Mayor Hardi Enthusiastic about F.C. Restaurant Week, Jan. 23 to Feb 1

Get ready to sample Falls Church’s rich variety of international cuisines as the 2026 Falls Church Restaurant Week – with over 60 participating restaurants – begins Friday, Jan. 23 and runs through Sunday, Feb. 1., just after the Metropolitan Washington Restaurant Week from Jan. 19 to 25. 

This year’s Falls Church Restaurant Week will be offering “a 10-day celebration of the City’s rich and diverse culinary scene,” the City declared on its website for the gustatory extravaganza. “From Afghan and Bolivian to Italian, Thai, and more, this family-friendly event highlights a wide range of global cuisines that reflect Falls Church’s vibrant food culture.”

“Whether you're a local, a foodie, or a visitor, you'll find something to savor — from hidden gems and hole-in-the-wall spots to upscale dining experiences, Restaurant Week is the perfect chance to explore new flavors, discover unique dishes, and support the City’s exceptional food service establishments,” the website continues.

The Falls Church Independent spoke with City of Falls Church Mayor Letty Hardi about what Restaurant Week means for the Little City as well as for herself and her family. We were curious to explore how the mayor – fresh from her service to then Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger’s transition team in Richmond – envisions the culinary celebration as a benefit to the City as Hardi launches into her next term as mayor. 

Interview with Mayor Hardi

Asked how she was feeling with the approach of Restaurant Week, Mayor Hardi did not hesitate to respond. “I’m excited,” she said. “We know that January and February are the slower months for our restaurants, coming off the holiday season, so we always strategically time it to coincide with the Washington Area Restaurant Week the week before. So we’ll have a whole lot of eating.” [Laughs]. 

“And this is one of those win-wins, right?,” Hardi continued. “I think it’s good for the City, it’s good for our businesses, and unlike other Restaurant Weeks, we don’t require our restaurants to pay a fee. So there’s no barrier to entry…. I think in Arlington, they only have 10 or 20 restaurants geographically [though] they’re so much bigger…. And that’s because there’s a fee – which doesn’t feel quite fair.”

Fronting the Costs

“So, we’ve decided we’re going to front all the costs in City government, and run the program, run all the promotions, and do all the marketing on behalf of our businesses. So even the smallest of our businesses can participate, which we thought was really important because we didn’t just want to bias towards the ones that could afford the couple of hundred dollars fee to be part of Restaurant Week.”

Does the City Get a Return on Investment? 

“Well, we’re in year three, if I’m not wrong. And I think every year I kind of challenge our team to look at the data, to look at sales and meals tax data,” Hardi said. “I think last year was kind of a hard one because we also had a snow storm and we don’t just get meal tax [data] by day, but by month, so we’re just trying to compare. I’m a data person as you know by now, Chris, and so we obviously want to make sure the [return on investment] ROI is there. But I think the soft benefits of promoting restaurants is [vital] because we love all sectors of our business community, but restaurants are kind of the thing now that Falls Church is known for. So, even if the ROI isn’t a one-to-one…. we know it creates the vibe and fits with the brand of ‘We want to be welcoming’ for people to come and visit the City, whether it’s Restaurant Week in January, or then later year round, it’s good for our business community to do this sort of promotion.”

So, it’s a long term investment? “Yes,” Hardi replied. “And I know there’s sensitivity because we’ve added a lot of restaurants. And it’s important for the City to play a role to kind of partner with our business community to try to draw people outside our 2.2 square-miles. You can’t just rely on the 16,000 residents to support all of our businesses. So, it’s a good way to just market and brag about ourselves a little bit.”

Cultural Benefits

“And how about the cultural benefits of Restaurant Week?,” we asked. “Our culinary scene is like the United Nations,” Hardi said. “We have such a variety in our Restaurant Guide which is online and you can access. It’s like the U.N. in that so many cultures are represented and I think that kind of goes back to who we are as a community that tries to be both diverse and welcoming. And I think it shows in our food and restaurants.”

Any Recommendations?

Asked if there were any particular restaurant the mayor would suggest checking out, Hardi laughed and said: “I’m not playing favorites!” But, after some thought she gave an example of one that folks should know about if they don’t already.

“Well, newish to the scene, and perhaps less well-known, I would say is Cafe Zevian which is Mediterranean/Turkish. Adam, the owner, is super kind and the space is beautifully decorated. It’s kind of what I call in the midtown part of Falls Church. So it doesn’t get as much foot traffic as the core one or two-hundred blocks of downtown, and it doesn’t get as much attention as Founders Row. But they’re kind of tucked right in the middle of things on the ground floor of The Kensington. So, I try to give them some love. And they have a beautiful outdoor dining space, so in April and through the warmer months, that should be a great spot…. There are the awnings and the flower baskets. So, that’s kind of a unique spot.”

