Press & Stories
Our story has been told by The Washington Post, Washingtonian, Washington City Paper, DCist, Bethesda Magazine, Northern Virginia Magazine, ARLnow, the Falls Church News-Press and the U.S. Department of State's ShareAmerica; lived out in the Yelp Elite dinners, book launches and live-music nights we host in our dining rooms; and told in our own stories about Uyghur art, food and culture. Here is the collection, newest first.
Founder Hamid Kerim, 2026. Read his story
ARLnow · 2026
Two weeks into our soft opening at 320 23rd Street S, ARLnow welcomed our fifth restaurant to Arlington — "from our legendary hand-crafted hand-pulled noodles and robustly seasoned kebabs to big plate chickens and savory stews."
"A small but mighty DMV chain," What Now DC wrote in May 2026, after Hamid announced on Facebook that our fifth restaurant would open in Arlington — and that we were hiring.
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In the March/April 2026 issue, critic Todd Kliman asked how Dolan has thrived while so many restaurants struggle. His must-haves at Rockville: the Piter Manta, the samsa and the Korma Chop — and a pot of excellent tea to finish.
Read the articleThe day after our soft opening at The Square, Montgomery County's local outlets told readers what to expect: hand-pulled noodles, Big Plate Chicken, lamb and Whole Lamb Tandoori Kebabs, a patio and a new dessert called Kazandibi.
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Days before we opened at The Square, Bethesda Magazine's Elia Griffin spoke with manager Garrett Tohti about the menu and the final inspections. "I can't wait to open the restaurant," he said.
Read the articleWeeks before our first Maryland restaurant opened at The Square, Store Reporter walked through the dining room and previewed the menu — hand-pulled noodles, dumplings, kabobs, and desserts from baklava to Dubai chocolate cheesecake.
Read the articleWeeks before we opened on S. Maple Avenue, ARLnow's Katie Taranto spoke with Hamid about the plan for our biggest restaurant yet — including breakfast and brunch, and his thanks to the community that got Dolan here.
Read the articleIn July 2024, ARLnow confirmed our plan for a Crystal City restaurant at 320 23rd Street S — and our promise to add a handful of Mediterranean dishes alongside the Uyghur menu.
Read the articleWhen a beloved pizzeria closed suddenly on S. Maple Avenue in spring 2024, the News-Press called the news of our arrival "a much happier report" — and explained to its readers what the name Dolan means.
Read the articleWashington's neighborhood blog noticed something new on Connecticut Avenue in July 2023: the illy-partnered café we opened beside our original restaurant.
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In a December 2022 feature on why Uyghur restaurants matter to the Washington region's Uyghur community, DCist's Liam Scott sat down with Hamid at our Cleveland Park table.
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One of our core values is to form and keep close relationships with our guests and our community. Here are a few of our outreach projects and events across Washington, DC — free meals for healthcare workers and National Guard troops, and a community book launch in our Cleveland Park dining room.
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Student journalist Jackson Lanzer came to Cleveland Park in February 2022 to hear how a pharmacist-turned-trader with fifteen companies became a Washington restaurateur — and what he dreams of next.
Read the articleFood writer Alice Levitt has eaten polo from Ürümqi food courts to a village at the edge of the Taklamakan. In December 2021 she called ours "the finest item that emerges from the kitchen" at Dolan Chantilly.
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Our December 2021 announcement, republished: with Cleveland Park and Chantilly both open, we introduced the dishes guests kept coming back for — Samsa, Korma Chop, kebabs crowned with cumin, lamb or pumpkin Manta and Hot Chicken Stew.
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Contributing writer Jin Ni profiled Hamid Kerim among the immigrant owners who refused to close in 2020 — and marked the summer Dolan grew to two restaurants.
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In December 2020, the U.S. Department of State's ShareAmerica platform told the story of how a plate of cumin-marinated lamb kebabs at Dolan can start a conversation — and photographed Hamid with chef Mohamad Tauhid outside our door.
Read the articleTrisha Ahmed spent several November days at Dolan in 2020 — the green canopies, the doppa hats and instruments on the walls, the amber tea — and told Hamid Kerim's story in full, four years before we opened in Falls Church.
