Author: Matt Blitz

Live music venue The Filling Station opening soon next to Ballston’s El Rey

By Matt Blitz
Live music venue The Filling Station is opening in Ballston (staff photo)

A new “live music and event venue” is coming to Ballston, posting up right next to El Rey.

The Filling Station is set to open soon on Wilson Blvd in Ballston, per an Instagram post last week. It aims to be a “great new spot for live music, comedy and more,” reads the post

The Filling Station will be adjacent to El Rey at 4201 Wilson Blvd and, like El Rey, owned by brothers Ian and Eric Hilton.

The brothers’ growing list of bars and restaurants include Cafe Coline on Langston Blvd, which was named one of Washingtonian’s Top 100 Restaurants earlier this year. Originally on U Street NW in the District, taco spot El Rey opened its second location in Ballston in late 2021.

The new venue is set to host a variety of events including stand-up comedy, live music, private parties, salsa brunches and podcast recordings, a spokesperson told ARLnow. A link on El Rey’s website has a sample menu that includes typical pub fare, like nachos, chicken wings, loaded fries, and 17 beers on tap.

It’s not immediately clear when The Filling Station might open, with the website noting only that it’s “coming soon.” ARLnow reached out to a restaurant spokesperson who replied that they were still “ironing out exact details” and more information be available in the future.

Signs have been up for The Filling Station since at least August 2022, but the business has faced delays related to its live entertainment permit application, ARLnow was told last year.

There’s been a bit of a shifting in Arlington’s live music scene. B Live opened last year, looking to fill the void left by Iota Club’s closing in 2017. But last month, the venue announced it was moving away from original acts to host more karaoke. The Renegade in Clarendon remains open with a full live music calendar, though.

Restaurant owner is ‘very frustrated’ with the process to transform historic Green Valley Pharmacy

By Matt Blitz
Green Valley Pharmacy last year (staff photo by Matt Blitz)

(Updated at 12:40 p.m.) As historic Green Valley Pharmacy moves closer to being transformed into a restaurant, the owner of the new business remains “very frustrated” with the years-long redevelopment process.

Last month, the Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board (HALRB) held its regular meeting, during which the board reviewed updated plans for the former pharmacy. The building at 2415 Shirlington Road is being transformed into a burger and pita restaurant called “Halal Spot,” as ARLnow first reported in 2021.

The board’s discussion in June centered on a proposed pergola and bioretention planters. While the planter plans were approved at the meeting, the pergola was deferred due to having not the most updated plans. At the meeting, a restaurant spokesperson said they intended to resubmit plans with a sloped awning and the pergola no longer covering the window.The window is original to the historic building and “reflective of the storefront nature of the property,” as was noted at the meeting.

The Board asked the project representative to re-submit updated plans.

Since the pharmacy building is protected in the Arlington County local historic district, any proposed exterior alterations must be approved by the Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board’s design review process.

County historic preservation planner Serena Bolliger has confirmed to ARLnow that the pergola is the last element that needs to be approved for the Certificate of Appropriateness (CoA) permit but the civil engineering plan remains under review.

Restaurant owner Nasir Ahmad told ARLnow that this is his understanding as well, and aims to re-submit civil engineering plans this month. If that does happen and everything gets approved, the hope is that exterio construction can begin by mid-September. The build-out should take about six months, Ahmad said, meaning Halal Spot could open by early spring 2024.

But Ahmad remains frustrated with how long it’s taken to this point, even if it appears that approvals are finally wrapping up.

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It’s finally tee time for Columbia Pike’s Par Citi

By Matt Blitz
1/5

Today is finally tee time at Par Citi Golf on Columbia Pike.

The virtual indoor golf facility at 3102 Columbia Pike is opening today, per a press release. It’s located inside of the old LoanMax building and next to the combination Baskin Robbins/Dunkin’ Donuts.

As a spokesperson told ARLnow back in May, the independently-owned Par Citi is set to be similar to Five Iron Golf in D.C.

“Our state-of-the-art facility is equipped with the latest technology, allowing you to simulate a round of golf on some of the world’s most renowned courses,” a press release reads. “Our simulators provide an immersive and realistic experience, allowing you to practice, compete and improve your game all in a climate-controlled environment.”

The complex will also feature a cafe and bar, though it’s unclear if the bar will be opening immediately with the Virginia ABC license still pending.

It was back in September when ARLnow first reported that Par Citi was set to take its swings on Columbia Pike. Initially, the plan was to open that fall and then in May, but it appears permitting delays pushed it back a few months.

On first look, Par Citi’s location may seem like a bit off the green. It’s occupying a building that once housed a car title lending company and is next to a Shell gas station-slash-donut shop.

But a spokesperson said that Columbia Pike’s eventual redevelopment with new condos, apartments, and mixed-use buildings provides lots of “potential” and a future source of golf-loving customers for the indoor virtual simulator complex.

“This is a golfers paradise built by avid golfers,” a press release notes. “We have thought a lot about the details we would want to find in a place where we will spend a lot of time playing and practicing.”

Expansion plans are already in the works for Par Citi with another facility planned for D.C. “in [the] coming months.”

A tricycle-based Turkish coffee purveyor has set up shop in Ballston

By Matt Blitz
1/3

(Updated on 7/25/23) A tricycle serving Turkish coffee has started serving in Ballston.

The three-wheeled coffee contraption is from long-time restaurant veteran and local author Isa Seyran, who told ARLnow late last year he was working on a new concept that would come after leaving his server job at The Salt Line.

