FSR November 2022

O Secrets SUBURBS OF THE As more people relocate from cities, the suburbs are shaking off their dull dining reputation and transforming into vibrant communities with an appetite for dynamite restaurants. BY NICOLE DUNCAN ONE HOT JULY DAY, right in the thick of a sticky North ern Virginia summer, three local barbers did battle at a Falls Church restaurant. Each business owner had worked with chef Thomas Harvey to develop a signature dish that would appear on the menu of his eponymous restaurant as part of a com petition. Dubbed the Battle of Broad Street, the event raised money for the Falls Church Education Foundation in a wholly unconventional manner and with somewhat high stakes. The most popular dish would find a month long spot on Harvey’s menu—it would also be perma nently inked on the barber with the least popular dish. “It was a really fun community event, and we had such a great response. … The tattoo aspect of it was what really draws people,” Harvey says. “We’re all big, bearded, tattooed guys, and like one of the guys said, it looks like the local criminals, [but] here we are pro moting education .”

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NOVEMBER 2022