A Strategy to Pair Restaurants with Activities

We suggested that Cafe Zevian is also next to the Falls Church Arts gallery in the Kensington and this sparked a conversation about the City’s promotion of pairing activities with restaurant sampling. “Yes, and that’s a great date night,” Hardi said. “And it’s actually one of the things we talked about with Restaurant Week, suggesting pairings because there’s a lot of good synergy.”

When the new pizza place Little Beast opens next to Creative Cauldron in February, Hardi said, “you can imagine taking in a show and then having dinner or the reverse. And I think that’s where our businesses can partner with adjacent businesses and I think it always creates a nice experience.”

A strong sign that business is picking up locally might be that Little Beast was founded in the District and is now setting up its second location in Falls Church City. “We really do pride ourselves on the small businesses and the ones who have a local anchor somewhere and then see the opportunities in Falls Church,” Hardi said. “And that’s always great to have those small, independent businesses, and for us to do the work to help make sure they can thrive is so important. And if they’ve made that kind of investment in the City, they’ve done that kind of independent analysis, and they’ve decided that Falls Church is the place where there’s the spending power and it’s worth their investment.”

Also participating in this year’s Restaurant Week, the restaurant within the newly-opened Paragon Founders Row movie theaters. For the mayor, this serves as another excellent example of an opportunity to pair experiences. “So, people may want to try out a dining special and catch a movie. And that’s based on life experience, right? We know the retail environment was changing after Covid. Many people were shopping online.... but we know, for now, that people still buy groceries in person and people like to eat out and people like to have experiences – and those are pretty resilient categories. Experiences – whether it’s seeing a movie, going to play mini golf, or playing board games. I think people still like coming together as a community. So it’s about finding those experiences that can pair with economic development. And that’s what we’ve been trying to do.” 

A Great Case of Adaptive Reuse in the Restaurant Scene

Asked how she felt about the newly renovated Stratford Garden, Hardi was most enthusiastic. “Well, we just did their official ribbon-cutting yesterday. So that’s an amazing kind of adaptive reuse,” she said. “I often talk about adaptive reuse in Falls Church because the skyline has changed. We’ve added a fair number of projects – though there’s really nothing else in the pipeline. But I think adaptive reuse is really a nice way to add to the eclectic architecture. And Northside Social was one of our first ones. And we have Zoya’s Atelier across the street and now we have the Stratford.”

“I mean it’s amazing when you think about it,” Hardi continued. “It used to be this iconic 1970s motel and now the owners have breathed new life into it and it’s beautiful inside. It’s been so vibrant. I think every time I’ve stopped by, they’ve been full. But the thing I like to brag about the most is the fact that it’s actually their second restaurant in Falls Church. The owners of Dominion Wine & Beer are actually behind the Stratford. So, I always say, ‘Gosh, if they’re doubling down on the City, that’s obviously a good sign they’ve had a good enough experience to see the potential here and they want to keep doing business in the City.”

We remarked that it’s refreshing to see the owners only slightly modified the original motel’s signage. “Yes. They kept it and they wanted to kind of recognize the heritage of the Stratford and I think they fixed it up a bit. And now it’s Stratford Gardens instead of Stratford Motor Lodge,” Hardi said. 

Egalitarian Family Plans

Asked if the mayor had any particular plans to enjoy Restaurant Week with her family, she thought for a moment, then said: “Gosh, well now that my boys have more opinions on where to eat now, I’ll have to consult with them. We’re probably going to pull out the map and we’ll map out where we’ll do a lunch and a dinner and some takeout options. But there are none in particular right now because we have so many [choices]. And I feel like to be egalitarian I should probably consult the family and see what the boys’ opinions are.”

How School Campus and Walkability Boost Restaurant Activity

As Hardi thought about her own kids, she elaborated on how the City’s walkability and its secondary campus near West Broad St. help spur restaurant activity from the west to the east side of town. “The great thing about Falls Church is the kids have so much access to these restaurants,” she said. “It was a short Wednesday, I think last week, and it was a beautiful 65-degree day, and coming out of the secondary campus I saw all these hordes of kids streaming out [Laughs] walking down Route 7 past all these restaurants and grabbing lunch. And I’m like, ‘Oh my god! Here’s a once-a-month spike in restaurant activity,’ because kids get to experience this independence. It’s like, ‘I’m going to go to a restaurant and order food for myself.’ And they do it on foot and don’t have to have Mom and Dad drive [them] places. That’s actually a pretty unique American experience in growing up.”

