De Ma Vie is coming to 7787 Leesburg Pike in Idylwood (staff photo by Jared Serre)
Idylwood will soon welcome a French bakery and cafe.
Construction permits have been filed for De Ma Vie, a new venture that will take over the first floor of the commercial building at 7787 Leesburg Pike.
The space was previously occupied a hookah bar called Mint Cafe. The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved a change in use for that cafe, which took over a former United Bank branch, in 2020, hoping it would rejuvenate a prominent site near the Route 7 and I-495 interchange.
Though Mint Cafe appears to have departed the site in 2024, the forthcoming cafe — whose full name, Beau Jour De Ma Vie, translates to “a beautiful day in my life” — similarly hopes to energize the neighborhood, providing a place where people can gather and enjoy good food and company.
“The idea came actually, from my daughter, who is an artist,” property and business owner Adel Kebaish told FFXnow. “… She wants to build a nice lounge, because this area doesn’t have any place that people can simply have a conversation and entertain each other.”
Aiming to open around late August or September, De Ma Vie is currently awaiting an occupancy permit from Fairfax County and a few final pieces of equipment — namely a rotating oven from Sweden and a WMF coffee machine from Germany, Kebaish says.
According to renovation plans submitted to Fairfax County in early July, the cafe will occupy approximately 2,600 square feet on the building’s first floor. It can fit 134 total occupants, including approximately 50 people each in two dining rooms, four staff in the kitchen and 30 people seated outdoors.
Kebaish’s daughter, Samara, is designing the space to include an open kitchen, so customers can see their food being freshly prepared. He says she hopes to create an atmosphere that’s more like a lounge than a traditional coffee shop, with custom-made furniture and automated lighting and other systems to promote energy efficiency.
“The prices are not upscale or anything. She intends to make it very affordable, but the seating will be upscale,” Kebaish said. “The equipment will be upscale.”
The menu will include fresh juice, coffee, gelato, and a variety of baked goods and pastries, including sourdough bread and baguettes, croissants, eclairs and macarons. Some items will change on a weekly basis.
“Two items will be added every week from different locations, from Italy, for example, from the Middle East, from Portugal,” Kebaish said. “So, she’s going to add two items every week and replace them with another item.”
In addition, freshly made crepes will be available for breakfast, and Samara plans to offer two kinds of sandwiches for lunch and dinner during weekdays, including a Montreal-style smoked meat sandwich as an homage to her mother’s home city.
In the future, she intends to add restaurant service on Fridays and the weekend, offering four or five-course meals with help from Parisian chefs who will also support the bakery, according to Kebaish.
Other plans for the future include transforming the building’s basement into a space for private parties and other special events that would be served by the cafe.
The building’s second floor will still be home to a number of commercial offices and the dental clinic Smile Studio, Kebaish and the dentist both confirmed. Signage for the dental studio has been removed due to code-related issues from the previous tenant, but Kebaish says he plans to install a new, digital sign that will feature all tenants on the property.
Situated near McLean and Tysons, the Leesburg Pike location should make De Ma Vie visible to a range of patrons, from office workers to residents and students at nearby Marshall High School. When researching the area, Samara also saw a dearth of options for freshly made French food, Kebaish says.
“She did her homework, and she thinks it’s going to be good for the area and good for her business,” he said.
Dining and Cooking