Read the articleMichael Loria's October 2020 feature on the region's Uyghur kitchens includes a long conversation with Hamid Kerim — about the day he left Ürümqi, why he bought Dolan, and the two dishes he tells every guest to try.
Read the articleFor his In Transit column on immigrant-owned restaurants in the pandemic, writer Mayukh Sen sat down with Hamid Kerim and manager Sabit Jelil to hear how Cleveland Park kept Dolan alive.
Read the articleFor the second year running, Washingtonian's food editors named our Cleveland Park dining room one of the city's best values — and called hand-pulled laghman its signature attraction.
Read the articleHamid Kerim took the keys to the Cleveland Park dining room on September 10, 2018. On October 1, Washingtonian's editors told the city where to start: the big plate chicken.
Read the articleIn January 2017, nearly two years before Hamid Kerim took over 3518 Connecticut Avenue, the Post's critic Tom Sietsema rated the Uyghur restaurant there "Good" — cumin, chilies and charred meat in the air, and a clear broth he could not stop praising. Here is where the story begins, before Dolan.
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Flour, water, salt — and a pair of hands. Laghman, the hand-pulled noodle of the Uyghur homeland, is the dish Dolan was built around. Here is how the dough becomes one long, chewy strand, what goes into the sauce we ladle over it, and why a bowl of laghman means home.
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I was born in 1981 in Nilka County, near Ghulja, and some of my most meaningful childhood memories are connected to food. In 2017 I started over in America, driving for Uber and Lyft; in September 2018 I bought a small, struggling Uyghur restaurant on Connecticut Avenue. This is how it became Dolan — in my own words.
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Many of our guests had never heard the word "Uyghur" before they ate with us. Here is who we are: a Turkic people of Central Asia, a homeland of deserts, mountains and oasis cities on the Silk Road, a culture of music, craft and hospitality — and the food that carries it, from the Tarim Basin to five dining rooms in the Washington, DC area.
Read the articleA crowd of musicians greets every guest at Dolan. The painting is "Muqam" (1984) by Ghazi Ehmet — the painter of "Uyghur Muqam," the most recognized work in Uyghur art. Here is what our painting shows, who painted it, and why we hang it in our dining rooms.
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Yelp Elite dinners, community book launches, live-music nights and cultural evenings, by year.
Hosting something? Plan an event with us or call 833-MY-DOLAN.
On Wednesday, September 23, 2026, we closed our newest restaurant to the public for one evening and set long tables for Yelp Northern Virginia's Elite Squad: a family-style buffet of hand-pulled noodles, samsa and Big Plate Chicken, pots of chai, a raffle — and Hamid Kerim's story of the American Dream.
Read the articleLess than three weeks after opening, our Rockville restaurant hosted Yelp's DMV Dinner Party series on August 28, 2025 — a themed evening of Uyghur hospitality at The Square.
Read the articleOn June 20, 2025, Yelp's Elite Squad spent an evening at our Falls Church restaurant. Between courses, founder Hamid Kerim told the story of moving to America, driving for Uber and Lyft, and building three restaurants.
Read the articleOn Thursday, January 2, 2025, our Falls Church dining room hosted a one-night performance by a celebrated Uyghur musician and composer — dinner, tea and three hours of melodies from the homeland.
Read the articleOn July 12, 2023, Yelp Northern Virginia brought about 75 Elite members to Metrotech Drive for a Uyghur buffet built around a Whole Lamb Tandoori Kebab, polow, Korma Chop and Dolan Gul Chai on every table.
Read the articleOn Tuesday, April 18, 2023, Yelp DC's Elite Squad and local food reviewers filled our Connecticut Avenue dining room for a shared table of Samsa, Korma Chop, Big Plate Chicken and Dolan Gul Chai.
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On Monday, June 28, 2021, from 6 to 9 pm, we opened Cleveland Park to journalist Geoffrey Cain for a community launch of his book about surveillance in the Uyghur homeland — poetry, a Q&A, live music and a full Uyghur buffet.
Read the articleOn February 9, 2020, more than twenty-five guests filled our dining room to hear Uyghur music, watch chef Murat Kurban pull laghman by hand and hear Hamid tell the story of how he came to Washington.
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