And the mayor observed the students as they walked to various restaurants following their early release. “I definitely saw them, like these ones are definitely going to hit the restaurants at West Falls and Birch & Broad and probably about 45 minutes later I saw them all the way down at Mr. Brown’s Park,” she recalled. “So they definitely walked from west to east and either ate along the way, or ate and then stopped at a park or something. So, it’s great to see. It’s exactly the kind of vision we have for the City of seeing people getting around using multiple modes and supporting our businesses, etc.”

Supporting Eden Center Restaurants and Community

We wondered how the City was reaching out to Eden Center for participation in Restaurant Week. “I know the team working on Restaurant Week has been really diligent about trying to get more Eden Center restaurants,” the mayor said. “This year we have a new Outreach Coordinator, so we work with [him] to actually bridge the language barrier and encourage more Eden Center businesses to participate, because that was definitely one thing out of the East End Small Area Plan – that we don’t want to forget, that it’s a really vibrant part of the City. And with the City investing in Restaurant Week, clearly there are a whole bunch of restaurants there that should be partaking. So, I think – I want to say we’ve tripled, but, I’ll have to check on that – the number of restaurants participating from the Eden Center. So that’s a good thing.”

Hardi is hoping the City Council will address how to improve walkability and multimodal transportation between downtown and the Eden Center as part of the City’s vision for the East End. “I’ve walked a few times from 7 Corners and it kind of feels like you’re putting your life in your own hands,” she said.  

Hardi also expressed strong support for the work Eden Center Outreach Coordinator, Le Nguyen – who’s fluent in Vietnamese – has done for the City and for Restaurant Week. Publicist for Restaurant Week, Tricia Barba, also merits the mayor’s acclaim. “She has a PR firm and we hired her as well,” Hardi said. “And she’s a social media and marketing genius. So we’re very lucky that not only is she a local business owner and has all those connections, but also has capacity to be contracted by the City.” Barba’s restaurant Preservation Biscuits has been a “longstanding participant, ever since we started Restaurant Week.” 

Overall, the mayor is most happy with how Restaurant Week is being managed. “I think the fact that we’ve added more restaurants and we’re trying some new things, like there are going to be some new stickers this year. I just saw it and it’s very cute. It’s called ‘Little City, Big Bites.’ And I thought that was a cute way to brand the event.” 

The ‘Letty Coffee Shop Metric’

We asked the mayor how many independent coffee shops have now sprung up in the Little City, because we’ve lost track.

“I think when I ran for re-election two years ago, I called it the ‘Letty Coffee Shop Metric.’ Because when I first ran, we opened our first one, Cafe Kindred, and we give them credit. No offense to the Paneras and the Starbucks, but I thought it was great that we had our first independent coffee shop. I want to say we’re up to eight now, but maybe it’s more. I’ve lost track!” [Laughs]. 

“But every one seems to have a different flavor. And I love that. At least to my knowledge, every time I’ve walked into one – like when Tatte opened, I said, ‘I wonder if Godfrey’s is going to see a change or Semicolon across the street – and, unfortunately, I drink probably more coffee than I should [Laughs] – but I do patronize our coffee shops. And every time I stop in and do my office hours or meet with constituents or do meetings, I’m like, ‘This one hasn’t changed.’ So, I think if anything, the coffee shops have been additive. They’ve welcomed new people coming in as opposed to cannibalizing businesses.”

The Importance of ‘Third Places’ in Urban Design

“There’s an urban planning term and [coffee shops] are called ‘third places,’ right?,” the mayor said. “So, when people need something other than their home, or their office, then these ‘third places’ are actually a really great part of great urban design. And thinking about what makes cities vibrant – like when you create those pocket parks where people can gather on a nice summer afternoon after getting an ice cream or going to the coffee shops where they feel welcomed to work for two hours as a break before coming home. So, being thoughtful about how economic development pairs with urban planning and supporting small businesses coming is a really nice intersection of all of those things.”

“I always joke that in my next life I’m going to be an urban planner because I’ve learned so much about how urban design and the way you build cities actually impacts how people interact as well as people’s health,” Hardi said. “So if you create welcoming, walkable places – and this is kind of what we talked about when Falls Church was named the ‘Healthiest Community in America’ – it’s not an accident that when you create opportunities for people to get around other than by car, people walk more, people jog, and people will have recreation options, and they’ll exercise.”

“And that leads to better health outcomes on the physical side. But also, on the mental health side, I think the way you design a city, and having a place where community members can bump into one another and can gather together in restaurants and parks, creates more community connectedness which obviously improves social and mental health even more.”

“So that’s always something I think about, how to create a great city, where people want to be and want to stay, but also to create that sense of well-being and sense of community mindedness which I think is largely the culture of Falls Church.” 

For Restaurant Week special offerings from participating restaurants go here. For information about the Passport Program and prize opportunities go here. To see a video of Mayor Hardi promoting Restaurant Week go here.

By Christopher Jones