ABC Canteen - Fish & Chips, Tacos, Wings in Fairfax, VA - CLOSED

VERY SAD TO REPORT THAT THIS RESTAURANT CLOSED.

9528 Lee Highway
Fairfax, VA 22031
Tel: (703) 865-0377

When someone with 20 years of experience in the restaurant business opens a restaurant with someone whose delicious family recipes were passed down from her Mexican grandmother, only wonderful things can happen. This is the story of the Northern Virginia newcomer ABC Canteen in Fairfax.

The menu is surprisingly eclectic. It's comfort food with a Mexican flare.  You can order Fish and Chips with a couple Tamales on the side or some Tacos with Cod Croquettes or for some ultimate comfort food, treat yourself to Chicken Wings and Mac and Cheese.

Why this unique selection? Wesley Chen immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 8 and fell in love with Mexican food almost immediately. He has worked his way up in several well-known restaurant chains, both casual fast-food and upscale. Along the way, he met Violeta Vergara, who not only shared his passion for Mexican food, but also wanted to share with the world her grandmother's recipes from Oaxaca. It was the perfect partnership that spun off on its own. Adding to their team one more colleague, whom they've known for over 15 years, ABC Canteen was born in early 2015.

Building off their love of comfort food, Chen and Vergara composed a menu that reflects their gastronomic passions. This is why everything they serve is... wait for it... made from scratch! Even the tartar sauce and... get this... the Chili powder!  Only the desserts at ABC Canteen are commercially made, and personally selected by Chen to be placed on the menu.

You really have to love your food to invest so much effort in preparing it just right for your customers. And it shows. On a Saturday afternoon, just after the Blizzard of 2016, the parking lot in front of the restaurant was not fully plowed, but ABC Canteen had a steady stream of customers. Chen personally welcomed many of them by name, particularly those who over the last 10 months since the restaurant opened have become "regulars," whether eating in or taking out.

The fresh, flavorful food is easily a draw on its own. Every item on the menu seems to be popular. But the added bonus is Chen's engaging, though non-imposing, spirit that fills the restaurant with a welcoming cheerfulness making you feel right at home.

The cod prepared at ABC Canteen reminded us of our time in Reykjavik, Iceland some years back, where we had a chance to taste some of the world-acclaimed cod recipes of Icelandic chefs. Chen's Fish and Chips are not at all inferior to those. The main difference was that in Iceland the cod was plucked fresh from the icy waters only a few feet away.  ABC Canteen's flaky cod in a crispy light batter was equally delicious. It went great with a side of their home-made tartar sauce and a full plate of crispy fries. We ordered an additional side of the golden brown hush puppies, which were nicely seasoned, just a tad sweet and overall flavorful.

Tamales and Tacos were terrific on their own, though a short trip to the Taco Bar provided options like diced radishes, onions, pico de gallo and jalapenos, and a variety of sauces.

The chicken wings come either in honey barbeque or buffalo sauce. We opted for the honey barbeque with a side of chunky blue cheese dressing.

This was the first time we ever had a Horchata, which is a cold sweet rice milk- based drink, made from scratch, of course, with a hint of cinnamon.

The Pan Tres Leches (Tres Leches Cake) was a great ending to our meal with its light fluffy texture and sweet condensed milk.

Residing in a building that was once an Arthur Treacher’s Fish and Chips, the restaurant's decor is simple, definitely not shabby and not overdone. It complements, does not distract.  The dining area is open, clean and bright with floor-to-ceiling windows, overall unpretentious and appealing.

We will definitely be back, and will bring friends. Especially on Taco Tuesdays!

ABC Canteen is in a small strip with Hailey's 24-hr laundromat 

and Mary's Pollo a la Brasa restaurant

 Great deal!!!

 Chen taking our order

 Taco Bar with a selection of toppings and sauces

 Our Feast

 Fish and Chips with Tartar Sauce

 Tamale

 Chicken Taco

 Honey Barbeque Chicken Wings with Blue Cheese dressing

 Hush Puppies

 Horchata drink

 Full dining room with Chen chatting with one of his customers

 Pan Tres Leches

Lotus Garden - Chinese cuisine in Vienna, VA

224 Maple Avenue WEST

Vienna, VA 22180
Tel: (703) 255-9888

In a strip mall on Vienna's main drag, Lotus Garden has been a great addition to the local dining scene over the last 3 years.  We came here for dinner on a Saturday evening and the place was packed - good thing we made reservations!

