St., 571-312-4086, rusuz.com. The family-run bistro serves hearty Russian and Uzbek dishes such as borscht, beef stroganoff and plov—a rice pilaf with lamb. L D $$

Ruthie’s All-Day s

3411 Fifth St. S., 703-888-2841, ruthiesallday. com. Chef Matt Hill’s “meat and three” serves up wood-smoked proteins with creative sides like kimchi dirty rice and crispy Brussels sprouts with fish sauce vinaigrette. Breakfast (with house-made biscuits) offered daily. O B R L D G V $$

Sabores Tapas Bar

2401 Columbia Pike, 571-970-1253, saboresva. com. Dig into ceviche, lomo saltado and classic gambas al ajillo at this tapas bar on the Pike. R L D G V $$

Saigon Noodles & Grill

1800 Wilson Blvd., 703-566-5940, saigonnoodles grill.com. Traditional Vietnamese pho, banh mi and noodle dishes round out the offerings. L D $$

Salt 1201 Wilson Blvd., 703-875-0491, saltrosslyn.com. The speakeasy-style cocktail bar serves tasty nibbles (cheese plates, oysters, carpaccio) with classic sazeracs and old fashioneds, as well as nouveau craft cocktails. D $$

The Salt Line s

4040 Wilson Blvd., 703-566-2075, thesaltline.com. Hit this seafood-centric oyster bar for clam chowder, lobster rolls, stuffies, smash burgers and fun cocktails. c O R D $$$

Samuel Beckett’s Irish Gastro Pub 2800 S. Randolph St., 703-379-0122, samuel becketts.com. A modern Irish pub serving Emerald Isle recipes. O C R L D A G V $$

Santé

1250 S. Hayes St. (inside the Ritz-Carlton), 703412-2762, meetatsante.com. Mediterranean fare includes shrimp saganaki, whole roasted branzino and lamb “osso bucco.” B R L D G V $$$

Sawatdee Thai Restaurant

2250 Clarendon Blvd., 703-243-8181, sawatdeeva. com. The friendly eatery (its name means “hello”) is frequented by those craving pad thai or pad prik king. L D V $$

Screwtop Wine Bar and Cheese Shop

1025 N. Fillmore St., 703-888-0845, screwtop winebar.com. The congenial wine bar and bottle shop offers tastings, wine classes, and small plates for sharing and pairing. O C R L D G V $$

Seamore’s

2815 Clarendon Blvd., 703-721-3384, seamores. com. Dine on sustainably sourced seafood, from oysters, clams and mussels to arctic char and yellowfin tuna. Brunch on weekends. O R L D G V $$$

Seoulspice

1735 N. Lynn St., 703-419-5868, seoulspice.com. Korean fast-casual comfort food, anyone? L D G V $

SER

1110 N. Glebe Road, 703-746-9822, ser-restau rant.com. Traditional Spanish and Basque dishes in a colorful, friendly space with outstanding service. O R L D V $$$

Sfoglina Pasta House

1100 Wilson Blvd., sfoglinapasta.com/rosslyn. Fabio Trabocchi’s urbane trattoria serves housemade pasta (you can watch it being made), a “mozzarella bar” and Italian cocktails. Closed Sundays. O L D V $$$

Silver Diner

4400 Wilson Blvd., 703-812-8600, silverdiner. com. The kitchen cooks with organic ingredients, many of which are sourced from local suppliers. Low-calorie and gluten-free menu choices available. O C B R L D A G V $$

Skydome

300 Army Navy Drive, 703-416-3862, hilton.com. Savor craft cocktails, Mediterranean-influenced dishes and views of the D.C. skyline in this revolving restaurant atop the DoubleTree Hilton in Crystal City. Closed Sunday and Monday. D G V $$$

Sloppy Mama’s Barbeque

5731 Langston Blvd., 703-269-2718, sloppyma mas.com. Joe and Mandy Neuman’s barbecue joint offers wood-smoked meats galore, plus pimento cheese, hearty sides and banana pudding for dessert. O B R L D V $$

Smokecraft Modern Barbecue

1051 N. Highland St., 571-312-8791, smokecraft bbq.com. Every menu item here is kissed by smoke, from ribs, crabcakes and spaghetti squash to the chocolate cherry bread pudding on the dessert list. O L D G V $$

South Block

3011 11th St. N., 703-741-0266; 1550 Wilson Blvd., 703-465-8423; 4150 Wilson Blvd., 703-4658423; 2121 N. Westmoreland St., 703-534-1542; 1350 S. Eads St., 703-465-8423; southblock.com. Cold-pressed juices, smoothies and acai bowls. O B L V $

Sparrow Room

1201 S. Joyce St., 571-451-7030, sparrowroom. com. Scott Chung’s back-room mahjong parlor presents dim sum and Chinese-inspired craft cocktails in a sultry setting. Open Thursday through Sunday, 5-11 p.m. D $$

Spice Kraft Indian Bistro

1135 N. Highland St., 703-527-5666, spicekraft va.com. This contemporary concept by restaurateurs Anthony Sankar and Premnath Durairaj gives Indian classics a modern spin. O L D $$

Spider Kelly’s

3181 Wilson Blvd., 703-312-8888, spiderkellys.com. The “come as you are” bar offers a sizable beer list, creative cocktails, salads, burgers, snacks and breakfast at all hours. C D A G V $$

Stellina Pizzeria

2800 S. Randolph St., 703-962-7884, stellina pizzeria.com. Pay a visit for Neapolitan pies, fried artichokes, squid ink pasta and a deli counter with house-made pastas, sauces, antipasti and dolci to take home. O L D $$

Supreme Hot Pot

2301 Columbia Pike, 571-666-1801, supreme hotpot.kwickmenu.com. This Pike eatery specializes in Szechuan hot pot, skewered meats and a few Cajun seafood dishes. D G $$

Sushi Rock

1900 Clarendon Blvd., 571-312-8027, sushirockva. com. Play a little air guitar while sampling sushi rolls and beverages named after your favorite bands, from Zeppelin to Ozzy to Oasis. D A G V $$

Sushi-Zen Japanese Restaurant s 2457 N. Harrison St., 703-534-6000, sushizen. com. An amicable, light-filled neighborhood stop for sushi, donburi, tempura and udon. C L D V $$

Sweetgreen 4075 Wilson Blvd., 703-522-2016; 3100 Clarendon

Blvd., 571-290-3956; 575 12th Road S., 703-8881025; 2200 Crystal Drive, 703-685-9089; sweet green.com. Locally grown ingredients and compostable cutlery make this salad and yogurt chain a hub for the green-minded. O C L D G V $

Sweet Leaf

2200 Wilson Blvd., 703-525-5100; 800 N. Glebe Road, 703-522-5000; 650 N. Quincy St., 703527-0807; sweetleafcafe.com. Build your own sandwiches and salads. O C B L D $$

Taco Bamba s

4000 Wilson Blvd., 571-777-1477; 4041 Campbell Ave., 571-257-3030; tacobamba.com. Taco options range from classics (carnitas, birria) to cheffy creations like the El Rico Pollo, stuffed with chicken, green chili puree, aji Amarillo aioli, salsa criolla, serrano chile and crispy potato. B L D V $

Taco Rock

1501 Wilson Blvd., 571-775-1800, thetacorock. com. This rock-themed watering hole keeps the margaritas and Micheladas flowing alongside creative tacos on housemade blue-corn tortillas. B L D V $$

Taqueria el Poblano

2503-A N. Harrison St., 703-237-8250, taqueria poblano.com. Fresh guacamole, fish tacos, margaritas and mole verde transport patrons to the Yucatan. C L D G V $$

Ted’s Bulletin & Sidekick Bakery

4238 Wilson Blvd. #1130 (Ballston Quarter), 703848-7580, tedsbulletin.com. The retro comfort food and all-day breakfast place has healthier fare, too— which you can undo with a visit to its tantalizing bakery next door. C B R L D G V $$

Texas Jack’s Barbecue

2761 Washington Blvd., 703-875-0477, txjacks.com. Brisket, ribs and pulled pork, plus sides like raw carrot salad and smashed cucumbers. O L D A $$

T.H.A.I. in Shirlington

4209 Campbell Ave., 703-931-3203, thaiinshirling ton.com. Pretty dishes include lemongrass salmon with black sticky rice. O L D G V $$$

