Loudoun’s restaurant scene is renowned for farm-fresh ingredients, superb local produce and imaginative culinary innovators. From restaurant owners to caterers to chefs, many of those innovators happen to be female. For Women’s History Month we salute five Loudoun women giving us great tastes.
Beverly Morton Billand, The Restaurant at Patowmack Farm, Lovettsville
Beverly Morton Billand helped pioneer the farm-to-table movement in the 1990s when she opened a restaurant in an ethereal glass conservatory on the slopes of her hilltop farm above the Potomac River. Famous for its seasonal, ever-changing eight or nine-course “Progression Menu” – the ingredients from her land, regional farms and even the Potomac River – book well in advance to sample unique tastes and flavors such as mollusk porridge with cipollini onions; tuna and watermelon with banana peppers and purslane; cabbage (beef) wellington with Yukon potato, kale and black garlic and a dessert of Sunchokes with chocolate, cherries and bacon. Add the wine pairing option for the full experience.
Ingrid Gustavson, Lightfoot Restaurant, Leesburg
In 1997 sisters Ingrid and Carrie Gustavson bought and renovated the handsome 1888-built Romanesque Revival-style People’s National Bank building on Leesburg’s North King Street. Twenty-eight years later they are still there, Chef Ingrid helming the kitchen, serving up seasonal New American cuisine with Southern twists in an imperious white tablecloth setting. While the interior under 44-foot-high ceiling is spectacular – Corinthian columns, ornate fireplaces, brass-rail staircases, even the old bank’s vault doors – it’s her food you come for. Highlights include a French onion soup with mushrooms and truffle oil; Braised Pork, Shrimp & Grits and, to satisfy your sweet tooth, a frozen Key Lime Torte. That said, you could always just pop in for a martini and oysters at the horseshoe bar and soak up the scene.
Annie Tumma, Koyo Ramen, Purcellville
Thai-born chef Annie Tumma arrived in Loudoun in 2023 to join her restaurateur sister-in-law Puii Chaokrajang. Puii and her husband Willy owned a slate of Thai restaurants in the county, but they got the idea for a Japanese ramen spot after sensing demand for more culinary variety in Purcellville. In December 2023 they opened Koyo Ramen on East Market Street in Purcellville and who better to run it than Tumma who had studied ramen under a Japanese chef in Bangkok. Among her many extraordinary dishes are the grilled miso eggplant appetizer and a sensuous curry and truffle ramen. “All ingredients are fresh and I make all the soups and my own chili oil,” Tumma said. On top of fine flavors, you will love the traditional Japanese light fixtures and colorful “Art of the Dragon” wallpaper.
Ally Stebner, Local Provisions, Sterling
Professional chef Ally Stebner had worked in resort kitchens and restaurants in California and Arizona, taught cooking classes and ran her own food service consulting company specializing in menu development and recipe creation before she and chef husband Michael opened exquisite farm-to-table restaurant Local Provisions in Loudoun in 2023. Here, the couple uses fresh, seasonal ingredients, makes the pasta and uses a classic wood-burning oven to grill meats and bake breads, all part of Ally’s fresh, healthy food philosophy. What to order? We love the grilled Spanish octopus with cannellini beans; the house-made shrimp risotto with white truffle and the Roseda Farms Flat Iron Steak, always cooked to perfection in that wood-burning oven. Beverage-wise the restaurant offers beers from Loudoun breweries Solace and Lost Rhino.
Joan Wolford, Savoir Fare & C’Est Bon by Savoir Fare, Round Hill
French fries in a paper cone; mini crab cake remoulade; berry and local goat cheese salad; grilled bistro beef tenderloin au jus… these are just some of the many dishes on offer when you cater an event with revered Loudoun chef Joan Wolford’s Savoir Fare. Wolford, who cut her teeth at the iconic Heart in Hand restaurant in upscale Clifton, Virginia in the 90s (her fans included Nancy Reagan and political columnist George Will) opened Savoir Fare in 1997 and caters everything from rehearsal dinners and weddings to brunch parties and “late night snacks.” For those who don’t have an event space in mind, C’est Bon by Savoir Fare is the elegant brick-and-mortar venue in a historic Round Hill home that she opened in 2019 and where she hosts everything from live music shows to birthdays. Visit the website to see the weekend evenings where you can book a romantic table for two at the venue, as if in a restaurant. C’est Bon is French for “it’s good” – and it is.
