The Heights, a 10,000-square-foot Chevy Chase food hall that opened at Wisconsin Place in December, was curated by Alexandria, Virginia-based Common Plate Hospitality (CPH). The hall’s 10 concepts feature notables of the DMV restaurant world, newcomers, and CPH establishments, such as Urbano (a full-service Mexican restaurant), This Deli of Ours and Turncoat Speakeasy (see page 72 for more on that). There is seating for 84 inside and 78 on a spacious patio.
In 2022, CPH’s chef and co-founder Chad Sparrow held a competition called Stall Wars, the winner of which would receive a built-out stall where they would have a one-year lease (renewable) and pay a percentage of sales as rent. Two entrants were so outstanding that both were granted stalls: Saoco and Sky Lantern.
We toured the food hall and discovered five dishes we love.
The Cubano sandwich at Saoco ($15)
In addition to being the chef and owner of Saoco, a Miami-style Cuban cafe, Colombian-born Dario Arana-Rojas, is a salsa dancer. “Saoco is the swagger you feel, the happiness that embraces you when salsa dancing,” he says. That’s also the feeling you get when eating what we consider the best Cuban sandwich we’ve ever had. Arana-Rojas marinates Boston butt with sour orange, tons of garlic and a cumin-based spice mix for 48 hours, slow-roasts it for 16 hours and shreds it. The pork is layered with shaved and shredded Virginia tavern ham, Swiss cheese, pickles, yellow mustard and a mayo-based secret sauce inside a split mini loaf of Cuban bread imported from Miami. The sandwich is brushed with lard and placed in a press until the bread is crisp and the cheese oozy. The richness of the pork shines through, with the mustard’s acid acting as a foil instead of being overwhelming.
The 36-hour drunken beef short rib lo mein at Sky Lantern ($20.75)
Chef and owner Phuriphada (Yui) Chonsorawuth offers modern twists on Thai cuisine at her stall Sky Lantern. For her riff on drunken noodles, she rubs short ribs with five spice powder and garlic and cooks them sous-vide for 36 hours. Ultra-thin slices of the short ribs are served atop lo mein noodles stir-fried with garlic, shallots, basil and housemade chile oil. Fried basil leaves and sauteed cherry tomatoes complete the dish.
Masala Uttapam at DC Dosa ($15)
This is the third location of Mumbai native Priya Ammu’s DC Dosa (the others are in D.C. and Crystal City, Virginia), which offers variations of two crepe-adjacent South Indian street foods made with lentil-based batters: dosas (large, crispy pancakes folded over fillings omelet-style) and uttapam dosas (thicker and more the texture of American flapjacks). We love the masala uttapam, which is griddled on one side, then flipped over and topped with turmeric-tinged curried potatoes dotted with black mustard seeds and flipped over again to crisp the potatoes like hash browns. It’s topped with chopped cilantro and comes with two of four chutney offerings: onion tamarind, mango habanero, coconut and cilantro sesame.
Chirashi sashimi at Doki Doki Sushi ($27)
Chef Kevin Tien, who owns the acclaimed restaurant Moon Rabbit in D.C. and is a James Beard Foundation award nominee, cofounded Doki Doki Sushi with chef Judy Beltrano. (Doki Doki means heartbeat in Japanese.) They offer a wide range of nigiri and rolls (classic and specialty), but we’re fans of the chirashi sashimi, pristine slices of hamachi, salmon and tuna served atop sushi rice with surimi (crab stick), wakame (kelp salad), house-cured cucumbers and shredded daikon, as well as requisite garnishes: pickled ginger, wasabi and, for the rice, sushi-zu, a soy-and-vinegar-based dressing.
Soft-serve swirl in a fish-shaped cone at Mimi’s Handmade Ice Cream ($9)
Who can resist a cake cone shaped like a fish with a swirl of soft-serve vanilla and matcha ice cream rising from its mouth? Not us. Order the taiyaki (which means sea bream, a type of fish) cone from Alexandria-based ice cream shop Mimi’s Handmade.
The Heights Food Hall, 5406 Wisconsin Ave. (The Shops at Wisconsin Place), Chevy Chase; 240-800-3820; theheightsfoodhall.com
This story appears in the May/June edition of Bethesda Magazine.