Thai Noy s

5880 Washington Blvd., 703-534-7474, thainoy.com. Shimmering tapestries and golden Buddhas are the backdrop in this destination for Thai noodles, curries and rice dishes. L D $$

Thai Square

3217 Columbia Pike, 703-685-7040, thaisquarerestaurant.com. Enjoy options ranging from crispy squid with basil and roasted duck curry to pig knuckle stew. O L D G V $$

TNR Cafe

2049 Wilson Blvd., 571-217-0766, tnrcafe.com. When you have a hankering for Peking duck, moo shu chicken, Szechuan beef or bubble tea. L D G V $$

Toby’s Homemade Ice Cream

5849-A Washington Blvd., 703-536-7000; 510 14th St. S.; tobysicecream.com. Stop in for cups, cones, floats and sundaes. Coffee, pastries and bagels available in the morning. B L D V $

Tortas Y Tacos La Chiquita

2911 Columbia Pike, 571-970-2824, tortasytacosla chiquita.com. In addition to its namesake foods, the eatery that started as a food truck also does alambres, huarache platters, flautas and more. B L D $

Trade Roots

5852 Washington Blvd., 571-335-4274, fairtrade roots.com. The Westover gift shop and cafe serves fair-trade coffee, tea, pastries, salads, organic wine and snackable small plates. O B L $

Troy’s Italian Kitchen

2710 Washington Blvd., 703-528-2828, troysitalian kitchen.com. Palak and Neel Vaidya’s mom-andpop serves pizza, pasta and calzones, including a

■ places to eat

lengthy vegan menu with options like “chicken” tikka masala pizza. L D G V $

True Food Kitchen

4238 Wilson Blvd. (Ballston Quarter), 703-5270930, truefoodkitchen.com. Emphasizing “anti-inflammatory” fare, the menu will convince you that healthy tastes good. O L D G V $$

Tupelo Honey Café

1616 N. Troy St., 703-253-8140, tupelohoneycafe. com. The Southern fusion menu includes dishes like roasted snapper with sweet potato and farro. C R L D $$

Turu’s by Timber Pizza

4238 Wilson Blvd. (Ballston Quarter), timber pizza.com. Neapolitan(ish)-style pizzas fresh from a wood-fired oven. L D V $$

Uncle Julio’s Rio Grande Café

4301 N. Fairfax Drive, 703-528-3131, unclejulios. com. Tex-Mex highlights include mesquite-grilled fajitas, tacos and margaritas. O C R L D $$$

UnCommon Luncheonette

1028 N. Garfield St., 571-210-0159, uncommon luncheonette.com. Take a break from the usual at this Manhattan-style diner, where the comfort fare includes biscuits and gravy, poutine and a Nashville hot chicken sandwich. B L $$

The Union

3811 Fairfax Drive, 703-356-0129, theunionres taurant.us. Owner Giridhar Sastry was formerly executive chef at The Mayflower Hotel in D.C. His eclectic menu includes Mumbai panini (chaat masala, cilantro chutney, Havarti cheese, veggies), sesame wings and calamari with Lebanese garlic sauce. o C L D $$

Urban Tandoor

801 N. Quincy St., 703-567-1432, utandoorva.com. Sate your appetite with Indian and Nepalese fare, from tandoori lamb to Himalayan momos (dumplings). Lunch buffet daily. L D V $$

Weenie Beenie

2680 Shirlington Road, 703-671-6661, weenie beenie.net. The hot dog stand founded in 1954 is still serving half smokes, bologna-and-egg sandwiches and pancakes. B L D $

Westover Market & Beer Garden

5863 N. Washington Blvd., 703-536-5040, westo vermarketbeergarden.com. It’s a hive for burgers, draft microbrews and live music. O C L D A $$

Which Wich

4300 Wilson Blvd., 703-566-0058, whichwich.com. A seemingly endless menu of sandwiches and wraps with more than 60 toppings. O B L D V $$ Whino

4238 Wilson Blvd., 571-290-3958, whinova.com. Part restaurant/bar and part art gallery, this latenight spot features cocktails, shareable plates, brunch, street-art murals and “low brow” art exhibits. R L D A $$

William Jeffrey’s Tavern

2301 Columbia Pike, 703-746-6333, william jeffreystavern.com. Brought to you by the owners of Dogwood Tavern, this pub on the Pike features Prohibition-era wall murals and mixes a mean martini. O C R L D A G V $$

Wilson Hardware Kitchen & Bar

2915 Wilson Boulevard, 703-527-4200, wilson hardwareva.com. Order a boozy slushy or craft beer and head to the whimsical roof deck. The menu includes small plates, burgers and entrées like steak frites and duck confit. O R L D A G V $$$

Yayla Bistro

2201 N. Westmoreland St., 703-533-5600, yayla bistro.com. A cozy little spot for Turkish small plates, flatbreads and seafood. Pita wraps available for lunch only. O C L D $$

Yume Sushi

2121 N. Westmoreland St., 703-269-5064, yume sushiva.com. East Falls Church has a destination for sushi, omakase (chef’s tasting menu) and a sake bar with craft cocktails. L D V G $$$

FALLS

CHURCH

2941 Restaurant

2941 Fairview Park Drive, 703-270-1500, 2941. com. French chef Bertrand Chemel’s unlikely sanctuary in a suburban office building offers beauti-

fully composed seasonal dishes and expert wine pairings in an artful setting. C L D V $$$

Abay Market Ethiopian Food

3811-A S. George Mason Drive, 703-820-7589, abaymarketethiopian.com. The seasoned grassfed raw beef dish kitfo is the specialty at this friendly, six-table Ethiopian café. L D $$

Al Jazeera

3813-D S. George Mason Drive, 703-379-2733. The top seller at this Yemeni cafe is oven-roasted lamb with yellow rice. L D $$

Alta Strada

2911 District Ave. (Mosaic District), 703-2800000, altastrada.com. Chef Michael Schlow’s menu includes house-made pastas, pizza and modern Italian small plates. R L D $$$

Anthony’s Restaurant

3000 Annandale Road, 703-532-0100, www.an thonysrestaurantva.com. The family-owned diner serves standbys like spaghetti, pizza, gyros and subs, plus breakfast on weekends. R L D V $$

B Side

8298 Glass Alley (Mosaic District), 703-676-3550, bsidecuts.com. Nathan Anda’s charcuterie, smashburgers and beef-fat fries steal the show at this cozy bar adjoining Red Apron Butcher. L D $$

Badd Pizza

346 W. Broad St., 703-237-2233, baddpizza.com. Order a Buffalo-style “cup-and-char” pepperoni pie and a baddbeer IPA, locally brewed by Lost Rhino Brewing Co. L D $$

Bakeshop

100 E. Fairfax St., 703-533-0002, bakeshopva.com. See Arlington listing. B V $

Balqees Restaurant

5820 Seminary Road, 703-379-0188, balqeesva. com. The Lebanese and Yemeni specialties include lamb in saffron rice, saltah (a vegetarian stew) and saffron cake with crème anglaise. O L D V $$

Bamian

5634 Leesburg Pike, 703-820-7880, bamianres taurant.com. Try Afghan standards like palau (seasoned lamb with saffron rice) and aushak (scal-

Whino

lion dumpling topped with yogurt, meat sauce and mint). C L D V $$

Bartaco

2920 District Ave. (Mosaic District), 571-549-8226, bartaco.com. See Arlington listing. L D V A $$ Bing & Bao

7505 Leesburg Pike, 703-734-0846, bingandbao. com. Chinese street foods (crepes, steamed bun and fried rice) are the main attraction at this fast-casual eatery. Founders Rachel Wang and Mark Shen hail from Tianjin, China. L D V $

Caboose Commons

2918 Eskridge Road (Mosaic District), 703-6638833, caboosebrewing.com. The microbrewery has a hopping patio. Order house brews and creative eats, from wings and fried pickles to plant-based buddha bowls. O L D V A $$

Café Kindred

450 N. Washington St., 571-327-2215, cafe kindred.com. Pop in for a yogurt parfait, avocado toast, grilled eggplant sandwich, or an espresso fizz. B R L V $$

Celebrity Delly

7263-A Arlington Blvd., 703-573-9002, celebrity deliva.com. Matzo-ball soup, Reubens and tuna melts satisfy at this New York-style deli founded in 1975. Brunch served all day Saturday and Sunday.

