Plan a Weekend: A Chef Junzo Miyajima Food Crawl Across Northern Virginia

Chef Junzo Miyajima, Executive Master Chef at IVEA Concepts, designed, set up or relaunched a cluster of Northern Virginia restaurants within a short drive of each other. Here is a two-day plan to eat your way through them.

Before you go: reserve dinner both nights. Gyu Shige, Gyusan and Churasuko fill up on weekends, and the all-you-can-eat seatings run on set times.

Saturday morning: Okaeri Japanese Café, Centreville. Start with the Japanese soufflé pancakes Junzo perfected, which Northern Virginia Magazine called the region's only authentic version. They are whipped tall with meringue and cooked low and slow, so plan for a short wait. Choose plain with vanilla cream and fruit, matcha with red bean and mochi, or strawberry. Grab an onigiri, filled with beef curry, shrimp tempura or spicy tuna, for the road.

Saturday dinner: Gyu Shige, Mosaic District, Fairfax. The first U.S. location of a Tokyo yakiniku chain, with Junzo as the creative force behind the menu. The signature is Miyazaki A5 Wagyu, grilled at your table. Give each piece just a few seconds per side; beef this marbled goes from perfect to overdone fast. Spend an hour walking Mosaic District before your reservation.

Sunday afternoon: Genki Izakaya, Scout on the Circle, Fairfax. The relaxed half of the weekend: highballs over clear ice, skewers off the binchotan grill and torched sushi. Order the Tornado Omelet Fried Rice, which the restaurant says guests mention most, and try the Ube Colada or Kyoto Sour.

Sunday night: choose your finale. Churasuko in Tysons, whose relaunch program Junzo led, is the Japanese-Brazilian steakhouse the Washingtonian called the first of its kind, with churrasco, sushi and a Fire & Ice Seafood Tower; levels run from $75 to $150. Or go to Gyusan in Arlington for 90 minutes of all-you-can-eat Japanese barbecue and sushi with hand-cut A5 Wagyu, from $58 to $98.

Check each restaurant's site for current hours and reservations before you go.