Restaurants

Celebrity chef Spike Mendelsohn visits Loudoun store and restaurant

Spike Mendelsohn, a DC-based chef and restauranteur, paid a visit to Loudoun County today to unveil his namesake burger at the area’s first Dash In restaurant, gas station, and convenience store.

The Burn reported on Dash In opening its doors a couple of weeks ago at its location off Gum Spring Road, just south of Highway 50.

The store includes a full fast-casual restaurant inside featuring fresh-made burgers, wings, sandwiches, salads,  breakfast bowls, donuts, pastries, and many other items.

Mendelsohn is well-known from his appearances on TV shows such as Bravo’s “Top Chef,” Food Network’s “Iron Chef America,” and Spike TV’s “Bar Rescue.” He also owns and operates several restaurants on Capitol Hill in DC and elsewhere.

As part of today’s event, the TV chef formally unveiled the Spike Burger, which will be available at the Loudoun County Dash In for a limited time, likely through April.

The Spike Burger

The burger includes a fresh hamburger patty topped with caramelized mushrooms and onions, Monterey Jack cheese, bacon and a sunny side up egg served on a kaiser roll.

The official grand opening celebrations for the store — what the company calls “a restaurant that happens to sell fuel” — are scheduled for March 30 and 31.

While the Gum Spring Road location is the first Dash In in Loudoun County — and in Northern Virginia for that matter — many more are planned. Company execs say they are working on multiple locations across NoVa.

Here in Loudoun, we know a Dash In is being considered for a spot off Claiborne Parkway just south of Route 7. It would be on an empty parcel of land across from the Belmont Chase shopping plaza, home to the Cooper’s Hawk restaurant and the Whole Foods grocery store.