C B L D G V $

Chasin’ Tails

944 W. Broad St., 571-777-9596, chasintailsss. com. The Viet-Cajun menu includes crawfish boils, char-broiled kimchi oysters and scallop crudo with citrus vinaigrette. L D $$

Clare & Don’s Beach Shack

130 N. Washington St., 703-532-9283, clareand dons.com. Go coastal with fish tacos, coconut chicken or one of the many meatless options, and maybe catch some live outdoor music. Closed Mondays. O C L D A G V $$

Colada Shop

2920 District Ave., 703-962-3002, coladashop. com. The Mosaic District “cafecito” attached to Bloomie’s hits the spot with empanadas, Cuban sandwiches, strong coffee and vacation-y cocktails. O B R L D V $$

District Dumplings

2985 District Ave. (Mosaic District), 703-884-7080, districtdumplings.com. Asian-style dumplings, sandwiches and wraps. L D $$

District Taco

5275-C Leesburg Pike, 571-699-0660, district taco.com. See Arlington listing. C B L D G V $ Dogwood Tavern

132 W. Broad St., 703-237-8333, dogwoodtav ern.com. The menu has something for everyone, from ancient grain Buddha bowls to jambalaya, burgers and coconut-curry salmon.

O C R L D A V $$ Dominion Wine and Beer

107 Rowell Court, 703-533-3030, dominionwine andbeer.com. Pairings come easy when a café shares its space with a wine and beer shop. Order up a plate of sliders, a cheese board or some Dragon shrimp to snack on while you imbibe.

O R L D V $$

Duangrat’s

5878 Leesburg Pike, 703-820-5775, duangrats. com. Waitresses in traditional silk dresses glide through the dining room bearing fragrant curries and grilled meats at this longstanding destination for Thai cuisine. O R L D V $$ El Tio Tex-Mex Grill

7630 Lee Highway, 703-204-0233, eltiogrill.com. A family-friendly spot for fajitas, enchiladas, lomo saltado, combo plates and margaritas. O L D $$

Elephant Jumps Thai Restaurant

8110-A Arlington Blvd., 703-942-6600, elephant jumps.com. Creative and comforting Thai food in an intimate strip-mall storefront. L D G V $$

Elevation Burger

442 S. Washington St., 703-237-4343, elevation burger.com. See Arlington listing. O L D V $

Ellie Bird

125 Founder’s Ave., 703-454-8894, elliebirdva. com. From the owners of D.C.’s Michelin-starred Rooster & Owl, a neighborly place serving cheffy dishes such as kimchi bouillabaisse, octopus ceviche and braised lamb shank alongside kid-friendly fare. c o D G V $$$

The Falls Restaurant & Bar

370 W. Broad St., 703-237-8227, thefallsva.com. Chef Harper McClure turns out crabcakes, clever salads and other seasonal dishes in the restaurant formerly known as Liberty Barbecue. But don’t worry, Liberty fans: The fried chicken and brisket are still on the menu. O R L D G V $$$

Fava Pot

7393 Lee Highway, 703-204-0609, favapot.com. Visit Dina Daniel’s restaurant, food truck and catering operation for Egyptian eats such as stewed fava beans with yogurt and lamb shanks with okra. And oh the bread! B L D G V $$

First Watch

5880 Leesburg Pike, 571-977-1096, firstwatch. com. Popular dishes at this breakfast and lunch café include eggs Benedict, lemon-ricotta pancakes, housemade granola, power bowls and avocado toast. O CB R L V $$

Haandi Indian Cuisine

1222 W. Broad St., 703-533-3501, haandi.com. The perfumed kebabs, curries and biryani incorporate northern and southern Indian flavors. L D V G $$ Harvey’s 513 W. Broad St., 540-268-6100, harveysva.com. Chef Thomas Harvey’s casual café brings roasted chicken, beer-cheese cheesesteaks, banana splits and other comfort fare to the City of Falls Church. O C B R L D V $$

Hong Kong Palace

6387 Seven Corners Center, 703-532-0940, hong kongpalacedelivery.com. This kitchen caters to both ex-pat and American tastes with an enormous menu of options. C L D $$

Hong Kong Pearl Seafood Restaurant 6286 Arlington Blvd., 703-237-1388. Two words: dim sum. L D A V $$

Huong Viet 6785 Wilson Blvd., 703-538-7110, huong-viet. com. Spring rolls, roasted quail and shaky beef are faves at this cash-only Eden Center eatery.

C L D G V $$

Ireland’s Four Provinces 105 W. Broad St., 703-534-8999, 4psva.com. The family-friendly tavern in the heart of Falls Church City serves pub food and Irish specialties.

O C B R L D $$

Jinya Ramen Bar

2911 District Ave. (Mosaic District), 571-3272256, jinyaramenbar.com. Embellish your tonkotsu or umami-miso broth with more than a dozen toppings and add-ins. O L D A V $$

Junction Bistro, Bar & Bakery

2985 District Ave. (Mosaic District), 571-378-1721, junctionbakery.com. Stop in for coffee, pastries, drinks and an all-day cafe menu. O L D A V $$

JV’s Restaurant

6666 Arlington Blvd., 703-241-9504, jvsrestaurant. com. A dive bar (the best kind) known for its live music, cold beer and home-cooked meatloaf, lasagna and chili. L D A V $$

JOIN US ALL SUMMER LONG for BBQ & beer on our patio

Watch sports on our outdoor TV!

3471 Washington Blvd. Arlington, VA 22201 703-528-9663

ink of Rocklands for all your holiday events!

3471 Washington Blvd. Arlington, VA 22201 703-528-9663

Kamayan Fiesta

3471 Washington Blvd. Arlington, VA 22201 703-528-9663

301 S. Washington St., 703-992-0045, kamayan fiesta.com. Find Filipino specialties such as chicken adobo, pork in shrimp paste, lumpia (egg rolls) and cassava cake. B L D V $$

Kirby Club

2911 District Ave., 571-430-3650, kirbyclub. com. From the owners of D.C.’s Michelin-starred Mayd¯an, a lively kebab concept (with a great bar) that allows diners to mix-and-match proteins, dips and sauces. D V $$

Koi Koi Sushi & Roll

450 W. Broad St., 703-237-0101, koikoisushi. com. The sushi is fresh and the vibe is fun. Teriyaki, tempura and bento boxes round out the menu. O L D $$

Lantern House Viet Bistro

1067 West Broad St., 703-268-2878, lantern houseva.com. Satisfy that craving for pho, noodles and banh mi at this family-owned Vietnamese eatery. L D G V $$

Lazy Mike’s Delicatessen

7049 Leesburg Pike, 703-532-5299, lazymikes deli.com. A Falls Church institution churning out homemade ice cream, packed sandwiches and breakfast faves. O CB R L D G V $ La Tingeria

626 S. Washington St., 571-316-6715. A popular food truck in Arlington since 2012, David Peña’s concept also has a brick-and-mortar location in Falls Church. The queso birria tacos are a must. Open Wednesday-Sunday. L D $

Little Saigon Restaurant

6218-B Wilson Blvd., 703-536-2633, littlesaigon restaurant.us. Authentic Vietnamese in a no-frills setting. O L D $$

Loving Hut Vegan Cuisine 2842 Rogers Drive, 703-942-5622; lovinghut fallschurch.com. The Vietnamese-inspired vegan eatery offers menu items like rice vermicelli with barbecued soy protein and claypot rice with vegan “ham.” L D G V $$

MacMillan Whisky Room

2920 District Ave. (Mosaic District), 240-994-3905, themacmillan.com. More than 200 kinds of spirits are offered in tasting flights and composed cocktails. The food menu includes U.K. and American pub standards. O R L D $$

Mark’s Duck House

6184-A Arlington Blvd., 703-532-2125. Though named for its specialty—Peking duck—it also offers plenty of other tantalizing options, such as short ribs, roasted pork and dim sum. R L D A V $$

■ places to eat

Meaza Restaurant

5700 Columbia Pike, 703-820-2870, meazares taurant.com. Well-seasoned legumes and marinated beef are signatures in this vivid Ethiopian banquet hall. O C L D G V $$ Met Khao

