Carry-out empanadas shop launching soon in Reston, Great Falls and Chantilly

A local taqueria will expand its services next month with the introduction of a new empanadas shop.

Señor Ramon Taqueria hopes to launch Ramona Empanadas by Nov. 15, founder Damian Dajcz says. The carry-out shop will start at Señor Ramon’s flagship Leesburg restaurant before rolling out to its other locations in Sterling, Reston, Great Falls and Chantilly.

The shop will also be available at the company’s main kitchen in Sterling (506 Shaw Road, Suite 324), which is expanding with a butcher shop and “a small Latin grocery store” as well, Dajcz told FFXnow.

“Customers can order empanadas in advance online or come to one of the five locations where they will find a large Ramona Empanadas digital ordering kiosk,” the restaurant said in an announcement of the launch.

According to Señor Ramon’s website, the empanadas are freshly made and then flash-frozen for pickups, deliveries and wholesale orders. Online orders are already being accepted through the website.

The stuffed pastries will come in a variety of flavors, including regular or spicy beef and chicken, beer-braised brisket, caprese, ham and cheese, spinach, sweet corn, onion and cheese, pulled pork carnitas, pepperoni and cheese, and bacon, egg and cheese.

Dajcz and his team opened the first Señor Ramon Taqueria in Leesburg in 2016 with the goal of bringing authentic Mexican street food to Northern Virginia, according to the website.

A native of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Dajcz considered studying medicine and hotel management in college before taking cooking classes and getting the opportunity learn from renowned chef Gato Dumas, who founded Latin America’s largest culinary school, according to a 2019 profile by Loudouner magazine.

After working in one of Dumas’s restaurants, Dajcz moved to the U.S. to finish his culinary studies at Ohio University and Le Cordon Bleu’s Scottsdale, Arizona, campus.

Señor Ramon expanded into Fairfax County for the first time in 2018 with its Chantilly location (4500 Daly Drive). Reston followed suit a year later with an opening in the Home Depot shopping center at 11790 Baron Cameron Avenue, Unit A, and the Great Falls restaurant (9900 Georgetown Pike) got a grand opening in June 2021.

In addition to Señor Ramon and now Ramona Empanadas, Dajcz’s company is behind Bites Grilled Cheese & Cheesesteaks and Daybreak Kitchen and Biscuit Company, which can both be found at 22455 Davis Drive in Sterling.

According to the announcement, the Ramona Empanadas team is already “in talks to expand” to other locations in the D.C. area.