Both service and food were very good. Decor is simple and clean, with dim lighting, making for a cozy and intimate atmosphere. The restaurant is small, so with a full house, the noise level can be on the loud side.  

The house specialty is its hand pulled noodles, and they are worth the visit.  The hand pulled noodles are featured in a variety of about 25 soups in a separate menu section.  The most fun is getting a front row seat to the kitchen window, where you can watch the noodles being rolled, stretched and cut, which happens about every 20-30 minutes.

In between the noodle pulling action, you can watch the entire kitchen staff at work with occasional fire flares and the general hustle and bustle of a busy kitchen. This built-in entertainment can certainly be the focus of the dining experience at Lotus Garden.

The food we ordered, pictured below, definitely fell on the mild side, and was all delicious.  Juicy and plentiful portions, a great variety on the menu, and helpful staff... in short, there were no disappointments. We would return in a heartbeat.

 Hand pulled noodles with roasted pork

 Hand pulled noodles with roasted duck

 Sauteed vegetables in garlic sauce

 Shredded chicken with pan fried noodles

 Szechuan chicken

A show of hand pulled and sliced noodles for an audience of diners

Hong Kong Palace Chinese Restaurant - Falls Church, VA

Hong Kong Palace
Chinese Restaurant
6387 Seven Corners Shopping Center
Falls Church, VA 22044
Tel: (703) 532-0940

Is it ever possible to have enough Chinese restaurants in your neigborhood?  We'd say... No. So, when we found this small restaurant in the Shoppers Food Warehouse plaza in Falls Church, we were excited to try it.  Hong Kong Palace is only a few doors down from our new favorite Thai / Laotian restaurant Bangkok Golden.  This multiple-award winning ethnic dive is definitely worth a stop for an impressive variety of authentic Szechuan dishes, despite its Cantonese name.

Like most authentic Chinese restaurants, there are two distinctly different menus at the Hong Kong Palace: one is the Americanized menu and one is the traditional Szechuan menu.  We selected the latter. There were only two of us for lunch, so we sampled the most we could possibly eat, which was three full-size entrees. We chose dishes we thought would complement one another and would give us a good taste of the restaurant's offerings.

From the traditional soup menu, we ordered the Chicken and Pickled Vegetables Soup.  Although we intended for this to be our appetizer, it ended up arriving late, a few minutes behind our first entree. This soup had large chunks of garlic and noodles, a perfectly mild brothy chicken soup. Our two entrees were Fish and Bean Curd in Spicy Sauce and Chicken in Hot Garlic Sauce.  Both dishes were likewise on the mild side.  The Fish and Tofu came in a very very thick orangy-red sauce. The Garlic Chicken came with delicate black mushrooms and cucumbers in a delicate brown sauce. 

The flavors at Hong Kong Palace were not overwhelming or strong, rather they are mild and delicate.  Had we checked their online menu, we would have asked for their "Special Gift" dishes that come free with purchase over a certain threshold:  

Free Gifts

• Free-- Chicken Broccoli
• Free-- Egg Drop Soup
• Free-- Egg Rolls (2)
• Free-- General Tso Chicken
• Free-- Hot & Sour Soup
• Free-- Soda
• Free--2 Soda
• Free--Wonton Soup
• 
  

We weren't aware of this, and the staff did not volunteer this information to us.  Perhaps it is only available for delivery? If so, do take advantage of these deals when you order from Hong Kong Palace.

Overall, our experience was pleasant and we walked out full and happy. We will return here someday and will likely sample other menu offerings, as there are many that seemed appealing. But not sure we will return soon, as there are so many other places we would rather re-visit sooner.