6395 Seven Corners Center, 703-533-9480, padaekdc.com. Chef Seng Luangrath has transformed the former Padaek space into a fast-casual eatery serving Thai and Laotian fare. L D G V $ Miu Kee

6653 Arlington Blvd., 703-237-8884. Open late, this strip-mall hideaway offers Cantonese, Sichuan and Hunan dishes. L D A $$

Moby Dick House of Kabob 444 W. Broad St., 703-992-7500, mobyskabob.com. See Arlington listing. L D $$ Mom & Pop

2909 District Ave. (Mosaic District), 703-9920050, dolcezzagelato.com. The little glass cafe serves light fare, snacks, gelato, coffee, beer and wine. O B R L D A $$

Nhu Lan Sandwich

6763 Wilson Blvd., 703-532-9009, nhulancafe.com. This tiny Vietnamese deli at Eden Center is a favorite for banh mi sandwiches. L D V $

Northside Social Falls Church

205 Park Ave., 703-992-8650, northsidesocial va.com. Come by in the morning for a breakfast sandwich and a latte. Return in the evening for a glass of wine and a plate of charcuterie, or a woodfired pizza. O B L D V $$

Nue

944 W. Broad St., 571-777-9599, nuevietnamese. com. The elegant Viet-modern menu (think grilled oysters, coconut-curry risotto and a seafood tower with yuzu nuoc cham) has a stunning space to match. R L D G $$$

Oath Pizza

2920 District Ave. (Mosaic District), 703-688-6284, oathpizza.com. The dough here is grilled and seared in avocado oil (for a crispy texture) and the toppings are certified humane. L D G V $$ Open Road

8100 Lee Highway, 571-395-4400, openroadmerri field.com. See Arlington listing. O C R L D $$ The Original Pancake House 7395-M Lee Highway, 703-698-6292, ophrestau rants.com. Satisfy your breakfast cravings with pancakes, crepes, waffles, French toast and more. C B R G V $

Our Mom Eugenia 2985 District Ave. (Mosaic District), 434-3394019, ourmomeugenia.com. This family-owned spot is beloved for its real-deal Greek fare, from saganaki to souvlaki. O L D $$ Panjshir Restaurant

114 E. Fairfax St., 703-536-4566, panjshirrestau rant.com. Carnivores go for the kebabs, but the vegetarian chalows elevate pumpkin, eggplant and spinach to new levels. O L D V $$

Parc de Ville

8926 Glass Alley (Mosaic District), 703-663-8931, parcdeville.com. Find French fare such as salmon rillettes, duck confit, tuna nicoise and steak frites at this spacious Parisian-style brasserie. Hit the rooftop lounge for cocktails. O R D $$$

Peking Gourmet Inn

6029 Leesburg Pike, 703-671-8088, pekinggour met.com. At this James Beard Award semifinalist for “Outstanding Service,” it’s all about the crispy Peking duck. C L D G V $$

Pho 88

232 W. Broad St., 703-533-8233, pho88va.com. Vietnamese pho is the main attraction, but the

menu also includes noodle and rice dishes. Closed Tuesdays. L D $$

Pho Ga Vang

6767 Wilson Blvd., 571-375-8281, phogavang. com. Find more than 12 kinds of pho, plus other Vietnamese homestyle dishes at this Eden Center café. L D G $$

Pizzeria Orso

400 S. Maple Ave., 703-226-3460, pizzeriaorso. com. Bring the whole family for Neapolitan pies and tempting small plates, such as arancini with chorizo and Brussels chips with shaved grana.

O C L D G V $$

Plaka Grill

1216 W. Broad St., 703-639-0161, plakagrill.com. Pop in for super satisfying Greek eats—dolmas, souvlaki, moussaka, spanakopita. L D V $$ Preservation Biscuit s

102 E. Fairfax St., 571-378-1757, preservation biscuit.com. Order the signature carb with housemade jams, or as a sandwich with fillers ranging from fried chicken and candied bacon to guacamole and egg with lemon aioli. O C B L V $

Pupuseria La Familiar

308 S. Washington St., 703-995-2528, pupuseria lafamiliar.com. The family-owned Salvadoran eatery turns out pupusas, fried yucca, chicharron, carne asada and horchata. L D $$

Puzukan Tan

8114 Arlington Blvd., 571-395-4727, puzukantan. com. From brothers Sam and Kibum Kim comes this Korean barbecue destination featuring tabletop grills, dry-aged meats, banchan and ramen. O L D $$$

Raaga Restaurant

5872 Leesburg Pike, 703-998-7000, raagarestau rant.com. Chicken tikka, lamb rogan josh and cardamom-infused desserts. O L D G V $$

Rare Bird Coffee Roasters

230 W. Broad St., 571-314-1711, rarebirdcoffee. com. Lara Berenji and Bryan Becker’s charming Little City café roasts its own beans and makes an artful latte. Try one of the seasonal specials. L D $

Rasa

2905 District Avenue (Mosaic District), 571-3780670, rasa.co. See Arlington listing. L D G V $

Red Apron Butcher

8298 Glass Alley (Mosaic District), 703-676-3550, redapronbutchery.com. The premium butcher shop and deli sells hot dogs, burgers, charcuterie, prime steaks and sandwiches. L D V $$

Rice Paper/Taste of Vietnam

6775 Wilson Blvd., 703-538-3888, ricepapertasteofvietnam.com. Try a combo platter of pork, seafood and ground beef with rice-paper wraps at this Eden Center favorite. L D G V $$ Roll Play

944 W. Broad St., 571-777-9983, rollplaygrill. com. Stop by this Founders Row eatery for Viet street foods such as banh mi, pho and build-yourown rice paper rolls.

L D G V $$

Settle Down Easy Brewing

2822 Fallfax Drive, 703-573-2011, settledowneasy brewing.com. Pair a pint from the nanobrewery’s rotating beer list with tacos from neighboring El Tio Tex-Mex Grill. Closed Mondays. O L D $

Sfizi Café

800 W. Broad St., 703-533-1191, sfizi.com. A family-owned trattoria, deli and wine shop serving classic Italian fare—pasta, pizza, parm. L D $$ Silver Diner

8150 Porter Road, 703-204-0812, silverdiner.com. See Arlington listing. C B R L D A G V $$

Sisters Thai

2985 District Ave. (Mosaic District), 703-280-0429, sistersthai.com. The menu is traditionally Thai, but the vibe feels like you’re dining in your cool friend’s shabby-chic living room. A mint green dessert counter sells coffee and pastries. L D G V $$

Solace Outpost

444 W. Broad St., 571-378-1469, solaceoutpost. com. The Little City microbrewery serves housebrewed suds, plus fried chicken, five kinds of fries and wood-fired pizza. D A V $$

Spacebar

709 W. Broad St., 703-992-0777, spcbr.com. This diminutive and funky bar offers 24 craft beers on tap and 18 variations on the grilled cheese sandwich. D A V $$

Sweetgreen

2905 District Ave. (Mosaic District), 703-9927892, sweetgreen.com. See Arlington listing. O C L D G V $

Sweetwater Tavern

3066 Gatehouse Plaza, 703-645-8100, great americanrestaurants.com. A modern alehouse serving seafood, chicken, ribs, microbrews and growlers to go. C L D G $$$

Taco Bamba s

2190 Pimmit Drive, 703-639-0505, tacobambares taurant.com. Tacos range from traditional carne asada to the vegan “Iron Mike,” stuffed with cauliflower, salsa macha and mole verde. B L D $

Taco Rock

1116 W. Broad St., 703-760-3141, thetacorock. com. See Arlington listing. o B L D V $$

Takumi Sushi

310-B S. Washington St., 703-241-1128, takumi va.com. The sushi and sashimi here go beyond basic. Think tuna nigiri with Italian black truffle, or salmon with mango purée. Closed Sundays and Mondays. L D V $$

Ted’s Bulletin

2911 District Ave. (Mosaic District), 571-830-6680, tedsbulletinmerrifield.com. See Arlington listing. C B R L D $$

Thompson Italian s

124 N. Washington St., 703-269-0893, thompson italian.com. Gabe and Katherine Thompson’s celebrated kitchen turns out house-made pastas and some of the best desserts around. O C D $$$

Trio Grill

8100 Lee Highway, 703-992-9200, triomerrifield. com. Treat yourself to steaks, seafood, raw bar, craft cocktails and live piano music. O D $$$

