On September 26, 2024, ARLnow previewed what was coming to 400 S. Maple Avenue in Falls Church. Reporter Katie Taranto had spoken with Hamid Kerim, and her article was illustrated with our own photographs: the bone-in hot chicken stew, dry-fried chicken, chicken and lamb kebabs, spicy sour tofu, mushroom bok choy, Hamid with chef Mohamad Tauhid at the D.C. restaurant, and family pictures, including a restored photograph of Hamid and his brother Abdushukur with their family.
The menu, Taranto wrote, "features Central Asian flavors developed alongside Greek, Persian and Arabic influences," with roasted lamb, hand-pulled noodles and kebab-style dishes as specialties. Falls Church would add something new for Dolan: breakfast and brunch service, along with Turkish and Mediterranean items.
The article retold Hamid's story for Arlington readers — "blacklisted" by the Chinese government in 2017, immigrating with his wife and two children, leaving behind the jewelry businesses he owned. When he bought Dolan's first location, Taranto noted, he could neither cook nor speak English; he learned both with help from his staff and the restaurant's former owner. He is now a father of four.
"We want to grow up our business," Hamid told her. "We want show our real culture and food culture."
He also wanted to say thank you. He expressed gratitude to the community, and particularly to the Jewish community, which has supported our restaurants in D.C. and Chantilly over the years, and said he hoped to build the same ties in Falls Church.
We hoped to open by October 18; the doors opened on November 11, 2024. Falls Church is now our largest restaurant — 104 seats inside, 8 at the bar and 42 on the patio — our most musical, with live Uyghur, Central Asian and Turkish performers on Friday and Saturday evenings, and the only Dolan with a Turkish breakfast and brunch menu. Everything Hamid described to ARLnow that September is on the table.
This article is our own account of the coverage; short quotations are attributed to ARLnow, which holds the copyright to the original piece.