  

 Chicken with Hot Garlic Sauce

 Chicken with Pickled Vegetables Soup

Fish and Bean Curd with Spicy Sauce

China Star Chinese Restaurant - Fairfax, VA

9600 Main Street
Fairfax, VA 22031
(703) 323-8822

There is a great benefit to dining out with a group of people who enjoy tasting a variety of dishes and have opinions on each dish.  Undoubtely, China Star is a prime candidate to visit with as many people as can fit around your table, considering the extensive menu it offers with a wide selection of choices, nearly making you wish you could squeeze all 3 daily meals into one.  You can pick either of its two websites (yes, two?) to review the menu ahead of your visit, though narrowing your selection down is not easy because it all sounds so good.  Perhaps this is a restaurant where one can be advised to visit often to try everything in order to ultimately settle on the favorites.  

Unfortunately, of the five appetizers and about six or seven entrees, nearly all were disappointments. It is possible that our selections were simply wrong, but we cast quite a wide net, as you can see by the photos below, to get as many diverse flavors as possible. 

To begin with, those items marked as "spicy" or even "numbing" were anything but.  The fact that the Wontons, for example, were drowining in chili oil (see photo below) did not make them any less bland. Several appetizers sounded quite unique, which is why we ordered them, such as Cucumber with Mashed Garlic and Wood Ear.  The former consisted of bland and mushy cucmbers with very little garlic flavor. It was particularly mushy and slimy when combined with any of the other food on one plate. The latter turned out to be a pile of delicate thin black mushrooms, also quite bland until you reached the small stash of pickled hot peppers at the bottom of the bowl.  The Changdu Spicy Cold Noodle appetizer was also bland, and the noodles were annoyingly endless, rendering them nearly impossible to get off the serving plate without friends' help.

Now for the entrees, IF you are still hanging in there and thinking there is still a small chance you'll try Chine Star despite all you have read thus far. 

The entrees...  Well, someone on Yelp who loves spicy dishes as much as we all do, raved about the mild Fish with Pine Nuts, which, though not spicy was still all the rage. We figured with all the spicy dishes we were ordering, this would offer a nice balance.  NOT.  The fish was so mild both in flavor and texture, that, well... it was almost like eating something that was not there (if that makes sense), supplemented by more mushy cucumbers with the fish, boy, was this the wrong choice!  The Szechuan chicken - a combination of brittle fried popcorn chicken with small slices of potatoes (yes, potatoes in a Chinese restaurant!) and intermittent cilantro stems - was, in a word, DRY. The sprinkled red pepper added some heat, but definitely not any flavor.

Going into details about the remaining dishes, is not worth it because, frankly, you get the idea!

Oh, the smoked duck, was dry, and should probably have been smoked rather than eaten, although, jokes aside, it was probably the least disappointing of the entrees, though the bar, as you can see, is not high.

In a word, while Northern Virginia is not necessarily known for its great Chinese food, and this restaurant supports this perception, there are other Chinese restaurants that are much more worthwhile of a return visit, such as Peking Gourmet Inn or Mark's Duck House, than China Star.  

The good news is that the mediocre food was no barrier to a fun evening with a great group of people! 

 Dan Dan Noodle with ground pork

 Cucumber with mashed garlic

 Wontons with pork

 Changdu Spicy Cold Noodles (not spicy)

 Wood Ear (mushrooms) with Chili Oil Sauce

 Smoked duck

 Very top is Cashew Chicken

 Fish with Pine Nuts

 Shrimp with Asparagus and Kung Pao Chicken

Left is Szechuan Chicken and bottom is Beef with Snow Peas

  

Passion Fin - Asian Fusion Cuisine in the Mosaic District of Merrifield, VA

2750A Gallows Rd

Merrifield, VA 22190

703-204-2969

Passion Fin Dining Room

Passion Fin is more about where it is than what it is. I’ll do my best to focus on the restaurant than on the neighborhood, but one thing that stands out here is while Passion Fin is fair at best, what makes it good is its location in the up-and-coming Mosaic District of Merrifield, VA.

We’ve done the “asian fusion” thing before, and Passion Fin falls into the trap we wrote about in our Kenji Fusion entry back in January. Again, “if you can do one thing well, stick with it. The more you add, the more washed out it becomes.” Passion Fin is no different.

