Farmers Restaurant Group (FRG) and North Dakota Farmers Union (NDFU) announced Feb. 5 as the opening date of the new Founding Farmers Tysons restaurant, the third location for Founding Farmers and fourth business in the Washington, D.C.-based group.
Located in the Tysons II development in the heart of the NoVA metropolis, Founding Farmers Tysons offers full service breakfast, lunch, dinner, and weekend brunch, and free parking.
“We’re locked on our date, and are moving full steam ahead to open the largest, most interesting and impressive restaurant in our collection to date,” says Dan Simons, FRG partner and concept developer behind the restaurants.
“Our playbook is in full effect, our teams are on site training, and we’re preparing for a big launch. Tysons is ready for the Founding Farmers vision of contemporary, upscale casual dining, and we’re thrilled to be opening there,” he adds.
With a mantra of ‘Everything Through the Eyes of the Farmer,’ the menus for Founding Farmers Tysons developed by Executive Chef Joe Goetze and the FRG culinary team reflect signature dishes and guest favorites from the other restaurants. Virginia-specific nods to culinary and recipe traditions comprise about 35 percent of the menu, with some products and ingredients sourced from the Old Dominion.
Menu highlights include fresh meats from the in-house butchery, where whole and half animals will be received and finished to offer guests top quality cuts at an excellent price point. Also available are direct from Virginia products such as Oysters prepared three ways— raw, shooters with optional liquor chasers, or baked style with different sauces.
The lunch/dinner menu includes ‘farmhouse picnic’ ham, chicken liver mousse, and chips with dips starters; artisanal Virginia honey glazed hams; house-churned butters for cooking and on the tables for guests; and Southern-style biscuits as well as other baked items unique to FFT that will be made from scratch daily, on display in the bakery case at the entrance.
A large, u-shaped, 28-seat bar with additional perimeter seating for 30 will showcase Founding Farmers’ award-winning bar and beverage program. Proprietary spirits are produced with Copper Fox Distillery of Sperryville, Virginia, and 12 beer taps exclusively feature Virginia-brewed beers.
Guests enter the space through revolving doors into a large reception area, with the open pastry studio and weekday Morning Grab & Go area to the right. Beyond the front desk, the expansive space is divided into areas or ‘micro-climates’ that offer different types of table arrangements and seating to correspond with different spaces on a farm or in a farmhouse.
The bar is framed with the structural wood beams of a barn. There is a larder area with communal tables and a wall of sun tea.
High-backed upholstered chairs make for comfortable dining in the living room and large, luxurious circular booths embrace guests in the ‘boudoir’ area. With whimsical commissioned artworks and elements throughout, each seat offers a different view.
