🚀 go-pugleaf

   This really is not dining, but to place places in context.  Mclean
is a postal zone just like Falls Church is.  There is a city of Falls
Church which is contained in the postal zone, Mclean is not a city--
its just a state of mind :-).  Mclean as a real entity centers on the
intersection of Elm, Old Dominion, and Chain Bridge Road (not route
123).  For purposes of this discussion it extends to Tyson's as far
as Evan's Farm Inn.  There are a lot of good resturants in Mclean and
Northern Virginia, I have not been tempted to go into DC since the late
70s.  My wife tells me that there is a new good Greek resturant in the
Market Place building (between Elm and Old Dominion).  There are no
resturants on the other side of 123 until you get to Great Falls or
Tysons.  All of the Mclean resturantsare an easy walk from the aforementioned
intersection except for Evans Farm which is between Chain Bridge Road
and Route 123.
    My favorites are The Three Pigs Bar-b-que, Cafe Taj (indian), Peking
Imperial or Forbidden City (chinese), Ankor Wat (cambodian), and Charlies
(traditional american).  There are several good Italian resturants and
some pricey resturants as well as the usual fast food and sandwich shops
in this small area.  There are better resturants in any of these catagories
outside of Mclean but as Admiral Gorskin said 'Perfection is the enemy
of good enough'.
     Mclean was just that crossroads until the CIA was built.  Much
of the housing in Mclean was built to service the agency.  Many of my
early neighbors worked at the agency.  The agency with (I suppose) its
exotic eateries is however in Langley not in Mclean.  Langley HS is
just up Georgetown Pike from the CIA, Langley Park is between the agency
and Mclean, and yes the headquarter's building was referred to as Langley
by employees as well as novelists.  There used to be a bar in Mclean,
known as O'tooles (sp?) that was remembered fondly by Agency people--
it was before my time though.
     So the next time youre in Tyson's Corners drop in for a meal.
It is less congested than Vienna, I'll let someone from there let you
know about their resturants. (Too spread out for my tastes, but there
are some good ones.)