Overview: Walker's Grille

In today’s world, organic food represents the fastest-growing

sector of the food industry, and while local farmer’s markets and specialty

grocers offer sustainable and organic food, sticking to a diet that is local,

unfrozen, unprocessed, seasonal, organic or near organic while dining out presents a challenging task. DC’s

farm-to-table, eco-friendly options are few and far between; so, imagine my

surprise when I discovered an eco-friendly restaurant tucked away in the

historic district of Franconia. In the Metro Office Park right off the Franconia-Springfield

metro, Walker’s Grille remains unknown to most Washingtonians when it should be

embraced just as readily as Founding Farmers in Foggy Bottom.

As the Commonwealth of Virginia’s first LEED certified

restaurant, Walker’s Grille serves up local ingredients, all natural beef and

poultry producers, sustainable and domestic seafood, in addition to dairy and

eggs products from Lancaster, Pennsylvania’s famed environmental family farm,

Kreider Farm. The owners jumped through hoops and paid 30-40% more than average

for restaurant build-out to ensure the U.S. Green Building Council awarded them

with a GOLD LEED certification, which is the nationally accepted benchmark for

the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings.

Besides the green building technicalities and the high

quality food products, Walker’s Grill delivers a delicious and vibrant menu accompanied

by friendly wait staff, an affordable wine and cocktail menu, and a casual, yet

upscale dining scene. Whether you are a vegetarian, carnivore or seafood lover,

you will struggle making a timely decision on your menu selections with so many

enticing choices. The salad appetizers alone are hard to pass up with choices

• between arugula with grilled pineapple, mango, red onion, red pepper and corn and
• Boston Bibb lettuce with strawberries, candied walnuts, goat cheese and
• balsamic dressing. Either way, you can’t go wrong pairing either up with an
• Absolut Pear Punch martini, a refreshing cocktail to get the digestive juices
• flowing. The arugula salad boasts a zingy lime and olive oil dressing along
• with crunchy, chipotle spiced tortilla chips and the sweetest, most
• unforgettably-flavored corn you’ll experience.
• After appetizers, a stellar wine and food pairing can be
• exploited with the pan seared scallops served with asparagus and pesto, lemon
• zest dressing. The browned scallops glisten in the dimmed lighting and match
• well with a bracing Sancerre (Sauvignon Blanc) that slices through the sweet succulence
• of the scallops with mineral, grassy, and kumquat orange flavors.
• For those who shy away from ordinary, don’t be fooled by the
• chicken selection on the menu. This whole-roasted chicken bursts with aromatics,
• while a salted and seasoned crispy outer skin gives way to moist white meat
• underneath, garnished with braised collard greens and a savory, salty
• old-fashioned stuffing overflowing with carrot, onions and celery. Scents of
• Thanksgiving waft through your nostrils while you remember this chicken never
• set foot in an inhospitable, inhumane environment, since Walker’s Grill only
• serves Bell & Evans chicken. The decadence of the dish calls for a medium
• to full-bodied red wine with ample fruit, silky smoothness, and a kiss of oak,
• which is found with a local Virginia glass pour, Paradise Springs Cabernet

Sauvignon. The wine dissolves in your mouth along with the juicy chicken.

Wrap up your dining finale with a unique dessert composed of

avocado, berries and pistachios whipped into a green-colored parfait. Interesting

delight: not too sweet, and not bland like avocados tend to be. The raspberries

and blueberries contrast the avocado nicely, adding texture and bright acidity.

A sparkling moscato with ambrosial flavors would compliment this concoction

nicely if they had such a selection, maybe they’ll take this prod as

encouragement to seek one out.

However you look at it, Walker’s Grille is an anomaly and should

benefit from food lovers who cherish the environment, the method of food

enjoy gratifying food. So far, less than 50 restaurants in the U.S. have

received LEED certification—and a shocking 40% of those are chain restaurants

that buy mass-produced, non-organic or non-sustainable farmed foods. Walker’s

Grille should be jammed packed with business every night of the week despite it’s

Springfield locale, which plays a factor in obscuring it’s visibility from the

DC dining radar. I’m here to tell you, though, once discovered, you will keep

going back.