Maple Ave Restaurant

147 Maple Ave W - Vienna, VA 22180
  • $$
  • Rating Distribution
    5 stars
    13
    4 stars
    24
    3 stars
    3
    2 stars
    2
    1 star
    0

Small Gem with Big Flavor

Highlights

  • There’s as much focus on what you imbibe as what you eat at Maple Avenue, and the drinks list proves it. There are craft cocktails like the Tincho with Malvasia Citrus; Sauvignon Blanc with lemon and lime; artisanal beers like the hoppy Hazed and Confused from Boulder Beer Colorado; and the eclectic wine list.

Good to Know

  • The restaurant has a lively blog. Check it out for specials-to-go on holidays like a whole version of that yuzu-lime pie, recipes and news of multi-course prix-fixe tasting dinners.
  • Due to limited seating, parties of 5 or more guests will be seated only once everyone in the party has arrived. The reservation will be held for 15 minutes after original reservation time.

Full Overview

“Good things come in small packages” might well be the motto of this Lilliputian glass jewel box on Route 123, also known as Maple Avenue. Owner-chef Tim Ma, an engineer-turned-chef with stops at New York’s French Culinary Institute and David Chang’s Momofuku Ko along the way, repurposed this former Mexican eatery into a shrine to seasonal and local ingredients. His wife and partner, Joey Hernandez, who also has a restaurant background, is general manager. Together they’ve created a fusion of Asian (he’s Chinese-American), Latin (she’s Salvadoran) and French cuisine in this 28-seat eatery with an eclectic playlist that on weekends competes with the din of the crowd. Here is one of those menus where nearly everything sounds appealing — or at the very least, interesting. Dishes to hone in on: lemongrass chicken with the zing of ginger and the crunch of Brussels sprouts (vegetables get star treatment in most dishes), aromatic Moroccan-spiced chicken with creamy saffron sauce, and briny shrimp and grits with blueberry venison sausage. Ma is a fan of braising, so there are long-steeped pleasures like pork belly with sweet and sour onions and beer-braised beef cheeks. At lunch, pork barbecue with a not-too-sweet sauce on a brioche bun is a toothsome handful. Brunch brings plates like wonderfully original — and delicious — scrambled eggs with Chinese sausage and caramelized kimchi. And then there are the  spicy housemade Bloody Marys. Desserts are by turns whimsical, sophisticated and homey: fun fair funnel cakes, gingered crème brulee and velvety bread pudding. 

A reservation will now earn you: 200 Reward pts.

CityEats Rewards