Scion in Silver Spring: 'Sophisticated Comfort Food' This Spring

There's a sort of "Red Line" connection between Silver Spring and Dupont Circle, the tony Washington, DC neighborhood a few miles away. At least that's what Joanne Liu, owner of Scion restaurant in Dupont, kept hearing. She's operated the American restaurant in the District for nearly four years and her customers kept mentioning Silver Spring—they live in Silver Spring, but work in Dupont; they live in Dupont and work in Silver Spring.

Come this Spring, Liu will see for herself when she opens the restaurant's second location at 1200 East-West Highway in downtown Silver Spring. 

"Scion will be quite similar to what we have in Dupont as far as the menu is concerned," Liu told Patch. Brunch, lunch and dinner with a focus on American craft beers—at least 12 on tap and lots of bottles, she said. 

Read more about Silver Spring's foodie scene. 

Liu leased 4,500 square feet of space just a few blocks south of the Silver Spring Metro and plans to expand Scion's reach while debuting a new food concept with NaiNai's, an Asian noodle and dumpling bar next door. 

Liu told Patch that Silver Spring was the perfect place to expand and that she's sure her food, which she describes as "sophisticated comfort food," will be a welcome addition to the neighborhood. 

"Though it is suburban and outside of DC, it's such a wonderful neighborhood with the density of the apartments and the condo buildings mixed with enough office space and folks coming to work," Liu said.

"It seemed like a nice, complimentary location for us to locate our second Scion. Though there's some wonderful places in Silver Spring, I think Silver Spring will be welcoming to a neighborhood-oriented kind of bar and grill such as Scion."

Liu plans to stagger the opening of both restaurants, perhaps with just dinner service first, but she's still deciding, she said. Tentatively, she hopes to have Scion open in "April/May." 

Check back to Silver Spring Patch for more information about NaiNai's.