Restaurant Spotlight: Anthonys Restaurant

A slice of Anthonys famous pizza. (Photo: News-Press)

In a controversial move to push it out of its long-time W. Broad Street location in the City of Falls Church in the summer of 2013, the legendary Anthonys Restaurant had to wait a year until last summer to have its new location at Route 50 and Annandale Road ready. But the agony over the lost old space and the year-long hiatus in the business is now long and forgotten, as the new location at 3000 Annandale Road is thriving in a big way. To many in the City of Falls Church, including the over 500 who signed petitions to keep the restaurant open where construction of a major new mixed use project (that will be anchored by a large Harris Teeter supermarket) is now well underway, the loss of Anthonys which grew into its old location over more than 40 years of service, was painful and hard to take.

But rather than just sink into history, the tenacity of the family of Greek immigrants has surprised everybody. Led by patriarch and matriarch Anthony and Faye Yiannarakis, the family business is now also being augmented by the work of their grown children and the spouse of daughter Penny, Peter Zoutis, who also hails from Greece.

Thriving in their new location, a spacious 4,400 square feet not far from the major Route 50 at Annandale Road intersection, the modestly-priced family-style restaurant seems like a better fit in its new location, serving a large community on the south side of Rt. 50, than it was on W. Broad, where it was fast becoming a bit of an aging anomaly in an area of high commercial and mixed use growth.

Anybody who has lived in Falls Church for any period of time is undoubtedly familiar with the core Anthonys menu, with abundant portions of spaghetti dishes, submarine sandwiches and outstanding pizza.

But the menu developed to attend the reopening at the new location is also larger and more comprehensive, beginning with 10 appetizer choices including calamari, stuffed grape leaves, spinach and feta cheese turnovers, tzatziki and pita, a combo tzatziki, hummus and eggplant dip with pita bread.

In addition to a soup of the day, a staple at the old location often being either navy bean or split pea, the menu now includes french onion and avgolemono as regular items, the latter being traditional Greek-style chicken, lemon and rice soup.

The array of salad options has grown to nine and there are an abundance of sandwiches, ranging from classic BLT, turkey, bacon, avocado and aged provolone, to crab cake, pastrami, corned beef and turkey reuben, three club sandwich choices (turkey, ham and cheese, roast beef and cheese and tuna and egg), the burger, cheeseburger and Greek burger (beef and pork infused with fresh herbs), pita bread sandwiches and 14 varieties of subs. Signature dinners include 10 Greek choices, six seafood options, six steak, pork and chicken choices and 13 pasta options, with arrays of toppings options (whole wheat pasta being available upon request for an additional $1.50).

Then there is their classic New York style pizza in three sizes (nine, 12 and 16 inches) with 22 topping options, including four premium toppings, and white pizza that features extra virgin olive oil, fresh garlic, mozzarella cheese and fresh basil.

There is a kids menu, and 18 dessert choices, including six homemade desserts (baklava, rice pudding, flan, bugatsa, tiramisu and Greek yogurt topped with candied fruit).

Originally posted here:
Restaurant Spotlight: Anthonys Restaurant