On to the food and service. Jake was a very pleasant and competent server. His attentive service and repeated (but not overdone) check-ins made sure we were satisfied with each course. Elena went mostly Thai, Bill went mostly Chinese. Most courses were very mediocre (see above and the Frasier quote from the Kenji Fusion entry). We started with the Crab Wonton and two soups: Miso and Tom Yum. Average, expected, but not very exciting. Our entrees were Sesame Chicken ($14) and Drunken Noodles ($10). Each were average and needed some “heat”, but requests for hot sauces were unfulfilled, other than some sriracha and a flavorless hot oil. The $8 hot sake was a hit, though!

Sesame Chicken

Is Passion Fin good enough to return? Perhaps. Seems they have some really good specials, and they may be enough to get us back. It will be a long wait though since there are many other Mosaic district restaurants we want to try.

Daily Specials

I did my best to keep the Mosaic District discussion to a minimum; however, I can’t keep it out of the discussion. Mosaic is building and building fast. Situated just off the Dunn Loring Orange Metro line, anchored by a wide swath of condos, stores, and apartments. Just look for the construction cranes, as there is plenty of development happening there. The district is well engineered, and hopefully in time the distinct neighborhoods separated by Lee Highway will be bridged so that the southern area will connect to the newer northern end. Anchored by a series of small-medium sized boutiques, grocers, Movie Theater, and a big box Target store, restaurants are plenty. Ted’s Bulletin, BlackFinn, Ocean Pearl, Four Sisters, Cava, SweetGreen, and Gypsy Soul (getting excellent reviews and on many Top Restaurant lists including Northern Virginia Magazine) serve most of the world’s cuisines. With all these notable new additions, we hope Passion Fin can survive.

Drunken Noodles

Passion Fin is comfortable, open, and well-decorated. Sparse Asian décor separates the Sushi bar, regular bar, and a few separate dining rooms. The lighting is perfect – not overbearing, but can still see your menu and food. Music was a strange mix of 80’s and 90’s pop, certainly not expected, but better than the constant stream of ting-y Asian music. The clientele was diverse, ranging from families to millennial daters.  

Full Kee Restaurant - Authentic Chinese Cuisine - Falls Church, VA

5830 Columbia Pike
Falls Church, VA 22041
(703) 575-8232

If you don’t know it’s there, it’s easy to miss Full Kee Restaurant at the Bailey’s Crossroads Shopping Center, home to Best Buy, Trader Joe’s and Moe’s Southwestern Grill. But miss it you should not. That is if you really enjoy delicious authentic Chinese food with no fanfare, lousy service, second- (or third-) rate ambience, and a variety of dishes that can keep you coming back for years. Yes, Full Kee is a gem of an ethnic dive.

Our friends recommended that we eat at Full Kee on Christmas Day. Good thing we made reservations! Even though we had a relatively large group, the restaurant was packed with people waiting for a table even at an unusual meal time in-between lunch and dinner, we went at 2pm. Had it been only several of us in a party, considering the slow inefficient service, it would still have made sense to reserve ahead. Yelp says that they do not take reservations, so perhaps Christmas Day was an exception to this policy, we just are not sure how flexible they are, especially if there is a language barrier with whoever picks up the phone. (Note that they have a new feature on their website where you can reserve a table online.)

If you are looking for an immaculate setting, service with a smile (or even with good English), personalized explanations of the extensive menu with literally hundreds of choices consisting of items that are for the most part unfamiliar to the American Chinese diner (although a whole section that is familiar), then this is not the place for you.

If you enjoy trying a variety of flavors, you will not be disappointed if you eat here! We ordered just under 20 different dishes of appetizers and entrees to share among the 8 people in our party. There was not a single dish that was bland or unsatisfying, all were wonderful. From the dumplings to the lo mein to the variety of their popular meal-portioned soups to the beef, shrimp, pork and poultry dishes, all were delightfully savory with just the right amounts of sauces, flavors, and variations. With prices so affordable, if we had bottomless stomachs, we could have easily stayed in Full Kee until they close (at 2am!) to try as many of their choices as possible. 

To us the quality and flavors of food are worth coming back to Full Kee and recommending it to our friends, the same way we found out about it. Thanks, Joe!