Korean BBQ restaurant to open in vacant building

A Jong Ro Korean barbecue restaurant is coming to the building formerly occupied by the Tous Les Jours bakery at 7219 Columbia Pike, Annandale.

The owner, Erica Yoo, hopes to open by the end of the year. The restaurant will have table-side cooking and a special system that will disperse the smoke outdoors. According to Yoo, this is the first restaurant in Fairfax County with this kind of system.

Jong Ro is a Korea-based restaurant chain that specializes in “Korean BBQ but with a wide variety of cuts not found in normal Korean restaurants,” including “beef and pork that are produced with only natural feeds with none of the artificial stuff.” All the meat will be fresh, not frozen, Yoo says.

There are two Jong Ro restaurants in New York City, and there is another one under construction in Los Angeles.

Yoo opened Tous les Jours in August 2014 and closed a few months ago because of low volume and because it was too difficult to operate two bakeries. She also owns a Tous les Jours bakery in Centreville.