From Old Town anchors to neighborhood hubs, here is a menu of stellar dining destinations to enjoy during WorldPride, or at any time you visit Alexandria.
In 1972, Washington DC held its first gay Pride, followed by the first official annual Pride event in 1975.
This month, our nation’s capital celebrates the 50th anniversary of this historic milestone by welcoming its first WorldPride (worldpridedc.org). Running from May 17 to June 8, the festivities, themed “The Fabric of Freedom,” extend across the Potomac River to neighboring Alexandria.
Celebrating its 276th birthday this year, Alexandria, which has earned a perfect score from the Human Rights Coalition on LGBTQ+ equality for the past five years, has a vibrant spring in its step that includes an eclectic globe-spanning culinary scene. From Old Town anchors to neighborhood hubs, here is a menu of stellar dining destinations to enjoy during WorldPride, or at any time you visit Alexandria.
Founded in 1749 as the southern part of D.C. before being ceded to Virginia in 1846, Old Town Alexandria is the nation’s third oldest historic district behind Charleston and New Orleans. The original 60-acre layout comprised ten streets named after British royalty, including the central thoroughfare of King Street.
Thompson Italian (Photo by Steve Vilnit)
Descending a mile to the Potomac River waterfront, this historic corridor’s parade of restaurants and bars includes Thompson Italian (1024 King Street. thompsonitalian.com/alexandria), which longtime Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema named one of Alexandria’s nine best restaurants in November 2024.
Chef-owners Katherine and Gabe Thompson have royal NYC credentials, including working at three Michelin-starred Le Bernardin and Per Se. After relocating to Northern Virginia in 2015, they opened their first Thompson Italian in Falls Church before coming to Alexandria.
Featuring a seasonal outdoor patio, their neighborhood restaurant is the stage for innovative Italian-meets-Middle Eastern cuisine from Executive Chef Lucy Dakwar, whose career distinctions include being the first female butcher at Commander’s Palace in New Orleans.
Her skill and creativity shine in mash-ups such as the crispy Brussel sprouts with lemon tahini and pomegranate salsa, and lamb meatballs with Syrian aleppo pepper and herb yogurt. Deft house-made pasta dishes include squid ink linguini and gnocchi with roasted mushrooms and porcini crema. Save room for Katherine’s signature olive oil cake, which earned her James Beard semifinalist honors for Outstanding Pastry Chef in 2020.
The Eastern culinary journey extends to Kismet Modern Indian (111 North Pitt Street. Tel. 703.567.4507. kismetalx.com). Chef Ajay Kumar, who earned Michelin Bib Gourmand honors two years in a row for sister restaurant Karma Modern Indian in D.C., expands on time-honored techniques with new ideas for his flavor-driven menu. Classics like chicken tikka masala rub shoulders with novel creations like Mumbai sliders on house-made pav bread, and the spicy Branzino Pollichathu, featuring the popular fish fried with skin on and finished in a banana leaf. “Sweet endings” include rose ice cream and coconut medallions.
Kismet Modern Indian tablescape (photo by Scott Suchman for Visit Alexandria)
My lifelong love of Greek taverna culture dates to the 1970’s, when we regularly dined out at Greek restaurants in London. Sealing the deal was our 1973 holiday in Athens, where the smoke and smell of grilling lamb wafting over our outdoor table is seared into my memory.
Launched that same year, Taverna Cretekou (818 King Street. Tel. 703.548.8688. tavernacretekou.com) transports me back to those days. Owners Christos and Denise Papaloizou, originally from Cyprus, oversee the festive show, which can get boisterous, including dancing with the Greek servers and breaking plates.
Housed in a historic home with white stucco walls painted with Greek figures and an evocative seasonal patio and garden, the village-like atmosphere includes an authentic katalogos (menu) of classic, regional, and island Greek dishes. From the silky tarmosalata to the broiled feta, the mezedes (small plates) all hit their marks, along with the salads and Greek wines. I loved the deliciously simple Kalamarakia Tiganita, gently-fried squid with lemon, and intriguing exohikon, a Cretian specialty of lamb morsels baked with three cheeses, artichokes, peas, carrots, onions, and pine nuts in filo dough. Save room for the Verikoka Aphrodite, an ancient Athenian dessert of apricots poached in a white-wine-and-orange-flavored sauce and served with fresh yogurt, honey, and walnuts.
