Michelin-Starred Maydan Is Bringing Middle Eastern Cooking to the Mosaic District at Tawle

Like many big-name restaurant groups, Michelin-starred Maydan and Compass Rose owners Rose Previte and Mike Schuster are joining a march to the suburbs largely driven by the pandemic. Their Middle Eastern communal menu concept, Tawle, is moving into a stand-alone location in Fairfax’s Mosaic District this summer at 2911 District Avenue, Suite 140, according to The Washingtonian.

While the pandemic has driven a big uptick in suburban growth, it’s also driven the opening of restaurants that started as takeout pandemic pivots. Tawle — a restaurant named after the communal menu that Maydan originally introduced for takeout during the pandemic — means “table” in Arabic. To that end, Tawle will include the family-style meals it became known for at Maydan, in addition to prix fix, a la carte options, and more Egyptian influences.

Omar Hegazi, an Egyptian-American chef who comes with a background running Egyptian chain cafe Zooba in New York City and working as sous chef at Bourbon Steak in Georgetown and Zaytinya in Texas, is taking the lead at both Tawle locations as executive chef.

The Maydan team previously announced plans to open Tawle in the Market at International Square (1850 K Street, NW), Tishman Speyer’s massive new downtown D.C. food hall, this year. The stand-alone Mosaic District location will likely open first though, according to the Tysons Reporter.

Tawle takes the place of the Jinya Ramen, a chain cafe specializing in slow-cooked ramen. Meanwhile, Jinya Ramen announced plans to move a couple of doors away to a larger location, according to the Tyson’s Reporter. At the beginning of December, Jinya also announced plans to open a new location (4238 Wilson Blvd Suite 150, Arlington) in Ballston Quarter by March 2022.

• Maydan Owners Expand to Northern Virginia With an Eclectic Middle Eastern Restaurant [Washingtonian]
• Middle Eastern restaurant Tawle to open at Mosaic District this summer [Tysons Reporter]
• Maydan Is Branching Out With a Casual New Arab Restaurant Fit for Food Halls
• Jinya Will Start Simmering Slow-Cooked Ramen in Ballston
• The American Suburbs are Getting a Makeover, and These Restaurant Chains and Companies Want To Move in Next Door [Business Insider]