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Pho to Go

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By Tom Sietsema

Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 13, 2007

The area's best-known Vietnamese restaurant -- Huong Que, also referred to as Four Sisters (6769 Wilson Blvd., Falls Church) -- will be leaving its base in the Eden Center for a larger home in Fairfax County next year, according to Le Lai, Sister No. 2 at the family-owned business.

Lai says parking problems, especially on weekends, and a hard-to-spot location are behind the decision to move the 170-seat operation after more than a decade. The future restaurant, which will include a patio for al fresco dining and will not include the original's Vietnamese name (Huong Que means ''Taste of Home"), is expected to open as early as April in the developing Merrifield Town Center at 8190 Strawberry Lane in Merrifield.

The menu at the new establishment will include such longtime customer favorites as grilled pepper beef, sea bass with black bean sauce, and shrimp with ginger and scallions. Joining those dishes will be a number of fresh ideas being tested by the restaurant's co-owner and Lai's mother, Thanh Tran: fish with tamarind sauce, and grilled beef wrapped around celery and onions.

Just for the record, Four Sisters is a bit of a misnomer -- and has been for years. Lai concedes that she and Sister No. 4, Lieu Lai, and a brother, chef Hoa Lai, are the only siblings who work regularly at the restaurant.