After years in various aspects of the food business, Andrew Holden wasn’t looking to open a restaurant — he far preferred the predictability and profitability of his catering business, The Joy of Eating.
But as he looked for a kitchen to base that business out of, he came upon Cedar Knoll, a shuttered restaurant space on an idyllic hill with sweeping views of the Potomac River in the Alexandria section of Fairfax County.
It was the exception to all of his rules.
“I never really wanted a restaurant, because, there are a ton of restaurants. What makes the restaurant special? How do you know people will come?” he said. In Cedar Knoll’s case, it was the view — and the fact that part of the building is a log cabin dating back a couple hundred years with a connection to George Washington.
So Holden teamed up with his brother, Christopher Holden, another chef, Charles Blevins, and a third partner, Neal Wadhwa, to lease the 4,000-square-foot restaurant, which had been closed since November 2014.
They opened quietly in December after $250,000 in startup costs — $100,000 of that self-funded and the rest from an EagleBank small business loan.
The new Cedar Knoll retains much of the building’s original character, with wood beams, a “log cabin room” that is the original log cabin built on the property in the 1800s, when it was part of River Farm on George Washington’s Mount Vernon plantation. There’s a fireplace in every room — including a large one with a portrait of George himself hanging above — as well as a private dining room and a sunny “botanical room” full of windows and whitewashed wood.
Holden and his partners filled the restaurant with Colonial-era paintings, antiques and “items from Grandma’s attic,” he said. Crystal chandeliers and white tablecloths dot the dining room, because they are trying to offer an upscale dining option in the largely residential neighborhood — though Holden stops short of calling it fine dining.
The space has been a restaurant for years; it was a tea room in the 1940s, and also an antiques shop for a time. Starting in the 1970s, Cedar Knoll was a popular spot in the Fort Hunt neighborhood, run first by the building’s owners, Raj and Asha Mallick. They operated a dinner theater there at one point.
But it had gone downhill under subsequent operators, and Holden knows they have to earn back the neighborhood’s trust.
“People have been sending their friends in to tell them how it is, because they had sworn they would never go to Cedar Knoll again,” he said.
The menu, which comes from the brains of the restaurant’s three chef partners, stays true to tradition, a mix of American and French cuisine with a little Italian thrown in. There are hits of whimsy, however, such as the lobster “profiterolls,” a lobster appetizer served like a lobster roll using a profiterole-like bun, or “the wintry mix,” a soup of roasted winter vegetables, and some modern twists, such as the local rainbow trout with Indian biryani rice and cilantro mint chutney.
The response has been positive so far; the restaurant booked up its first two weekends, and has strong bookings for the Valentine’s Day-Presidents Day weekend. As the restaurant ramps up, the culinary team also has catering jobs to help supplement income, Holden said.
The restaurant recently started happy hour and Sunday brunch, and aims to add lunch when the whether improves and they can open the outdoor patio. The restaurant team also plans to host catered events at the property, including on its expansive front lawn just steps from the river.
“We figured, if we do what the restaurant asks us to do — use the location, the view, play off the historical building, give it a comfortable feel, things that fit in well here, that would make the most sense,” Holden said.
