"For years, Bayou Bakery owner David Guas says his McLean neighbors have been coming up to him at his kids’ baseball games or community functions to complain that there aren’t more great dining options in downtown McLean. “You have all these people that are well-traveled, well-educated wanting something different and more sophisticated—but at the same time, just an uncomplicated, unpretentious, neighborhood spot,” he says. Finally, Guas is hoping to give it to them: He’ll open his first full-service restaurant, Neutral Ground, in McLean early 2024.
Neutral Ground refers to the New Orleans name for the grassy medians running through the streets and historical gathering places—but also nods to elusive bipartisanship in the nation’s capital. The restaurant will not, however, center around New Orleans cuisine like Bayou Bakery: “The idea is that you would walk into it and you would never know it’s the same owner,” Guas says."