"The goal isn't reinvention, it's preservation." That line came from L'Auberge Chez François on September 1, when the restaurant announced its new owner. FFXnow reported that Reston-based Thompson Restaurants now owns it. The restaurant promised the "same Alsatian menu, same charm, same staff."
That quote fits more than one restaurant this year. None of Great Falls' 2026 dining changes involved a new building. Every new place moved into a space with a long local history. The town's dining scene changed this year by reusing its existing spaces, and each new owner had to decide how much of the old place to keep.
Four Addresses, Four Familiar Rooms
Here's the year at a glance, matched to each address's previous tenant.
| Address | What was there | What's there now | When it changed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9891 Georgetown Pike | Classic Wines of Great Falls | Toastique | Opened Jan. 24, 2026 |
| 1025 Seneca Road, Suite I | BRX American Bistro | The Cellar on Seneca | Open by Aug. 24, 2026 |
| 9835 Georgetown Pike, Great Falls Center | El Tio Tex-Mex Grill | Great Falls Lodge Bar & Grill | Soft launch Sept. 7, 2026 |
| L'Auberge Chez François | Haeringer family ownership | Thompson Restaurants ownership | Sept. 1, 2026 |
Each of the four kept a different amount of what came before. Taken from the most change to the least, they run from a complete swap to a promise to keep everything.
A Wine Shop Becomes a Breakfast Counter
The first change came in January, and it was the biggest. Classic Wines of Great Falls closed at 9891 Georgetown Pike in the summer of 2024, according to FFXnow. Toastique opened there on Saturday, Jan. 24, with a grand opening that started at 8 a.m.
FFXnow's preview named the local operators as Sagar and Sonia Khurmi. The menu has gourmet toast, smoothies, bowls, juices, coffee and espresso. The space used to sell bottles for the evening. Now it's busiest in the morning, with a different crowd and a different time of day. Of the four changes, this is the only one where the new business has almost nothing in common with the old one. Toastique is a chain, but the people running this location are local.
The Cellar on Seneca Keeps the Bistro and Changes the Name
Seneca Road went the other way. BRX American Bistro had been at 1025 Seneca Road for a long time. Its owners, Kaveh and Julie Safa, didn't hand the space to someone new. They reopened it themselves as The Cellar on Seneca with business partner Andrew Cope. FFXnow reported in July that Cope would run day-to-day operations, Kaveh would handle strategy, and Julie would take on marketing and interior design.
It was open by late August, when The Fairfax Girl reported that it was serving. According to that report, it's still a bistro at its core, with steaks, seafood and handmade pasta. The menu runs from ahi tuna tartare tacos and duck spring rolls to a wedge salad, chicken piccata, lobster ravioli and burgers, plus dessert. The Cellar's website lists these hours:
- Sunday: 4 to 9 p.m.
- Monday: 5 to 9 p.m.
- Tuesday through Saturday: 4 to 10 p.m.
The Fairfax Girl's August report listed a 9 p.m. close on some weeknights, so check the website before you plan a late dinner. The same site still says grand-opening details are coming, so expect a celebration at some point even though it's already serving.
From a design point of view, this is the most interesting of the four. The people who knew the room best decided what to keep, and they gave one of the three partners the interiors as an official job.
Great Falls Lodge Brings in a Concept From Across the River
Great Falls Center's new tenant was the last of this year's openings, and it came after a delay. Great Falls Lodge Bar & Grill moved into the former El Tio Tex-Mex Grill space at 9835 Georgetown Pike. It was expected to open early in the summer. Owner and chef Neel Kamal told FFXnow that Fairfax County's permitting and inspection process "took longer than expected." The soft launch finally happened Monday, Sept. 7, with dinner only to start.
This is the one change where the idea came from somewhere else. The Lodge started in Maryland with Urbana Lodge and Clarks Lodge, and Great Falls is its first Virginia location. The plan is classic American bar food mixed with Asian flavors. The soft-opening menu has stuck mostly to Western dishes: burgers, flatbreads, salads, baby back ribs, fish and chips, Maryland crab cakes and jambalaya. The FFXnow photos show tufted booths and guitars mounted on a stone wall.
It has already grown past dinner only. The Lodge's website now lists daily hours of 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. and a 3 to 6:30 p.m. happy hour. It also says the full dining experience is expected in October, so the menu may still be changing as you read this. A second location, Vienna Lodge, is planned for the former Blackfinn Ameripub at 2750F Gallows Road in Dunn Loring. FFXnow reported that Kamal hasn't given an updated timeline for it.
L'Auberge Chez François Promises No Change at All
The oldest restaurant in this group is the one promising to stay exactly as it is. Chef François "Papa" Haeringer, an Alsace native, opened Chez François in Washington, D.C., in 1954. It moved to Great Falls in 1976 as L'Auberge Chez François. His son, Executive Chef Jacques Haeringer, is staying on in his leadership role.
The new owner is Warren Thompson, who leads Thompson Restaurants and has been a regular at L'Auberge for years. "Places like this are rare, they become part of how a community remembers itself," he said in the FFXnow report. The other three businesses all had to decide how much of their space's past to keep. L'Auberge decided to keep all of it, and it said so publicly on the day the sale was announced.
Where the New Rooms Meet the Fall Calendar
The new places are also showing up on the fall calendar alongside the town's long-running events. These are the dates still ahead as of this week:
- Oct. 23 and 24, Great Falls Lodge: live music from 2ndSole Trio on the 23rd and Alexia Christian on the 24th, from 7 p.m. on.
- Oct. 24, Riverbend Park: the Autumn Leaves Hike and Craft.
- Oct. 30, Riverbend Park and Great Falls Lodge: Bat Walk at the Bend at the park, and Sonic Spell at the Lodge from 7 p.m.
- Oct. 31, Riverbend Park and Great Falls Lodge: Halloween in the Hollows at the park, and Dave Futrell at the Lodge from 7 p.m.
- Nov. 1 and 8, Old Brogue Irish Pub, 760 Walker Road: Celtic concerts with Ayreheart on the 1st and the Infamous Holman Sisters on the 8th, at 4:30 and 6:30 p.m. Both are listed on the Patch Great Falls calendar.
- Nov. 11, Freedom Memorial: the Celebrate Great Falls Foundation's Veterans Day ceremony, 11 a.m. to noon, behind Great Falls Library at 9830 Georgetown Pike. If it rains, it moves to the Grange.
- Nov. 13 and 27, Riverbend Park: Family Fun Fridays. The full list is on Fairfax County's Riverbend events page.
Every Saturday, the Great Falls Farmers Market runs 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at 756 Walker Road and stays open year-round. That's the same stretch of Walker Road as the Old Brogue at 760. Toastique and the Lodge both opened on Georgetown Pike this year, and the Freedom Memorial sits on the same road. After the Veterans Day ceremony, you can get lunch at a place that wasn't open last November.
One thing I keep thinking about after fifteen years running Stylish Patina: giving a familiar space a second life is usually harder than starting from scratch, because everyone already remembers what it used to be. If you're deciding what to keep and what to change in your own Great Falls home, I'd love to walk through the space with you and talk through the options. Kelly Millspaugh Thompson is always happy to help. Let's Connect.
