(Updated at 12:20 p.m.) D.C. restaurant Immigrant Food appears to be coming to Ballston.
The eatery looks to be moving into a building across the street from the Ballston Metro station, according to an application filed with the county.
This would be the restaurant’s first foray out of the District, where Immigrant Food has three outposts: the Planet Word Museum, the White House and Union Market.
As part of its move, the restaurant applied for permission to build out a patio seating area for the space it is leasing at the base of a 7-story office building. The office tower, owned by The Nature Conservancy, is located at the corner of Fairfax Drive and N. Taylor Street, while the restaurant’s address is 4245 Fairfax Drive, Suite 150.
“The proposed changes, if approved, would further the Countywide goal of promoting the economic vitality of Arlington by increasing the walkable restaurant space within the high-traffic Ballston Metrorail area,” land use attorney Andrew Painter wrote in a letter to the county filed with the patio application.
The head chef of Immigrant Food is Enrique Limardo, of D.C. restaurant Seven Reasons fame. With the expansion of Immigrant Food into Arlington, Limardo cements his culinary presence in the county, as he is also behind Chicken + Whiskey — another restaurant that started in D.C. and opened in Clarendon earlier this summer.
The space was last occupied by Zoë’s Kitchen, a Greek-inspired soup, salad and sandwich restaurant, which appears to have closed some four years ago. Fast-casual chain Cava purchased the Zoë’s Kitchen in 2018 and has since taken over many locations.
Immigrant Food did not return requests for comment submitted to their website.
