Forty years since its founding, the Eden Center remains a community pillar of Falls Church and thriving destination for visitors from throughout the D.C. area and beyond.
Known for its immigrant-run restaurants and grocery stores, the expansive commercial center — situated just over the Arlington border on the 6700 block of Wilson Blvd — is a landmark of Northern Virginia’s Vietnamese community.
Down to its very architecture, including a clock tower modeled after one in downtown Saigon, the center founded in 1984 draws on the collective memory of thousands of immigrants who moved to the region after the Vietnam War.
Over the decades, hundreds of businesses — many of which are family-owned and operated, and some of which were originally in Arlington — have called the center home. It’s not uncommon to come across longtime establishments like Huong Viet and Huong Binh Bakery, which have been in business since the center’s founding, or shortly thereafter.
Today, the Eden Center is an East Coast cultural attraction, Falls Church Mayor Letty Hardi told ARLnow.
“We often see tour buses that will pull up, that will drive hours away so that people can get Asian groceries and have Vietnamese food. It is delicious,” Hardi said.
What’s new?
In addition to the center’s historical gems, you’ll find a handful of newer destinations that remain committed to authenticity.
One spot to keep an eye out for is Pop Up District — a food hall concept from the owner of the bubble tea shop TeaDM Lounge — which plans to house six or seven different businesses with an emphasis on Vietnamese fusion cuisines. The business is currently awaiting liquor license approval, TeaDM general manager Andrew Vossler told ARLnow.
“It’s going to be a really fun night place,” Vossler said. “We’re going to have a lot of DJs ideally, and we’re going to have promoters as well. So, it’s for people who want to come at night and destress after work.”
Also new to the Eden Center are sister restaurants Tinh Tam and Truong Tien. While Tinh Tam focuses on vegetarian food, Truong Tien — which the Washington Post hailed as the center’s “newest jewel” last fall — offers imperial Hue cuisine.
Another recent development to note is Mia & More Sugarcane Juicery, which presses hundreds of pounds of sugarcane every day — sometimes reaching over 1,000 pounds of sugarcane on the weekends. If you look to the left of the cash register, you can’t miss the large juice press.
The store is part of a fresh juice franchise founded in Washington state in 2012. The Eden Center welcomed the franchise’s first East Coast location just before the new year.
Owner and partner Ken Pham told ARLnow that sugarcane juice is to Vietnamese culture what coffee is to some Americans.
“When you hang out with people and friends, we’ll drink sugarcane instead of coffee,” Pham said, mentioning the small juice machines on the streets of Vietnam he remembers from childhood.
Other key food destinations for visitors might include Crabby Noodles Pho & Seafood, which opened in late 2023, or Thanh Son Tofu. Set to reopen on Friday, Aug. 24 after a brief closure, Thanh Son Tofu is where visitors flock to enjoy in-house handcrafted tofu.
The soy-based protein can be ordered fresh, fried, or made into pudding, and enjoyed alongside the vendor’s other offerings like sticky rice and fish cakes.
Coming up
The Mid-Autumn Festival, also called the Moon Festival, is a Chinese holiday celebrated across many cultures. It takes place next month.
The festival celebrating the fall harvest is an important time for the Eden Center. Many bakeries produce and sell the festival’s signature sweet symbol: mooncakes. The Cha Kim Phung bakery has already started preparing for the festival earlier this month, owner Vinh Tran told ARLnow.
This year’s Mid-Autumn Festival will be celebrated at the Eden Center on Saturday, Sept. 14.
Here to stay
As the Falls Church City Council mulled over the now-approved East End Small Area Plan last year, concerns circulated that the Eden Center could be tarnished or totally removed amid redevelopment plans.
Organizers with the Viet Place Collective worked with city officials to increase awareness of potential displacement risks and prioritize the center’s preservation in the plan, according to the organization’s Facebook.
Capital Commercial Properties, the center’s landlord, recently confirmed the company’s commitment to Eden Center’s preservation with ARLnow.
“We don’t have any [redevelopment] plans at all. In fact, our plans are the opposite,” General Counsel and Senior Vice President Alan Frank said. “Our plans are to be there forever.”
