Tag: restaurant week

Springfield Town Center Restaurant Week

This week, July 12-19, is Restaurant Week at the newly renovated Springfield Town Center in Springfield, VA.  You can check out the menus for the 5 participating restaurants here.  As a member of the NoVA Yelp Elite Squad, I was invited to try out the restaurants ahead of time.  We had such a fun time and ate SO MUCH FOOD, it was insane.  Check out what we were served below, and make sure to stop by Springfield Town Center this week for great deals on yummy food!

Our first stop was Yard House, an American restaurant with a huge menu including a big vegetarian section, and tons of beers on tap.

Well Dined | Yard House

They served us an Ahi tuna salad, mac and cheese, and a Moscow Mule. The tuna was really well seasoned and perfectly cooked, but I didn’t care for the greens. The mac and cheese was AWESOME – the pasta was the perfect texture and it was loaded with chicken, bacon, mushrooms, and truffle oil. So good – I definitely recommend it. The Moscow mule was light and refreshing, and really lovely on a hot day.

Well Dined | Chuy's

Next up was Chuy’s – OMG CHUY’S!!!  Words cannot express my excitement.  You see, I am from Texas and this Austin based chain is my jam.  The fact that it has migrated with me to VA is just the best.  The manager here was super on point and spent a lot of time talking about how they make everything fresh in house.  And yes, that is a giant strawberry margarita and pina colada swirl you see there. (more…)

Range by Bryan Voltaggio

Another belated Restaurant Week post brings us to a somewhat new Bryan Voltaggio concept in Chevy Chase – Range.  Located inside Chevy Chase Pavillion (across from Mazza Gallerie), the interior is huge and split into multiple dining rooms.  Unfortunately, we were sat in the far back in the most remote and boring corner.  We still had pretty decent service, though, especially considering how packed it was.

The New American menu has a lot to choose from with a raw bar, charcuterie, wood fired pizzas, and a range of cooked dishes.  The cocktails are innovative, and the wine list is good (our server recommended a wine from a vineyard that has a personal relationship with the restaurant and is hard to get elsewhere).

Well Dined | Range

There was a cheese course on the restaurant week menu, so we went ahead and got that.  But we also wanted charcuterie, which wasn’t on the RW menu, so we ordered that a la carte – you can see the portion difference in the photo.  Both selections were great and the housemade accompaniments were topnotch.  I especially liked the mostarda and the fig jam.

Well Dined | Range

My second course was the kale caesar salad with egg emulsion that everybody is always posting about, with good reason!  It’s a caesar, but it’s one of the best you are ever going to get.

Well Dined | Range

Jasper choose the beet salad with burrata.  Pretty standard combo, well executed.

Well Dined | Range

For my entree, I choose the goat cheese ravioli with meat ragu.  Yummy, but the filling was pretty much just goat cheese, and a lot of it.  I like goat cheese, but I would have appreciated a better balance.

Well Dined | Range

Jasper choose the lamb with carrot-jalapeno romesco, which he said was awesome.

We had a good time and enjoyed everything we ate.  I would like to return to try out more of the menu, especially with a group since the menu seems to be suited for it.