Opened in 1929, Hotel George Mason was Alexandria’s go-to for both tourists and local social events for decades. Menu highlights from 1947 included sauteed sea trout with lemon butter for $1.90.
Considered a premier example of Colonial Revival architecture, the building was reborn in June 2024 as the boutique 134-room Hotel Heron (699 Prince Street. Tel. 703.662.1900. heronalexandria.com). Fetching venues include Good Fortune, Alexandria’s first open-air rooftop bar, and KILN restaurant. Inspired by Alexandria’s first recorded potter, Henry Piercy, and his nearby kiln, this contemporary open kitchen is centered around a live-fire hearth. The refreshingly simple and honest “Mid-Atlantic” menu is based on seafood, meat, vegetables, and other ingredients supplied by regional partners stretching from North Carolina to New York.
Perched at the prized eight-seat chef’s counter, I reeled in one ocean flavor after another, from raw oysters and tuna crudo to the Maryland catfish confit and delicate hearth-cooked local rock fish. Mostly European wine accompaniments included a Riesling from Germany’s Mosel River Valley and fruity, textured Albariño from Spain.
Antique mirrors, velvet banquettes, and other touches create an alluring atmosphere inside Francis Hall, the hotel’s craft cocktail bar “hidden” on the other side of the lobby. Order the “Dealer’s Choice” and let your mixologist surprise you.
Vermillion tablescape (Photo by Rey Lopez)
At Vermilion (1120 King Street. Tel. 703.684.9669 vermilionrestaurant.com), Executive Chef Anthony Chittum relies on Mid-Atlantic sea and land bounty for his “sense of place” menu.
Thirty regional growers, farmers, fishermen, and purveyors supply the goods for appetizing starters like Bettie’s Buns (yeast rolls following Chittum’s grandmother’s recipe), crispy Chesapeake oysters, and bruschetta with country ham.
Hearty entrees included the grilled Amish chicken breast and decadent bison short rib with finger sweet potatoes, blue cheese, and charred cipollini onions. The three-course, family-style “Farm Table” experience showcases the entire ever-changing menu, with terroir-driven wines, craft cocktails, and 150-plus fine whiskies, ryes, and bourbons providing a range of pairing options.
Named for 19th-century English mathematician Ada Lovelace, Ada’s On the River (3 Pioneer Mill Way. Tel. 703.638.1400. adasontheriver.com) is a waterfront hotspot with major happy hour and brunch appeal. Attractive design elements include 15-foot floor-to-ceiling windows offering sweeping Potomac River views, brightly patterned booths, and original art works featuring Lovelace and her father, the poet Lord Byron, along with Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, and Emily and Charlotte Bronte.
Canopied under a hull-like wood panel and accented with red tiles, the wood-burning hearth is the centerpiece of the exhibition kitchen. Complex smoky flavors dominate the menu, with the flames touching everything from wood-fired chicken thighs and coal-roasted oysters to the salad of charred gem lettuce, coal-fired mushroom lasagna, and selection of custom-aged prime steaks.
Hank Oysters Bar Seafood Tower (Photo by Torch Pictures for Visit Alexandria)
Venture to Old Town North for Chef Jamie Leeds’s acclaimed Hank’s Oyster Bar (818 N. St. Asaph Street. Tel. 703.739.4265. hanksoysterbar.com/old-town). Renowned for her community-based advocacy efforts, including supporting women in the culinary industry and advancing LGBTQ leadership and equality, Leeds introduced her neighborhood seafood restaurant concept, named for her seafood-loving father, to the D.C. market in 2005.
“Every big city needs an oyster bar,” shared the Brooklyn, NY-born pioneer when we met at her Dupont Circle flagship in 2015. Earlier, in 2007, she expanded to King Street in Alexandria, before relocating in 2022 to her new digs, which features rooftop dining.
