Chuy’s, the quirky Tex-Mex restaurant from Austin, Texas that opened its first DMV location in Fairfax last month, will open a second area location at the new Springfield Town Center on Oct. 28. The Austin, Texas-based restaurant is in the mall’s new restaurant row along Loisdale Road and joins Maggiano’s Little Italy, which opened last weekend.
Chuy’s Tex-Mex opens Oct. 28 in the new Springfield Town Center. (Photo: Mark Heckathorn/DC on Heels)
Co-founders Mike Young and John Zapp opened their first restaurant in Austin in 1982. Springfield is the chain’s 59th location, with additional restaurants set to open in Sterling and Gainesville (and maybe Arlington?) in 2015. If you’ve never been to Chuy’s, you should expect more rock-and-roll than mariachi.
While the restaurant has a saying, “If you’ve seen one Chuy’s, you’ve seen one Chuy’s,” all are colorful with a “school” of more than 13,000 carved, wooden fish swimming from the entrance to the bar, a free nacho bar served out of the trunk of an old car from 4-7 p.m. weekdays and a room with hubcaps covering the ceiling. Each location also has a shrine to Elvis Presley, the restaurant’s patron saint, although in Springfield it has been expanded to a curtained Elvis booth. There’s a booth dedicated to Priscilla next to Elvis’. (If you go dressed as Elvis or Priscilla on Jan. 8, the King’s birthday, you’ll get a free entrée.) There are also two dozen tiny animal figurines hidden throughout the restaurant — Fairfax had koala bears, Springfield has cats.
A school of wooden fish leads from the entrance to the bar and Nacho Car. (Photo: Mark Heckathorn/DC on Heels)
The La Chihuahua bar serves up fresh and frozen margaritas and more. (Photo: Mark Heckathorn/DC on Heels)
Chuy's Springfield's hubcap dining room. (Photo: Mark Heckathorn/DC on Heels)
The main dining room with the tortilla comal in the back left corner. (Photo: Mark Heckathorn/DC on Heels)
The Elvis and Prescilla shrines. (Photo: Mark Heckathorn/DC on Heels)
There are 24 miniature cats including this one hidden throughout the restaurant. (Photo: Mark Heckathorn/DC on Heels)
If you’ve visited Fairfax’s 6,000-square foot location in a former Chili’s, you’ll be happy to hear Springfield is 4,000 square feet larger and has two outdoor patios, including one outside the La Chihuahua Bar, which is decorated with portraits of local dogs. Take in a photo of your own pooch and get a free appetizer.
With a freezer about the size of a home refrigerator, all the food including the tortillas, chips, salsa and guacamole is made from scratch daily from fresh produce delivered six days a week. In fact, the only food in the freezer are French fries for the kids’ meals and ice cream. Even the flour, corn and blue corn tortillas are made by hand on a traditional comal in the dining room.
We got a sneak peak and taste over the weekend during the location’s Friends and Family trial run. My party of three found all our food to be fresh and tasty, especially the margaritas made with fresh squeezed lime juice. The menu includes four varieties of “Big As Yo Face” burritos; soft and crispy tacos; four varieties of chile rellenos; the Elvis Green Chile Fried Chicken breast breaded with Lay’s potato chips, deep fried and smothered in green chile sauce and cheddar cheese; and of course fajitas.
Chicken tortilla soup. (Photo: Mark Heckathorn/DC on Heels)
Chile rellenos filled with shrimp and cheese. (Photo: Mark Heckathorn/DC on Heels)
The spicy Chicka-Chicka Boom-Boom chicken enchiladas. (Photo: Mark Heckathorn/DC on Heels)
The Elvis Green Chile Fried Chicken (Photo: Mark Heckathorn/DC on Heels)
Beef and chicken fajitas with all the fixins. (Photo: Mark Heckathorn/DC on Heels)
A Big-As-Yo-Face beef burrito. (Photo: Mark Heckathorn/DC on Heels)
When you visit, make sure to try the queso, which has a bit of a kick from green chiles; the smooth and creamy guacamole; and the frozen strawberry-mango swirl margaritas. My favorite dish so far is the Chicka-Chicka Boom-Boom, two hand-pulled chicken and cheese enchiladas covered in spicy Boom-Boom sauce made with cheese, roasted New Mexican green chiles, tomatillos, green onions, cilantro and lime juice. I also recommend skipping the traditional Mexican rice and ordering the green chile rice instead.
Chuy’s Springfield is located at 6793 Springfield Mall, Springfield and is open for lunch and dinner from 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Happy hour drink specials along with the free nacho car with chips, salsa, queso and ground sirloin are served from 4-7 p.m. weekdays.
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