Restaurants in Sterling

Ultimate Chicken Bistro’s housemade dishes incorporate signature soy-garlic sauce, spicy crushed-red-pepper sauce, and ingredients from Asia and Europe. Yet, unsurprisingly, one ingredient dominates the list: chicken. The lengthy menu, broken down by the region from which each dish takes its inspiration, occasionally strays into shrimp, beef, or vegetables, but poultry steals the show. Prosciutto and swiss cheese stuffed inside a roasted chicken breast tempt diners to sample the chicken cordon bleu, and the Korean-style fried chicken's secret blend of spices is as mysteriously delicious as a steak pulled out of a magician’s hat. Inside the restaurant, sleek wood tables surround an open kitchen space behind glass, creating an inviting space to enjoy a rib-sticking meal.

Fresh herbs release their aromas as Primo Italiano's chefs slather gourmet pizzas with marinara and white ricotta sauce, toss shrimp and chicken with linguini, and layer roasted vegetables with mozzarella in paninis clasped by fresh-baked bread. The kitchen carefully taste tests each ingredient before ordering from suppliers and checks all shipments for stowaway gondoliers.

Chefs at Zeïtoon pack a menu of grilled Mediterranean specialties with fresh produce sourced from fair-trade and eco-friendly farms. Traditional starters such as falafel, bruschetta, and tzatziki served with pita bread complement crisp salads, and entrees such as kebabs and gourmet pizzas use halal meats. A multitude of vegetarian options are also available, including pastas, salads, and pizzas. As they wait for their meals, patrons can peer behind the sleek green counter to watch chefs deftly flip kofta patties and juggle olives with baby-size carbon footprints.

Joe set sail from Agrigento, Italy with his family in 1970 to land in New York, eventually leaving for Virginia to seek his version of the American dream and opening Joe’s Place. The eatery has been family-run for 34 years, which is long enough to see the art of fashion transform countless times and the art of reading a book stay suspiciously the same. Ovens spill out piles of crispy, thin-crust pizzas adorned with fresh toppings and cheeses—such as the white pizza with fontina and garlic and the seafood pizza with fresh shrimp and clams—and thick layers of dough support sicilian deep-dish pies. Cooks prepare pots of steaming pastas and build specialty subs with stacks of prosciutto, provolone, and capicollo. Members of Joe’s family work in both his restaurants, keeping the authentic Italian recipes in constant use, like the sun, a small percentage of which is also pasta sauce.

At Palace Korean BBQ, diners watch as meats sizzle atop tableside barbecue pits, flanked by a colorful mélange of marinated vegetables, rice, and Korean condiments. In addition to Korean barbecue, kim-chi, and bi bim bop dishes, Palace’s expert chefs chop fresh ingredients and simmer them in teriyaki sauce or roll them into fresh sushi and sashimi. Their sharable Japanese shabu-shabu dishes also warm empty bellies.

Decorated with minimalistic earth tones, Asian masks, and dark wooden tables and chairs, the dining room fuses traditional and contemporary elements better than a supercomputer glued to a horse-drawn carriage. Throughout the eatery, bamboo stalks spring up from square pots, glowing in the same neon lights that illuminate the fully-stocked bar.

At the age of 13, Domenico Cornacchia was already forming dough into pasta by hand, building manual dexterity that would further his ambitions of becoming a chef. He grew up working in restaurants in northern Italy before moving to the United States, where he opened his own trattoria-style eatery, Assaggi Osteria. The restaurant has been lauded by local publications, such as Viva Tysons and Washingtonian magazine.

Chef Domenico Cornacchia’s authentic menu centers on steaks and seafood, as well as house-made pastas and fresh produce garnered from farmers' markets and Amish farms. Hand-painted plates stand out from golden-yellow walls, which flank dark wood trim and rustic chairs, giving the space the European air of an old-country inn. Though the main room seats as many as 70 guests, the tables leave an arm’s length of space between each other, so that conversations flow freely without crashing into each other or causing sitcom-style confusion. In the outdoor area, lush greenery surrounds tables, ensuring that diners won’t be spotted by roving census workers.