Her all-day “urban beach food” menu is as fresh as ever. Pacific and East Coast oysters remain raw bar standards, including her proprietary Salty Wolfe oysters from Virginia’s Lower Chesapeake Bay. Spice it up with a Bloody Mary oyster shooter and Hog Island Style BBQ Oysters, inspired by Northern California’s famed Hog Island Oyster Company. Other catches include seafood ceviche, fried oysters, the shrimp po’boy sandwich with cayenne remoulade, and molasses braised beef short ribs. Happy hour specials include discounted oysters.
Beyond Old Town, exceptional restaurants beckon in neighborhoods throughout the city. In contemporary Carlyle/Eisenhower, standouts include Whiskey & Oyster (301 John Carlyle St. Tel. 703.567.1533 whiskeyandoyster.com) for rare whiskies and fresh Virginia oysters, including dollar oysters on the third Monday of each month.
The pretty seafood-driven restaurant is a good citizen, participating in the Chesapeake Bay Oyster Recovery Partnership shell recycling program and donating a dime for every oyster sold to ALIVE!, a local organization supporting Alexandrians struggling with food insecurity and economic disparity.
The Carlyle neigborhood is also home to Lost Boy Cider (317 Hooffs Run Dr. Tel. 703.566.5737. www.lostboycider.com), Northern Virginia’s first urban cidery and a fun spot to unwind and socialize.
West End winners include Taqueria Picoso (1472 N. Beauregard St. Tel. 571.970.0881. www.taqueriapicoso.com) , which made the top nine list for its superb street-inspired Mexican menu. Hailing from Mexico City and friends since childhood, chefs Elio Gómez and Isaac Ramírez cook from the heart.
Everything is scratch-made daily at the restaurant, which is located at the modern mixed-use Mark Center development. Bedded on masa tortillas nixtamalized in-house from heirloom Oaxacan corn, the taco parade includes al pastor (pork), vertically roasted according to Mexico City custom and served with pineapple. Other hometown classics include the Torta de Chilaquiles sandwich and Coctel de Camaron shrimp cocktail. The bacon-wrapped Sonoran hotdog with beans, onions, jalapeno salsa, and habanero mayo is a total mouth dance. Zesty salsas, Mexican beers, creative margaritas, and an outdoor patio add to the fun.
Outdoor Restaurants on King Street in Alexandria (Photo by Ceri Breeze)
Northeast of the George Washington Masonic National Monument, restaurant-lined Mount Vernon Avenue connects two vibrant neighborhoods, Del Ray and Arlandria-Chirilagua.
Energetic Del Ray hangouts include Lena’s Wood-Fired Pizza & Tap (401 E Braddock Rd. Tel. 703.683.5330. lenaswoodfire.com). The fun includes authentic wood-fired Neapolitan pizzas, outdoor beer garden, and The Loft, a changing venue currently set up as 1940’s Cuban supper club-inspired Havana 151.
You may also want to belly up to the bar at Matt & Tony’s All Day Kitchen + Bar (1501 Mt. Vernon Ave. Tel. 703.429.4950. mattandtonysva.com), one of Alexandria’s top brunch spots.
Five blocks away, Evening Star Café (2000 Mt. Vernon Avenue. Tel. 703.549.5051. www.eveningstarcafe.net) has been a local magnet for American comfort food and good times since 1997. The multi-venue restaurant incorporates a bar, upstairs lounge, and backyard smokehouse and beer garden, HiFi Tex-Mex BBQ (hifitexmexbbq.com), another top niner for its slow-cooked Texas- and Carolinas-style barbecue.
Named for its proximity to Arlington, VA and the El Salvadorean municipality where many residents trace their roots, Arlandria-Chirilagua invites exploration of dynamic street murals and mostly Central American cuisine.
Tiny El Pulgarcito (3838 Mount Vernon Avenue. Tel. 703.549.4549) is the real deal for authentic fare like pupusa, El Salvador’s national dish of thick skillet-cooked pancake or flatbread stuffed with ingredients including cheese, refried beans, and chicharrón. Another hideaway worth the excursion is Royal Nepal (3807 Mt. Vernon Avenue. Tel. 571.312.5130. royalnepalrestaurant.com), a top nine pick for steamed dumplings and other creative seasonal Nepalese-Indian dishes.
Whether coming for WorldPride, the winter and summer editions of Alexandria Restaurant Week, or for leisure or business, any time is a good time to savor the tastes of this historic city.
