The Best Restaurants in Fairfax

Peter Chang has quietly turned the D.C. suburbs into a Sichuan outpost, and Mama Chang is his tribute to the women of his family who actually did the cooking. The warm-wood dining room is upscale-casual Chinese, the kind where dry-fried cauliflower seems to land on every table without anyone admitting they ordered it. The New York Times and The Washington Post have both put it on their D.C. essentials lists, which for a Fairfax strip mall is a flex.

1. The Infatuation #14 · Top 25: The Best Restaurants In Washington, DC
2. The Washington Post The 40 Best Restaurants In and Around D.C.
3. The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Washington, D.C., Right Now

1. AAA Approved

1. Washingtonian The Hot List: 10 Restaurants Around DC We’re Loving Right Now

A strip mall in Fairfax with walls of actual greenery sets the scene for this casual Southeast Asian restaurant covering Thai, Malaysian, and Singaporean ground with real range. Chili crab comes with soft-shells in a red sauce and sweet buns for mopping, and a fried rice pyramid topped with lump crab closes the loop nicely. The pandan castella cake keeps dessert from being an afterthought.

1. Washingtonian #88 · 100 Very Best Restaurants

1. Northern Virgina Magazine The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia

Jonathan Krinn's fine-dining tasting menu restaurant pulls vegetables from a garden steps from the kitchen, so what arrives on the plate might include a cucumber or basil variety you've never seen in a supermarket. The monthly menu changes as the garden does, and the open kitchen means you can hear the chef laughing while you work through it. Bring the kind of time and appetite that a slow, course-by-course evening demands.

1. Northern Virgina Magazine The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia