“Now people think we’re serious,” Randy laments. For those counting, that makes 16 Great American Restaurants.

All three are side-by-side on Leesburg Pike. You live near one, or maybe two or three: Sweetwater Tavern, Carlyle, Coastal Flats, Artie’s, Mike’s American, Ozzie’s Good Eats, Jackson’s Mighty Fine Food and Lucky Lounge, Silverado and Best Buns Bread Company.Ī second Best Buns bakery and Patsy’s American opened in May Randy’s Prime Seafood and Steaks-an all new concept-is set to open in July. Now, 43 rather rapid years later, GAR is a major player in the regional restaurant landscape, with a growing portfolio of 16 robust establishments scattered throughout the suburbs, with the three newest opening in Tysons this spring. So the small company with the big name was funny, in a subtle, subversive way. GAR, as the company is referred to these days, had exactly two establishments, Picco’s, a small pizza joint in Fairfax City, and a whimsically named, family themed eatery in Annandale called Fantastic Fritzbe’s Flying Food Factory. “Nobody else had the name, and I thought it would be funny,” says Randy Norton.

When the founders got serious about their business partnership in 1976, they named the new firm Great American Restaurants.

(Photo by Jonathan Timmes)įor one thing, the name of the company was a joke. Randy Norton (second from left) and wife Patsy, run their restaurant empire with their children, (from far left) Jill, Timmy and Jon.

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