Tell us a little about your restaurant.

High Side is a craft beer focused restaurant serving Asian street food. Due to the pandemic, we have converted our dining room to a bottle shop selling packaged beer, cider, and mead to-go.

What makes your restaurant unique to Fairfax City?

We curate highly sought after and interesting craft beer both on draft and packaged, serving delicious Asian street food from Taiwan and Malaysia. We emphasize the best way to enjoy craft beer and also provide recommendations and information about beer by Cicerone Certified Beer Servers.

How many years have you been in the city and what encouraged you to take the leap to get started?

We've been in the city for 3 years. The Fairfax City EDA provided all the needed assistance and guidance before I started my business here. I felt that Fairfax City would work with a small business like mine and decided to go ahead and start in the city.

What do you enjoy most about having a business in Fairfax City?

I love the community surrounding us. They have been very supportive since day one and continue to be understanding and supportive today. Also, the City of Fairfax government has been very easy to do business with.

How has your business changed since its opening?

We have organized many outdoor beer festivals that were well received and started to sell packaged beer to-go.

What are some of your fondest memories or biggest successes over the past 3 years?

We just celebrated our 3rd year anniversary, completely virtual! We sold beer boxes for customers to enjoy at home while watching our 6-hour online event that included many of our neighboring businesses. We also raised more than $6,000 for the city nonprofit, CASA. We're glad to have been able to host a celebration that all of our customers could enjoy during this time.

What's next for High Side?

We may be expanding to a bottle shop business and hope to organize more outdoor events when it's safe again.

Are there any fun facts you would like residents and visitors to know?

Before we decided to name the restaurant High Side, we were considering calling it the SCIF Bar. People who work in government/DoD would understand what it means. Also, our tap handles are color coded based on resistor color codes.

When you are not working, where in Fairfax City do you like to spend your time?

I usually spend time with my family and order food from local restaurants. I LOVE good food.

How can people follow you on social?

@highsideva on IG and FB