True Food Kitchen

2910 District Ave. (Mosaic District), 571-3261616, truefoodkitchen.com. See Arlington listing.

O C R L D $$$

Uncle Liu’s Hotpot

2972 Gallows Road, 703-560-6868, uncleliushot pot.com. Customers do the cooking in this eatery inspired by the ubiquitous hot pots of China’s Sichuan province. L D V $$

MCLEAN

Agora Tysons

7911 Westpark Drive, 703-663-8737, agoratysons. com. The Dupont Circle mezze restaurant brings its Turkish, Greek and Lebanese small plates to a second outpost in Tysons. R L D G V $$$

Amoo’s Restaurant

6271 Old Dominion Drive, 703-448-8500, amoos restaurant.com. The flavorful kebabs and stews are crowd pleasers at this hospitable Persian establishment. O C L D G V $$

Aracosia

1381 Beverly Road, 703-269-3820, aracosia mclean.com. Score a table under strings of white lights on the covered patio and order savory Afghan specialties such as braised lamb shank and baadenjaan chalou (roasted eggplant with saffron rice). O L D V $$

Badd Pizza

6263 Old Dominion Drive, 703-356-2233, badd pizza.com. See Falls Church listing. L D $$

Big Buns Damn Good Burger Co. s 1340 Chain Bridge Road, 571-456-1640, eatbig buns.com. See Arlington listing. L D $$

Café Tatti French Bistro

6627 Old Dominion Drive, 703-790-5164, cafe tatti.com. Open since 1981, this romantic little bistro whips up classic French and continental fare such as quiche Lorraine and chicken marsala. Closed Sundays. L D G V $$$

Call Your Mother Lil’ Deli

6216 Old Dominion Drive, 571-395-9097, call yourmotherdeli.com. Andrew Dana and Daniela Moreira’s wildly popular “Jew-ish” deli serves bagel sandwiches and babka muffins from a pink trailer in the Chesterbrook Shopping Center.

o b R L V $

Capri Ristorante Italiano

6825-K Redmond Drive, 703-288-4601, capri mcleanva.com. A chatty, family-friendly spot known for tried-and-true Italian dishes such as spaghetti carbonara and veal Marsala. O C L D G V $$$

Circa

1675 Silver Hill Drive, 571-419-6272, circabistros. com. See Arlington listing. O L D V $$$

Eddie V’s Prime Seafood

7900 Tysons One Place, 703-442-4523, eddiev. com. Total steakhouse vibe, except with an emphasis on seafood (and steaks, too). Mainstays include seafood towers, lobster bisque and Hong Kong-style sea bass. L D G $$$$

Él Bebe

8354 Broad St., 571-378-0171, el-bebe.com. Feast on tamales, tacos, street corn, mole and tequila-based cocktails. C O L D V $$

El Tio Tex-Mex Grill

1433 Center St., 703-790-1910, eltiogrill.com. See Falls Church listing. L D $$

Esaan Tumbar

1307 Old Chain Bridge Road, 703-288-3901, esaanmclean.com. This tiny eatery specializes in northern Thai dishes—papaya salad, larb, nam tok. A good bet for those who like heat. L D $$ Fahrenheit Asian 1313 Dolley Madison Blvd., 703-646-8968, fahren heitasian.com. A no-frills destination for Sichuan spicy noodles, dumplings, mapo tofu and other Asian comfort foods. L D V $$

Fogo de Chao

1775 Tysons Blvd., 703-556-0200, fogodechao. com. This meaty chain showcases the Brazilian tradition of churrasco—the art of roasting meats over an open fire. R L D $$$

Founding Farmers

1800 Tysons Blvd., wearefoundingfarmers.com. The spacious farm-to-table restaurant features Virginia-sourced dishes and drinks. B R L D $$$

Han Palace

7900 Westpark Drive, 571-378-0162, hanpalace dimsum.com. Pay a visit to this all-day dim-sum emporium for made-to-order buns, dumplings, crepes, roast duck and noodles. L D $$

Ichiban Sushi

6821-A Old Dominion Drive, 703-48-9117, ichiban sushimclean.com. A neighborhood go-to for su-

shi, udon, tempura and teriyaki. Closed Sundays. L D $$

J. Gilbert’s s

6930 Old Dominion Drive, 703-893-1034, jgil berts.com. Everything you’d expect in a steakhouse and lots of it—prime cuts of beef, lobster, wedge salad, steak-cut fries and cheesecake.

C R L D G V $$$

Jiwa Singapura

1702U Tysons Galleria, 571-425-4101, jiwasinga pura.com. Discover Singaporean street foods and elevated dishes such as snow crab with chili sauce at this concept by acclaimed chef Pepe Moncayo. O D G V $$$

Joon

8045 Leesburg Pike, 571-378-1390, eatjoon.com. Savor refined Persian dishes such as lamb-pistachio meatballs with pomegranate glaze and rotisserie-style duck with sour-cherry rice.

L D G V $$$$

Kazan Restaurant

6813 Redmond Drive, 703-734-1960, kazanrestau rant.com. Zeynel Uzun’s white-tablecloth restaurant, a fixture since 1980, is a nice spot for kebabs, baklava and Turkish coffee. L D V $$

The Kitchen Collective

8045 Leesburg Pike, Suite L160, 571-378-0209, tkcfoodhall.com. Chef Chris Morgan’s takeout-only “virtual food hall” (featuring food by Pizza Serata, Soul Rebel, Yasmine and Franki’s) has something for everyone, from Sicilian pies and kebabs to acai bowls and cookies. C L D G V $$

Kura Sushi

8461 Leesburg Pike, 571-544-7122, kurasushi. com. Choose maki and nigiri from a revolving conveyor belt at this Tysons sushi bar, where drinks are served by a robot. L D G V $$

Lebanese Taverna

1840 International Drive, 703-847-5244, lebanesetaverna.com. See Arlington listing.

O C L D G V $$

Lost Dog Café

1690-A Anderson Road, 703-356-5678, lostdog cafe.com. See Arlington listing. L D $$

Maman Joon

1408 Chain Bridge Road, 571-342-4838, maman joonkitchen.com. Get dolmeh, falafel, lamb shank and kebabs (plus a built-in Z Burger with shakes in 75 flavors) at this Persian eatery. L D V $$

Masala Indian Cuisine

1394 Chain Bridge Road,703-462-9699, masa lava.com. A specialty here are “momos,” Nepalese dumplings with meat or vegetable fillings. The menu also includes tandoori biryani and Indian curries. L D V $$

McLean Family Restaurant

1321 Chain Bridge Road, 703-356-9883, themcleanfamilyrestaurant.com. Pancakes, gyros and big plates of lasagna hit the spot, and you may stumble upon a politico or two. Breakfast served until 3 p.m. daily. C B L D V $$

Miyagi Restaurant

6719 Curran St., 703-893-0116. The diminutive sushi bar gets high marks for its friendly service and fresh maki and nigiri. L D $$

Moby Dick House of Kabob

6854 Old Dominion Drive, 703-448-8448; 1500 Cornerside Blvd., 703-734-7000; mobyskabob.com. See Arlington listing. L D $$

Mylo’s Grill

6238 Old Dominion Drive, 703-533-5880, mylos grill.com. Enjoy spanakopita, souvlaki and American classics like burgers and cheesesteaks. Friday is prime-rib night. O B L D $$

Pasa-Thai Restaurant

1315 Old Chain Bridge Road, 703-442-0090, pasa thaimclean.com. Go for a classic Bangkok curry, or a chef’s special such as spicy fried rockfish with chili-basil-garlic sauce. O L D $$

Patsy’s American 8051 Leesburg Pike (Tysons), 703-552-5100, pat sysamerican.com. For those who find comfort in the familiar, Patsy’s serves greatest-hit dishes from other Great American Restaurants properties in a space resembling a vintage railway station. O C R L D A G V $$

Pikoteo

6811 Elm St., 703-891-0123, pikoteo-usa.com. Escape to warmer climes with Latin and Caribbean delights such as ceviche, arepas, mofongo, smoked pork ribs and arroz con pollo.

