A new Herndon family-owned Pakistani breakfast restaurant may be the only one of its kind in Virginia and, perhaps, even the country, according to its co-owner.

Desi Breakfast Club on 3065 Centreville Road might just be the only diner that serves exclusively Pakistani breakfast all day, says co-owner Malik Waleed Ahmad.

“I have customers who come in, and they’re like ‘we go to Dubai and the Middle East and there’s breakfast places, but we’ve been looking here and there’s nothing,'” said Ahmad, who owns the restaurant with his father Zaheer Ahmed and brother Fahad Qadeer.

The family opened Desi Breakfast Club (in Udru, “Desi” means “of local origin”) in early June as a solution to their own breakfast-searching woes.

They also own Charcoal Chicken in Chantilly. After closing late at night, they often would go in search of breakfast, and there would only be one option: the IHOP next door.

“We saw the demand for a Pakistani restaurant to do breakfast,” Ahmad said. “And on weekends, brunch.”

They sensed a particularly acute need for this specific niche to be filled in the Town of Herndon, which has a population that’s about 18.5% Asian, as of 2019, with a growing number of residents from the South Asian subcontinent.

“Indian, Pakistani, Nepali, Bangladeshi…our politics, our cultures, they all may divide us,” Ahmad said. “But food is one thing that unites us all. And we all eat the same food.”

He says because word has been getting around the local community, the restaurant is constantly crowded on weekends with people traveling from across the region to eat there.

In fact, Desi Breakfast Club is currently reservations-only on Saturdays and Sundays.

The menu consists of a mix of stews, flaky breads, samosas, fritters, eggs, and sweets like halwah (a sesame candy).

“The star of the show is Halwah Puri,” Ahmad said, referring to a dish that consists of fry bread, halwah, spiced potatoes, and chickpeas. “It’s the most popular dish. It outsells everything else by a hundred percent.”

All the recipes are ones his father brought from Pakistan when the whole family moved to Herndon 18 years ago. Cooking was always his father’s “hobby,” but, in 2010, he told his family he wanted to open a restaurant. That’s when Charcoal Chicken was born.

“In the beginning, when we first came to America, the restaurant was a means to an end,” Ahmad said. “But it’s a dream come true…We are building something.”

Ahmad, now 28, has lived in Herndon for nearly two decades. He says he grew up eating all of the dishes being served at Desi Breakfast Club, something that he likely has in common with others.

“Back home, every mom [and dad] makes the best food,” he said. “These are my family’s recipes, but I’m sure there are other people who eat this exact same food. They just make it a little differently in their home.”

Every Monday, the restaurant is closed so the family can mix spices and prepare food together. His father helps his brother prepare and manage the kitchen, while Ahmad works in front of the house, interacting with customers.

“It’s rewarding…I get to meet new people every single day. I get to feed people and just see happy faces,” he said. “I even put in 12, 13 hours daily, but I don’t get tired.”

Ahmad tells Reston Now that he encourages everyone to come by, regardless of whether they’ve tried Pakistani breakfast food before, so he can share a little piece of who he is with others.

“When you come eat with us, it’s like you’re eating at home. Our home,” Ahmad said. “I’m happy that all the food that I ate growing up and enjoyed, I get to share with everyone and my community.”

From elementary school to George Mason University to the play pens of their entertainment businesses, Gary and Diane Reedy have been together. Instead of what was supposed to be a long awaited retirement ahead of the 41st anniversary, the couple decided to opt for something different: running a brunch and breakfast spot in RTC West (12100 Sunset Hills Road).

Famous Toastery had its first official opening on Monday (April 15), after a soft opening this weekend. All sales over the weekend were donated to Cornerstones, a nonprofit organization that the couple said embodies their mission of serving the community. Diane brings a heightened awareness of socio-economic struggle after years of traveling Africa and Asia for the World Bank, while her husband, Gary, reflects on previous experiences as a high school teacher and coach. Their partnership roots back to years in high school when Gary, who calls himself a former jock, dated Diane, who was a straight-A student.

Before opening the 3,300-square-foot restaurant at the mixed use center, the couple built several businesses, including Planet Play in Plaza America, some of the first laser tags in the area, a carousel in Springfield Mall for 12 years, and other entertainment businesses. Since then, they’ve sold off their ventures and opted for Famous Toastery, which is open for breakfast and lunch.

“The problem is that we can’t ever stop. I can’t play golf every single day,” Gary said, chuckling. “We’ve had our careers and retirements and a couple of kids. Sometimes I wonder how we did it all, but we’re young at heart and we want to stay involved.”

Although he lives in Loudoun County, Gary says Reston is a special community because it combines what he says are the best elements of work and family life. His wife agrees.

“Simon’s vision for Reston was to include people from all different kinds of backgrounds, ” Diane said. “It was really meant to be an integrated community and its benefited from a lot of public involvement and will continue to benefit from a lot of public involvement.”

As the Famous Toastery kicks off, they hope to continue partnering with the community after spending most of their lives in Fairfax County. “We’ve gotten out of the night business,” Gary said. “Reston is still really growing and we look forward to growing with it.”

Famous Toastery has two other Virginia locations. It was started in 2005 in Huntersville, NC in a small house. The owners turned the concept into a franchise in 2013.

Photo via Carlos Banos