News and notes from Reston (tm).

Monday, April 25, 2011

Flashback Monday: A Land Before The Macaroni Grill

Please to be enjoying this ca. 1989 list of Reston's fine restaurants. Besides the conspicuous lack of the Macaroni Grill, what's striking is how few of these places still exist. Flippers? Fritzbies? Roy Rodgers? Il Cigno? Taco Amigo? All long gone. Though we would have probably enjoyed "La Salade." Sounds all fancy-like, and an ahead-of-its-time precursor to our current-day obsession with cupcakeries and saladries and whatnot.

fine dining.jpeg

Besides the usual fry pits fast-food establishments, the only name we recognize is Lake Anne's Jasmine Cafe. We're pretty sure if we were doing this "web log" back in 1989 (posting it to CompuServe on a 300-baud modem), we'd put on our suspenders and Peter Bogdanovich glasses and meet our vast army of Confidential Operatives at the "Executive Dining Room" in Isaac Newton Square, the end.

Posted by Restonian at 8:08 AM

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10 comments:

  1. Anna Na MissApril 25, 2011 at 12:30 PM

    Pica Deli and Charlie Chiang's are still around

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousApril 25, 2011 at 2:12 PM

    Besides the fast food/pizza places, look at how few chains are on this list. (Yes, Fritzbies was a local chain, but that's not quite the same kind of beast.) That's not a comment about Reston, but the restaurant scene in general. Sad.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousApril 25, 2011 at 4:33 PM

    There was once a taco joint in Hunter's Woods?! I have posted eloquently on the topic on this fancy web log in the past: a dire need for bargain taco goodness in the Greater South Reston MetroVillaPlex(tm). Hunter's Woods, in particular, is especially ideal for hosting this exotic cuisine, and it is a cruel thing indeed to discover that such an offering once existed. What went wrong?

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousApril 25, 2011 at 5:09 PM

    Pica Deli still exists although under new mgmt as of a few years ago (and of course isn't nearly as good anymore).

    Charlie Chiang's is long gone. JBG demolished the building a couple weeks ago.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousApril 25, 2011 at 5:49 PM

    it's hilarious (or sad) the most survivors are from McTacoHut.

    You might recognize Marie's which was around til a few years ago and has now been replaced by the fabulous Cafesano's. The folks on North End may have their fancy town centers and what-not, but we have Cafesano. So there nah-huh.

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousApril 25, 2011 at 6:49 PM

    I can't believe that Prius-driving two-farmers-market-having Reston has supported a Popeyes for 2 decades. Seriously, that is the nastiest "food" I've ever eaten. But I guess one has to get one's strawberry soda somewhere!

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousApril 26, 2011 at 8:44 AM

    Of course, some restaurants only last as long as the owner wants them to . . . . were any of these on the list that good? Anyone tried Singh Thai yet?

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousApril 26, 2011 at 7:27 PM

    Anon 4:33-The Hunters Woods management company (Mark Winkler) systematically chased everyone out-the taco place (which served cheap gut bombs, but on the plus side also served cheap beer on tap), Bangkok West, the hardware store w/ the awesome post office in the back, and on and on, until the place was almost completely empty, and then declared bankruptcy. Go figure!

    Dryad-Singh Thai is good, I've been several times. It has that Lake Anne feel to it, so if you like Lake Anne, you'll like it. If you are a Lake Anne hater, then don't bother, it won't change your mind.

    ReplyDelete
  9. scubadiverApril 27, 2011 at 1:44 PM

    Bao Zaire's Bangkok West is sorely missed.

    Taco Amigo is where SLHS bratz went when ditching class.

    Fritzbe's is where they (SLHS bratz) got jobs washing dishes for dope money.

    ReplyDelete
  10. AnonymousApril 28, 2011 at 8:59 AM

    "Executive Dinging Room" at the address of the RA HQ?

    What's up with that?

    ReplyDelete

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