O R L D $$

Pulcinella Italian Kitchen

1310 Chain Bridge Road, 703-893-7777, pulcinellarestaurant.com. A stop for classic spaghetti and meatballs, linguine and clams and wood-fired pizza since 1985. L D $$

Randy’s Prime Seafood & Steaks 8051 Leesburg Pike (Tysons), 703-552-5110, randysprime.com. Randy’s (named for Great American Restaurants co-founder Randy Norton) serves prime cuts, duck-fat fries, seafood towers, massive slabs of chocolate cake and other steakhouse standards. L D G $$$$

Rocco’s Italian

1357 Chain Bridge Road, 703-821-3736, roccos italian.com. The Juliano family makes everything in-house from family recipes, including minestrone, pizza, calzones, subs, pasta and cannoli.

O C L D G $$

Roots Provisions & Grocery

8100 Old Dominion Drive, 703-712-7850, roots provisions.com. Part café and part gourmet market, it's got sandwiches, smoothies, acai bowls, salads, espresso drinks, pie, cocktails and graband-go snacks and pantry staples. B L G V $

Silver Diner

8101 Fletcher St., 703-821-5666, silverdiner.com. See Arlington listing. C B R L D A G V $$

Simply Fresh

6811 Elm St., 703-821-1869, simplyfreshva. com. A local favorite for pulled pork, chicken and brisket. Plus Greek diner fare. family-style takeout meals and breakfast. O C B L D G V $

Star Hill Biergarten

1805 Capital One Drive, starrhill.com. Anchoring The Perch, an 11-story-high sky park, this indoor-outdoor beer garden offers more than 20 brews on tap, plus wine, cocktails and snacks like soft pretzels with beer cheese and burgers. O C L D V $

Tachibana

6715 Lowell Ave., 703-847-1771, tachibana.us. Stellar sushi aside, the chef’s specials here include starters such as clam miso soup, monkfish paté and savory egg custard. C L D $$

The Union

1379 Beverly Road, 703-356-0129, theunionres taurant.us. See Arlington listing. o C L D $$

Wren

1825 Capitol One Drive S., thewatermarkhotel. com. Topping the Watermark Hotel, chef Yo Matsuzaki’s sleek izakaya offers Japanese American fare (hamachi tartare, Wagyu burgers, miso-marinated sea bass), stupendous cocktails and sweeping skyline views. D G V $$$

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Congressional School Infant-Grade 8Co-edFalls Church450+18-20Varies by grade

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Our Savior Lutheran School PK-8 Co-edArlington16717

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Primrose School of Downtown Bethesda Infant-PreKCo-edBethesda, MD2316

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shop local

Glass Menagerie

“I’ve always been interested in beer, wine and coffee,” says stained glass maker and barista Maria Milton. “With all of those beverages comes really cool art.”

Born and raised in Atlanta, Milton grew up in a family that made stained glass as a hobby. She fondly recalls making glass apples for her teachers and suncatchers for classmates’ birthdays with guidance from her artistic parents.

After moving to Arlington in 2014, she continued making glass designs as a stress reliever in between restaurant shifts. The pandemic is what finally

prompted her to leave her career in hospitality to make art full time under the name MarzDM Studio (it’s a nickname she had in school, plus her middle and last initials).

Milton revels in the unpredictability of glass. She sources materials with unusual markings, and while she does create templates for her works, she also embraces the moments when things don’t go as planned—like the time she was designing a series of stars that ended up not being stars. “It was an accident,” says the artist, who sells her pieces online and at pop-up markets (including a recent art exhibit at Northside Social), “but I

by Colleen Kennedy

made beautiful snowflakes instead.” Her wares include geometric suncatchers ($47-$150), plant propagators ($125-$250) and triangular glass earrings ($28-$32) in vivid hyaline hues, some with nature-inspired motifs such as roses, cherry blossoms or feathers. She finds inspiration in beverage containers, too—upcycling wine and glass water bottles into Art Deco etched vases ($27-$50).

And she hasn’t completely left the hospitality business. Joining forces with her sister, Randi, Milton recently launched a mobile espresso truck, Rossana, named after their beloved late mother. The truck serves light bites and coffee drinks—using beans from local roasters—at Amazon’s Met Park in National Landing and at various arts and cultural events.

“We love the counterculture of coffee,” Milton says, “and how it creates community.” marzdmstudio.com; rossanatoyou.com

Stained glass designs by MarzDM Studio

Farm Style

Heather and Josh Mazen have turned a spare bedroom in their Falls Church home into a creative space where he makes artisanal soaps and she designs wooden signs. They call their homespun studio FrontYard Farm in reference to their first shared project, when they planted their yard with natural wildflowers.

On the soap front, what started out “more as a science experiment than a business” is now a thriving little enterprise, Josh says, using traditional soap making practices and local ingredients. Forgoing palm or soy oils, his “Farm Bar” products are made with essential oils and pasture-fed pig lard procured from small Shenandoah farms, while the vegan “Garden Bar” line swaps the lard for olive and coconut oils. The coldpressed soaps—available in scents such as lemongrass, peppermint, tea tree and orange-charcoal—are sold as single bars ($5.50) or via monthly subscriptions ($15.50-$36).

Heather’s signs ($20-$55) express that same rustic sensibility in a different medium, with hand-lettered phrases and motifs such as sunbursts, plants and coffee cups. She also does commissioned work for local shops and businesses. (Check out her custom, bird-themed signage for The Toy Nest in Falls Church.)

The Mazens donate 10% of all sales to racial and climate justice organizations. For the Ward 8 Woods Conservancy in D.C., Heather designed signs based on community input for #CleanItClaimIt, a litter cleanup campaign.

“We didn’t start making, thinking we would meet all these people and create community,” Josh says. “But that’s been a very pleasant surprise.”

Find FrontYard Farm soaps and other skin care products online and at Shop Made in Virginia in Alexandria and Virginia Mercantile in Clifton. Decorative signs are sold at The Urban Farmhouse in Arlington and Lemon Lane Consignment in Falls Church. frontyardfarmva.com

MICHAEL VENTURA (COUPLE); COURTESY PHOTOS (SOAP, SIGNS)

Heather and Josh Mazen at home in Falls Church

Cute signs for plant-lovers

Scented soaps

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A Santa sighting outside the former Bethlehem Steel plant

Star Struck

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, has quite an industrious history, from the hardworking Moravian settlers who chose this fertile Lehigh Valley location in 1741 to the massive furnaces of Bethlehem Steel that dominated the landscape for more than a century. Today the erstwhile Rust Belt town has become a beacon for holidayseason tourists, having earned the sparkly moniker “Christmas City.”

Some, like the couple I encountered in my hotel lobby during a visit last December, even make an annual pilgrimage to revel in its yuletide festivities.

“See you again next year!” they chirped at the front desk clerk with broad smiles—and then, turning to me: “We come every year. We love it here.”

They’re not the only regulars, the clerk assured me. Whether you celebrate Christmas as a religious, secular or commercial holiday, Bethlehem brings the magic.

Yes, there are oodles of Hallmark-y displays—more holiday ornaments than you can count, thousands of twinkling lights and a charming village bazaar reminiscent of Europe’s famed Christ-

Once an epicenter of America’s steel trade, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, has become a holiday hub for Christmas lovers.

BY AMY BRECOUNT

WHITE

mas markets, packed with artisanal wares and food vendors in tents. In 2022, the town’s annual Christmas tree tour showcased 26 faux firs decorated to the hilt with toy-and-game-themed concepts ranging from Dungeons & Dragons to mahjong.

But there’s more to Bethlehem than holiday glitz. Intimate and walkable, the town claims more original Colonial-era buildings than Williamsburg, Virginia (where most of the buildings are reproductions). Its historic Moravi-

an district, a bastion of Germanic-style architecture, makes for a picturesque walk, day or night.

Outside the visitor center, my friend Carol and I meet our guide, Loretta— who is dressed in full Moravian garb— for a “Christmas City stroll” walking tour. The Moravian religion arose from the early 15th-century teachings of Jan Hus, a Reformation figure in what is now modern-day Czechia (the Czech Republic), who advocated against the sale of indulgences and urged greater participation by common folk in religious ceremonies. Hus was burned at the stake in 1415, but his undaunted followers gathered in 1457 to form the Moravian Church.

As we walk, Loretta assures us that Moravians are “not a people who have died off,” though the religion today has only about 60,000 followers in North America. You can still attend a Moravian service at the cupola-topped Central Moravian Church in town.

