Westville is coming to Clarendon. 

Jay Strauss, the founder, remembers the day in 2003 when he opened the first Westville neighborhood restaurant at 210 W. 10th Street in the West Village, New York City. “I couldn’t think of a better name like ‘Jay’s Place’ or something. It took off the first day, was full up and hasn’t stopped since.” It had nine tables with 18 seats and no outdoor seating. “But I could look outside the kitchen where I was and see 30 people waiting outside.”

“We knew there was more demand; we had countless requests,” so a year and a half later Strauss and

two partners opened another neighborhood restaurant in the East Village with 55 seats. “It still exists. We still called it Westville, too.”

Pretty soon everyone wanted their own neighborhood restaurant, and they gradually expanded to nine locations in New York City. Then recently Strauss said he and his now eight partners decided to see if the idea works outside NYC. “We know urban living and got a lot of data, did a lot of exploration of areas close to NYC. Arlington has a great number of people in a small area. We saw that these are our people living in and around DC.”

So on Monday, July 14 Westville will open their doors for in-person dining in Clarendon with 65 seats indoors and 30 for outdoor seating. 

Strauss says their basic menu is casual American food with market vegetables and includes seasonal specials. The menu hasn’t changed in 23 years although a few things come and go. 

“This is just a very friendly restaurant with a spotlight on vegetables.”

The Clarendon restaurant has already opened for delivery. “Delivery is very important to us, and we hope that people will take advantage of this option, too. We hope to have a lot of happy people.”

The way it works is order your breaded chicken cutlet or grilled salmon and then choose your two-three vegetables. “It’s not vegetarian but instead of a 12-ounce steak

with a few vegetables we focus on the vegetable choices. It’s how I like to eat. It struck a chord.” This could include asparagus with parmesan, beets with goat cheese, pesto mashed potatoes, green peas with bacon and caramelized onions.

Strauss said in the beginning they started with eight vegetables and gradually expanded to 21. “Prep work for eight vegetables is a lot of effort and if you ask any ‘chefy’ person what it would take, they’d run — it’s quite a process.” He says the biggest seller in their experience so far has been their kale salad which includes blue cheese crumbles, pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries and marinated slivers of purple onions.

“We have a basic menu with classic combinations.” He adds they aren’t looking for the most esoteric ingredients but “we’re free style in method and don’t have to do things a certain way.”

Strauss says there is an excitement about opening in Clarendon to “our people, our demographic. We’re hoping to make some new friends who want to come back repeatedly.”

Westville is located at 2800 Clarendon Blvd. and is open M-F 11:30 am-10 pm andSat-Sun brunch 10 am-4 pm and dinner 5-10 pm.