New Scion Opens in Silver Spring - Washington City Paper

This week the team behind Dupont Circle’s Scion and Crios Modern Mexican opened a new location in Silver Spring.

In the 4,500-square-foot space two blocks from the Silver Spring Metro station, the new Scion boasts a 70-seat dining room featuring an Asian-themed comfort food menu and a lounge and 12-seat bar offering a large rotating selection of American craft beer and a modest list of wines and cocktails.

The food menu is nearly identical to the original location’s. Chef Allan Javery has added some new entrees including hand-made gnocchi with shredded duck ragu and goat cheese topped with flash-fried spinach, and a spring risotto with asparagus, summer peas, and an over-easy egg.

Bar manager Tim Liu has taken advantage of D.C.’s lax alcohol laws to stock the Dupont restaurants with out-of-market beers from breweries like Colorado’s Funkwerks and Oregon’s Oakshire and Gigantic. But because of Montgomery County’s more stringent regulations, he describes the current list of 12 drafts and 35 bottles as “a work in progress” and expects to have the bottle list up to 60 by the end of the month.

Liu is planning to bring his enthusiasm for beer events to Silver Spring. His first will be a Lagunitas draft night on June 27 featuring several beers usually only served at the brewery’s tap room.

The restaurant has generous specials that should help boost its popularity as a neighborhood favorite. Happy hour is from 5 to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday with half-off all drafts, $5 glasses of wine, $4 rail drinks and appetizer specials. Monday nights, diners can enjoy half-price bottles of wine and Tuesdays are half-price burgers. Liu may also start an extended happy hour on Sundays for draft beers.

The restaurant aims to be open for lunch and brunch by early June. By July, the owners of Scion will also open an adjacent noodle shop, NaiNai’s, serving quick, affordable noodle and dumpling dishes and a small selection of wines, sake, and bottled beer.