100 Very Best Restaurants 2017: L’Auberge Chez François and Jacques’ Brasserie

François Haeringer, 88, is still a strong guiding presence at L’Auberge Chez François in Great Falls, our readers’ top-rated restaurant. Photograph courtesy of L’Auberge Chez François

About L’Auberge Chez François/Jacques’ Brasserie

cuisines
French
Location(s)
332 Springvale Rd
Great Falls, VA 22066

You might get sticker shock when you see the entrée prices here—80 bucks for coquilles St. Jacques!—until you realize they include an appetizer, salad, dessert, and other goodies such as buttery garlic bread and delicate mignardises (small sweets). The menu practice was common in the ’50s, when the late François Haeringer opened this French-Alsatian institution and launched hundreds of birthday and anniversary traditions. Downstairs is the more rustic, less fancy Jacques’ Brasserie. Expensive to very expensive.

Also great: Alsatian tart; Roquefort-cheese salad; lobster with Sauternes; duck with Grand Marnier; choucroute garnie; chocolate soufflé.


Ann Limpert
Executive Food Editor/Critic

Ann Limpert joined Washingtonian in late 2003. She was previously an editorial assistant at Entertainment Weekly and a cook in New York restaurant kitchens, and she is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education. She lives in Petworth.

Food Editor

Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.

Jessica Sidman
Food Editor

Jessica Sidman covers the people and trends behind D.C.’s food and drink scene. Before joining Washingtonian in July 2016, she was Food Editor and Young & Hungry columnist at Washington City Paper. She is a Colorado native and University of Pennsylvania grad.

Kristen Hinman
Articles Editor

Kristen Hinman has been editing Washingtonian’s features since 2014. She joined the magazine after editing politics & policy coverage for Bloomberg Businessweek and working as a staff writer for Voice Media Group/Riverfront Times.