The town itself was established in 1741 by a group of Moravians who had moved to the British colonies to create a missionary settlement. On Christmas

If You Go

Where to Stay

Live it up at the stately and centrally located Hotel Bethlehem (hotelbethlehem.com), thrice named “the best historic hotel in America” by USAToday, and dine at its light-filled restaurant, 1741 on the Terrace. The Hyatt Place Bethlehem (hyatt.com) offers an easy walk to town and free parking. Or, stay closer to SteelStacks across the river at the 1858 Sayre Mansion (sayremansion.com), which offers afternoon tea.

Where to Eat & Drink

For a caffeine fix, sip a coffee drink at Bitty & Beau’s (bittyandbeauscoffee.com), which lives its mission of providing jobs for people with disabilities. Bethlehem’s popular Apollo Grill (apollogrill.com) has a hoppin’ happy hour and a wide-ranging menu. Treat your taste buds to some magic at critically acclaimed Bolete (boleterestaurant.com), where the seasonal menus showcase regional ingredients and culinary ingenuity. In the nearby town of Easton, check out Sette Luna (setteluna.com), a Tuscan trattoria with fresh salads, fun pizzas and a proper beverage program listing craft suds and Italian wines, plus Italian liqueurs, amari and grappa. At the indoor Easton Public Market (eastonpublicmarket. com) you’ll find everything from noodles and tacos to barbecue. For drinks, go for the local stuff at Social Still distillery (socialstill.com) and Bonn Place Brewing Co. (bonnbrewing.com) in Bethlehem, and Seven Sirens Brewing Co. (sevensirens.beer), which has brewpubs in both Bethlehem and Easton.

A winter market in the neighboring town of Easton

The historic Hotel Bethlehem

What to Do

This year, Bethlehem’s Christkindlmarkt (christmascity.org) opens Nov. 17 and runs on weekends through Dec. 17. The ice rink at SteelStacks (steelstacks. org) is open daily from Nov. 21 to Jan. 15, with 75-minute skating sessions. The “Rise & Fall of Bethlehem Steel” walking tour ($20 adults; $12 kids) departs from the SteelStacks visitor center at 1 p.m. every Friday through Sunday. For bibliophiles, the Moravian Book Shop (moravian.bncollege.com) claims to be the oldest continuously operating bookstore in America.

Eve of that year, the influential Moravian Count Zinzendorf organized a socalled “love feast” (agape service), Loretta explains, and the town assumed the name Bethlehem in honor of that holiday celebration and the story of Jesus’ birth. Today, Moravians continue to host these communal meals to promote fellowship on special occasions.

The sect is known for its three-dimensional star, with points radiating in all directions like the Star of Bethlehem.

Though residency in Bethlehem proper was initially limited to Moravians, the townsfolk established the respected Sun Inn across the river in 1758, welcoming travelers no less than George Washington and Ben Franklin. These days, you can grab a seat at the bar and enjoy updated tavern fare and drinks from a local distillery in the restored structure.

Another founding father, John Adams, was struck by the community’s industrial advances, calling it “a curious and remarkable town.” In 1754, Bethlehem boasted the first municipal water system capable of pumping water uphill from the lower river.

They were “very good urban planners,” Loretta says.

That riverside area, now a National Historic Landmark District that was also nominated as a UNESCO World

Heritage site, is worth a gander—especially if you like older buildings.

To modern minds, the Moravian settlers would be considered more progressive than their contemporaries, given that they educated boys and girls similarly and opened the first boarding school for girls in the colonies. They did not enslave people, Loretta adds, and did not differentiate based on skin color.

As evening falls, we are wowed by some seriously illuminated evergreens before crossing the river to the town’s celebrated Christkindlmarkt. Twice recognized by Travel & Leisure as one of the best holiday markets in the U.S., it’s packed with glittering ornaments, Bavarian-style nutcrackers, cuckoo clocks and holiday tchotchkes.

The elaborate, lathe-turned wooden cutouts and figurines by Käthe Wohlfahrt, a German craft company, are especially eye-catching, albeit a tad pricey. I pause to covet a carving of a holiday scene under a candle-powered spinning windmill.

Elsewhere in the market, we spy glassblowers creating ornaments and ice carvers hard at work. The festive and German-themed cuisine includes sausages, potato pancakes and strudels, plus freshly made stroopwafels, which are well worth the long line.

No less captivating are the landmarks symbolizing Bethlehem’s post-

Moravian star ornaments at the Christmas market

The historic Waterworks building in Bethlehem

A trolley in Easton

n driving range

industrial rejuvenation. As a company town for more than a century, Bethlehem produced the essential steel for skyscrapers, ships and the U.S. Navy’s heavy armor plating until 1995, when its blast furnaces were decommissioned. Today, the former steel plant has been reinvented as SteelStacks, a cultural and historic center that hosts festivals and concerts. Towering over the Christmas tents, campfires and ice rink, its stacks have a steampunk-y quality that is at once alluring and haunting.

The Hoover-Mason Trestle, rising some 40 feet off the ground, is another vestige of Bethlehem’s brawny past. A narrow-gauge railway constructed in the early 20th century to carry raw materials from the ore yards to the heart of the Bethlehem Steel plant, it is now an elevated park and pedestrian walkway. We saunter the full third of a mile and back, reading the information panels and gazing with admiration at the otherworldly stacks, which are illuminated in festive colors at night.

Steel manufacturing was a dangerous job for the mostly Irish, Italian and Slovak immigrant workers who manned the plant just after the turn of the 20th century. Later, they would strike and form unions.

From 1905 to 1995, the factory produced a billion tons of steel, providing the building blocks of our country’s bridges, tunnels and military equipment. The SteelStacks complex has won prestigious urban design awards for its innovative reclamation of what would otherwise be a metal wasteland.

On our second morning, we head to the nearby Easton Farmers’ Market, which claims to be the longest continuously running market in America (though its promoters admit that some weeks early on might have consisted of a single farmer selling heads of cabbage from a wagon). The winter offerings are light—mostly breads, mushrooms and pickles. We chat with a craft honey vendor and grab a latte to counterbalance the chill in the air.

Easton is located where the Delaware River splits off into the Lehigh River and, like Bethlehem, has a history that predates the Revolutionary War.

The former steel plant now overlooks an outdoor ice rink.

Bethlehem’s Christkindlmarkt

a taste of home

For family moments. For holidays. For you. For them. There are so many reasons why we’ve loved sharing our gourmet foods, sweet treats and extraordinary peanuts since 1929. Likewise, there are many reasons to bring them to your table and celebrations with the ones you love most. So find your favorites, try something new (or a mix of both) and bring the taste of Virginia Diner home.

n driving range

To this day, its residents celebrate Independence Day a week later than most— because that’s how long it took for the news of America’s victory to reach them.

A few blocks from the riverfront, the recently revitalized Easton Winter Market fills the central square with live entertainment, a skating rink and small, decorated huts serving up everything from glühwein to stuffed pretzels, craft beer and chocolate. As we wander the main streets—home to Lafayette College—and enjoy local fare, we are once again warmed by the people.

Gastronomically, our visit peaks with dinner at Bolete, a celebrated restaurant in Bethlehem (the name is Latin for mushroom), owned and operated by chef Lee Chizmar and his wife, Erin Shea. Housed in a former stagecoach inn—parts of which date to 1734—it serves one of the best soups I’ve ever tasted, a lightly smoky squash bisque. My entrée of seared halibut accented with bacon lardons, Brussels sprouts and oyster mushrooms also delivers. A local boy, Chizmar sources most of his ingredients from nearby farms and suppliers.

Happily saying “yes” to dessert, I’m blown away by the sweet potato profiteroles that arrive at our table—delicate pastry orbs filled with sweet­potato mousse and toasted marshmallows, paired with cinnamon brown sugar ice cream and gingersnap crumble. Yet another festive spin in a valley that has mastered reinvention. ■

Amy Brecount White also wrote about the nonprofit REACH for Uganda and its founders, John and Joyce Wanda, in this issue.

Carolers at the Easton Winter Market

Seared halibut at Bolete

A holiday carriage ride along the streets of Bethlehem

This year, the North Pole is coming to the Laurel Highlands. Hardy’s Holiday Village is an over-the-top spectacle where the magic of the holiday season meets the magic of Nemacolin resort. From November 24-December 23, explore a life-size village of whimsy and wonder, where elves invite you to play and cozy shops invite you to indulge in festive treats and glamorous gifts. All experiences are exclusive to overnight guests and members.

