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Falls Church Restaurant Week returns Jan. 23 through Feb. 1, bringing more than 60 restaurants together for a 10-day showcase of the city’s unusually broad culinary scene.

Scheduled just after Metropolitan Washington Restaurant Week, which runs Jan. 19-25, the local event will feature food ranging from Afghan and Bolivian dishes to Italian and Thai cuisine. Participating businesses include casual neighborhood spots, lesser-known restaurants and upscale dining destinations.

Mayor Letty Hardi said the timing is designed to help restaurants through the slower winter period that follows the holiday season.

“I’m excited,” Hardi said, joking that the two consecutive restaurant weeks will mean “a whole lot of eating.”

City removes the cost barrier

Unlike some neighboring jurisdictions, Falls Church does not charge businesses to participate. The city covers the program’s expenses and handles its promotion and marketing.

Hardi called that approach a “win-win” for the city and its businesses. Eliminating participation fees allows even the smallest restaurants to join, she said, rather than limiting the event to establishments able to afford several hundred dollars in added costs.

Now in its third year, the program is also being examined for its economic return. Hardi said she has encouraged city staff to review sales and meals-tax figures, though measuring the event’s effect can be difficult. The city receives meals-tax data by month rather than by day, and last year’s results were complicated by a snowstorm.

Even if the immediate return does not match the city’s investment dollar for dollar, Hardi said the broader promotional value remains important. Restaurants have become a defining part of Falls Church’s identity, and Restaurant Week can encourage visitors to return throughout the year.

The city’s roughly 16,000 residents cannot support every local business on their own, she said. Marketing beyond Falls Church’s 2.2 square miles is therefore essential as the number of restaurants grows.

Hardi described the city’s dining scene as resembling the United Nations because of the many cultures represented. She said that variety reflects Falls Church’s goal of being both diverse and welcoming.

A restaurant tucked between downtown and Founders Row

Hardi declined to select an outright favorite but highlighted Cafe Zevian, a relatively new Mediterranean and Turkish restaurant on the ground floor of The Kensington.

The restaurant sits in what Hardi calls the “midtown” section of Falls Church. Because it is outside both the downtown core and Founders Row, it receives less foot traffic and attention, she said. She praised owner Adam, the restaurant’s interior and its outdoor dining area, which features awnings and flower baskets and should become especially appealing during warmer months.

Cafe Zevian’s location beside the Falls Church Arts gallery also illustrates a strategy the city is encouraging: pairing meals with nearby entertainment and cultural activities.

Hardi said customers could combine a gallery visit with dinner for a date night. Similar possibilities will emerge when Little Beast, a pizza restaurant founded in Washington, opens beside Creative Cauldron in February. Visitors could attend a performance before or after eating.

Little Beast’s Falls Church restaurant will be its second location. Hardi said the company’s decision to expand into the city suggests its owners see enough consumer spending and business potential to justify the investment.

The restaurant inside the recently opened Paragon Founders Row movie theater is also participating in Restaurant Week, giving customers the option of combining a dining special with a film.

Those pairings reflect changes in consumer behavior since the Covid pandemic, Hardi said. Although more retail purchases have shifted online, people continue to dine out, buy groceries in person and seek shared experiences such as movies, miniature golf and board games. Connecting those activities to restaurants can support economic development while creating places for people to gather.

Stratford transformation draws praise

Hardi was particularly enthusiastic about the newly renovated Stratford Garden, which had its official ribbon-cutting the day before the interview.

She described the property as a striking example of adaptive reuse. The former 1970s-era motel has been transformed while retaining part of its architectural identity, including a restored version of its original sign. The name has changed from Stratford Motor Lodge to Stratford Gardens.

Hardi said the renovation adds to Falls Church’s eclectic architecture without requiring another major new development. She pointed to Northside Social and Zoya’s Atelier as other local examples of older properties finding new purposes.

The Stratford’s operators also own Dominion Wine & Beer, making the new venture their second Falls Church restaurant. Hardi said their decision to invest again indicates they had a positive experience with their first city business and continue to see local potential.

Walkability feeds restaurant activity

Hardi said she plans to consult her sons before choosing where her family will eat during Restaurant Week. With so many options, they may use the event map to plan a mixture of lunches, dinners and takeout.

Her children also prompted a broader observation about the relationship between walkability and restaurant traffic.

After a recent early-release Wednesday, Hardi saw groups of students leaving the secondary school campus near West Broad Street on an unusually warm, 65-degree day. They walked along Route 7, stopping at restaurants without needing parents to drive them.

She later spotted students as far east as Mr. Brown’s Park after they had passed dining areas at West Falls and Birch & Broad. Some appeared to have eaten along the way before continuing to the park.

Hardi said the scene reflected the city’s vision of residents using several modes of transportation, moving independently and supporting businesses from the west side of Falls Church to the east.

Eden Center outreach expands

The city has made a concerted effort to bring more Eden Center restaurants into this year’s event.

Hardi said a new outreach coordinator has helped bridge language barriers and encourage participation from businesses in the center, a major part of the city’s East End. She believed the number of participating Eden Center restaurants may have tripled, though she cautioned that the figure still needed confirmation.

The outreach effort follows priorities identified in the East End Small Area Plan. Hardi said the city should ensure that Eden Center’s vibrant restaurant community benefits from the public investment in Restaurant Week.

She also hopes the City Council will improve walking and multimodal connections between downtown and Eden Center. Walking from Seven Corners can currently feel dangerous, she said.

Hardi praised Eden Center Outreach Coordinator Le Nguyen, who speaks Vietnamese, for helping businesses connect with the city and the event. She also credited local publicist Tricia Barba with promoting Restaurant Week. Barba owns Preservation Biscuits, which has participated since the program began, and was contracted by the city for her marketing and social-media expertise.

This year’s promotion includes new “Little City, Big Bites” stickers, part of an effort to strengthen the event’s identity as participation grows.

Independent coffee shops become a city metric

Falls Church’s expanding collection of independent coffee shops also figures into Hardi’s view of local economic health.

When she first ran for office, Cafe Kindred had become the city’s first independent coffee shop. During her reelection campaign two years ago, she jokingly referred to the growing number as the “Letty Coffee Shop Metric.”

Hardi estimated that Falls Church now has about eight independent coffee shops, though she said there may be more. Each has developed a distinct character, she said.

She initially wondered whether newcomers such as Tatte would reduce business at established shops including Godfrey’s and Semicolon. Based on her visits for office hours, constituent conversations and meetings, she has not noticed a decline. Instead, she believes the additions have attracted new customers without simply shifting the same business among competitors.

Coffee shops also serve as “third places,” an urban-planning term for spaces outside the home and workplace where people can spend time and meet others. Hardi said coffee shops, restaurants and pocket parks all contribute to a city where residents can gather, work for a few hours or stop after another activity.

For Hardi, that connection between business development and urban planning extends to public health. Welcoming, walkable neighborhoods give people more opportunities to walk, jog and exercise instead of relying exclusively on cars.

They can also support mental and social well-being by creating places where neighbors encounter one another in restaurants, parks and other shared spaces. Hardi said those connections help build the community-minded culture Falls Church wants to preserve.

Restaurant Week is one piece of that larger strategy: draw people into local establishments during a difficult season, introduce them to new food and neighborhoods, and give them reasons to return after the specials end.