Follow the Elves

Christine Koubek Flynn

Runnin’ on Holiday Spirit

Built by Suburban Capital, the company behind Norfolk’s stunning, art-inspired Glass Light Hotel & Gallery, the new Moxy hotel in Virginia Beach showcases its personality through decorative art of another kind. A Zoltar fortunetelling machine, tabletop shuffleboard and painted wooden surfboards give the hotel’s living-room-like lobby a laid-back, playful vibe. Comfy seating areas include a bench seat in a rickshaw and throw pillows with cheeky messages such as, “Trust me, you can dance. -Vodka.”

In lieu of a front desk, a bar at the center of the lobby doubles as a check-in spot, where guests receive a room key and a welcome glass of wine, local craft beer or cocktail—or a poker chip to cash in on that free drink at a later time.

Once settled, have a look-see at the second-floor fitness center, then take the indoor slide back down to the lobby instead of the stairs.

Opened in July, the hotel’s 134 guest rooms are on the smaller side, but well designed with numerous hooks and trays for your clothing and electronics (no closet), comfy beds (king, two queens or “quad queen” bunkbeds), a 55-inch flat-screen TV, tiled walk-in shower with a rain

showerhead, and balconies, most with an ocean view. Two king suites include a mini fridge.

Moxy’s location is an optimal viewing spot overlooking Holiday Lights at the Beach, the city’s annual, nautical-themed drive-through lights display (Nov. 16–Jan. 1), which runs along the boardwalk’s southern end. Better still, sign up for the Surf N Santa 5-miler (surfnsanta5miler. com) on Dec. 16 and see the lights on foot. Open to walkers and runners— including those who like to stop for a beer, midcourse—the race holds

the Guinness World Record (2016) for the largest Santa run. According to organizers, this year’s race course promises entertainment and a gingermolasses cookie stop, plus a post-race luau with live music, food, drinks and a shop full of surfing Santa swag.

Fuel up pre-race at The Belvedere (off the Moxy hotel’s lobby) with a delicious omelet, creamed chipped beef and grits, or another breakfast or lunch special. Rates begin at $99.

Moxy Virginia Beach Oceanfront, 1201 Atlantic Ave., Virginia Beach, Virginia, 757-452-4515, marriott.com

VANESSA NEWTON (RUNNER); DANI ORLEANS (LOBBY)

Virginia Beach’s annual Surf N Santa race (left) and the lobby of the Moxy hotel (below)

A Historic Union

First opened in 1804, The Union Hotel in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, has, over time, served as a tavern, boardinghouse and small hotel, according to Leslie Trew Magraw, a former National Geographic travel editor who grew up locally. She and her husband, Andrew Johnson, purchased the property in 2019 and set about renovating it room by room.

Completed in July 2021, each of the hotel’s 12 spacious suites offers a living area with sofa, flat-screen TV, and a kitchenette with refrigerator, microwave, Breville espresso maker, coffee maker and assorted local coffees, Nespresso pods, teas—plus a basket of house-made scones and muffins. The 500-square-foot Abraham Lincoln Suite is the grandest, with tall windows, a living room bar, walnut desk, king-size steel bed, and a luxurious bathroom with heated floors, a walk-in shower and a freestanding tub.

A Union theme runs throughout, with subtle nods to Lincoln in pictures and books. “I wanted to create a convivial place where neighbors gather and strangers become friends,” Trew Magraw says. We’re sitting at the bar in the hotel’s recently added restaurant, Sign of the Buck (a nod to the building’s original name), sipping on The Thistlefields—a cocktail made with gin, Lillet blanc, lavender, pea flower and Earl Grey tea. Sign of the Buck is open for dinner nightly and brunch on Saturdays and Sundays. Suite rates begin at $175.

Seasonal events in town include the annual Dedication Day (Nov. 19), commemorating the 160th anniversary of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and keynoted by former Gettysburg resident Susan Eisenhower, granddaughter of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Visit the new Gettysburg Beyond the Battle Museum (gettysburgbeyondthebattle.org) for immersive exhibits and more than 1,000 artifacts representing the lives of civilians caught in the Civil War’s crossfire. On a festive note, the historic Majestic Theater will host the Nov. 27 movie premiere of A Gettysburg Christmas, starring Kate Vernon, Lee Majors and Gettysburg itself.

The Union Hotel, 27 Chambersburg St., Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 717-337-1334, unionhotelgettysburg.com

Fiery New Year

This year marks the 30th anniversary of First Night Talbot, a family-friendly celebration in Easton, Maryland, that rings in the new year not with the drop of a giant ball, but rather a giant metal crab, with ceremonial drops of the local mascot at 9 p.m. and midnight.

Four local venues—Town Hall, Avalon Theatre, Academy Art Museum and the Waterfowl Building—play host to music and dance performances, a magic show, face-painting and favorites like Carlos the Fire-Juggler and Mike Elzey’s Guitar Studio (an air-guitar contest for freestyle jamming). Between activities, you’ll find fun shops, art galleries, restaurants and food trucks throughout town. First Night Talbot, which is free to all, begins at 6 p.m. Visit discovereaston.com/first-nighttalbot for a full schedule.

No matter what time you choose to welcome the new year, get a good night’s sleep at the Tidewater Inn

This historic property completed an extensive renovation of its 86 guest rooms and suites in the fall of 2019, and added the former Inn at 202 Dover (now The Tidewater House) to its portfolio. The Tidewater House has six luxury suites, each with air-jet tubs and steam showers. Check the inn’s website for details on its Thanksgiving buffet, New Year’s Eve dinner specials and more. Rates begin at $209.

Tidewater Inn, 101 E. Dover St., Easton, Maryland, 410-822-1300, tidewaterinn.com

The Union Hotel’s Abraham Lincoln Suite

A fire juggler at First Night Talbot

back story ■

by Kim O’Connell

A Stone for Selina

This little-known cemetery might be the final resting place of one of the most prominent women of Arlington House.

COLEMAN CEMETERY has seen better days. All around are signs of disrepair and neglect—toppled and sinking headstones, overgrown weeds and fading inscriptions. Most passersby probably never give it a second glance. Yet this modest graveyard a few miles from Mount Vernon might be the final resting place of one of Arlington’s most historic figures: Selina Gray.

Born into slavery in 1823, Gray was the personal maid to Mary Custis Lee (wife of Robert E. Lee) at Arlington House, the mansion that now stands at the center of Arlington National Cemetery. Before the Lees fled at the outbreak of the Civil War, they famously entrusted Gray with the keys to the

property. When Union troops occupied the plantation in 1861, Gray is credited with saving heirlooms from George Washington, a relative on the Custis side, including fine china and art.

Gray, whom the Lee and Custis families had taught to read and write (despite it being against Virginia law at the time), would later remark on the estate’s transformation in a postwar letter to Mary. “Now everywhere around it looks beautiful,” she wrote. “The place is changed, so you wo[u]ld hardly know it.”

Gray and her husband, Thornton, were two of the nearly 200 people enslaved at Arlington House. In recent years, the National Park Service, which operates the mansion as a historic site, has centered its focus on the stories of Arlington’s enslaved people, including interpreting the two-room quarters where the Grays lived and raised their eight children. What isn’t mentioned is where they are buried—probably because no one knows for sure.

After the war, the Grays purchased 10

A Civil War era stereogram believed to be Selina Gray (right) with two of her daughters

acres in Green Valley, where they lived out their days farming and selling produce in downtown Washington, D.C.

Sources indicate that both Selina and Thornton died around 1907 and were initially buried along Columbia Pike in a graveyard associated with a chapter of the Odd Fellows (a fraternal order popular in the 19th and early 20th centuries), somewhere near the current Freedmans Village Bridge. At some point, however, several burials, including Gray descendants, were reinterred at Coleman to make way for construction. Most of those records have been lost.

Today, Coleman Cemetery includes a headstone marked for Thornton and “Salena,” as well as an inscription that says, “Erected by their daughter Sarah G. Wilson.” No dates are included, and no burial record exists.

It’s certainly possible this marks the final resting place of Selina Gray, but it’s also possible that this marker is merely a cenotaph—a memorial to their long and full lives. ■

DIOR