This mobile, custom-designed red tricycle offering Turkish coffee and baklava is that new business. It has been parking along the 4000 block of Wilson Blvd after opening earlier this month.

Seyran named the small coffee stand “Ballstonian,” in homage to the neighborhood in which he has lived for over two decades.

The coffee tricycle is currently open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. (or until supplies last) seven days a week.

“I was a waiter for 23 years and worked with some of the greatest chefs in our region. Some of the food I served, like [at] Rasika and Zaytinya, was simply divine, but it was never my thing,” Seyran told ARLnow about why he decided to open a Turkish coffee spot in Ballston.

“So I decided to sing my own song at my own humble stage and wanted to bring a piece of Anatolia, Medietterrenea and Mesopotamia, a cradle of civilization where I spent the first half of my life, to Ballston, where I spent the second half of my life.”

Besides coffee and baklava, Ballstonian also serves cheese pastries and masala chai from a recipe Seyran learned while working at D.C.’s famed Indian restaurant Rasika.

The Ballston resident worked at some of the region’s most popular and renowned restaurants, including ​​Zaytinya, Bombay Club, and Fiola Mare in D.C., before ending his tenure at The Salt Line in Ballston.

Beyond those jobs, Seyran is also an author, playwright, and filmmaker often producing art based on his experiences as a waiter in the D.C.-area. And, now, he’s added entrepreneur to that list.

He told ARLnow that the first few days have gone well so far and he’s been “humbled by the overwhelming support and love Ballstonian received from my fellow Ballstonians.”

But Seyran is not particularly surprised by the reception, noting that no other Ballston business is selling Turkish coffee.

“At The Salt Line… I got to know my client base, their spending habits, who they are and what they want,” Seyran said. “Having done my market research, I knew people were hungry for something different.”

His ambitions go beyond a coffee stand. The hope is one day to set up an “urban oasis” in Ballston with a tent, cushions, coffee, and books where “members of the community could take a breather from the bustling urban landscape around them.”

He also would love to do coffee ground fortune tellings, like he did while working at Zaytinya, and introduce “Bark-lava,” which would be “a bone-shaped, dog-friendly baklava.”

But, for now, all of that will have to wait, including the coffee ground fortune telling.

“That requires time and space to seat people so that I could serve the coffee in a ceramic cup as opposed to a paper cup,” Seyran said. “[A] food truck parked on the side of the road is not suitable for that ancient tradition but I hope to do that in the near future.”

Long-time sushi spot in Rosslyn closes, as building is set for redevelopment

By Matt Blitz
1/2

A long-time Rosslyn sushi spot has closed.

Kanpai Japanese Restaurant inside 1401 Wilson Blvd and near the intersection with N. Oak Street had its last day of service on Friday (June 23), per the restaurant’s Facebook page. Additionally, online ordering is no longer available and the phone number is disconnected.

A sign is also now on the door of the former restaurant appearing to thank the owners. It reads, “Thank you, Kanpi. The best sushi. The best neighbors. The best friends. We will miss you so much.”

Kanpai appears to have been open since at least 2006, according to Yelp reviews. Its menu consisted of sushi, tempura, and other Japanese favorites.

ARLnow has attempted to reach the Kanpai’s owners about the closure, but it’s likely due to the pending redevelopment of 1401 Wilson Blvd. The building is nearly 60 years old and aging. The plan is to build newer, more modern office and retail space in its place. Earlier this month, owner Monday Properties got a two-year extension on the project.

The building’s parking garage is noted for being the spot where reporter Bob Woodward secretly met with Deep Throat during the Watergate investigation. A historical marker was placed in front of the building in 2011.

Hat tip to Matt Siniscal

Thai Select in Rosslyn expanding into former Good Sweat space

By Matt Blitz
Thai Select expansion (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Rosslyn’s Thai Select is adding a sushi bar in the former home of a spin studio.

The four-year-old Thai food restaurant located just off Wilson Blvd in the Colonial Village Shopping Center is expanding, a restaurant representative confirmed to ARLnow.

The restaurant is adding a sushi bar and a small dining area in the space that formerly housed Good Sweat. The independent spin studio at 1711 Wilson Blvd closed back in May 2022.

It’s expected the sushi bar will open sometime in October or November, the representative said, though it depends on when county permits are received.

The expansion was needed because their original space “is tiny” and it often gets very crowded when there are both customers and drivers picking up food orders packing into the space, we’re told. The restaurant’s take-out and delivery business grew significantly during the pandemic, the representative said.

Colonial Village Shopping Center in Rosslyn has seen a good deal of turnover in recent years, with a French pastry shop replacing a coffee shop and a Brazilian steakhouse moving into the former home of Ben’s Chili Bowl.

One thing that has not changed is the well-known, cash-only Pho 75, which has been in the shopping center for years.

Hat tip to anonymous and Ben L.

The new “athletic country club” in Clarendon is sprinting to open next month

By Matt Blitz
1/4

Clarendon’s huge “athletic country club” is hustling to open within the next few weeks.

The long-planned Life Time fitness center, inside of a renovated office building at 1440 N. Edgewood Street, is looking to open in early-to-mid July, a spokesperson tells ARLnow.

The original hope was to open by the end of this week — the website still lists June 29 as the opening date — but the company is currently waiting on its final permits, we’re told. Some builders and business owners have previously criticized Arlington’s permitting system for excessive delays.

Billing itself as an “athletic country club,” the four-floor, 113,000-square-foot Life Time Clarendon will feature high-end fitness facilities, multiple studios, childcare facilities, a salon and spa, a cafe and lounge, and a 28,000-square-foot coworking space.

A preview center opened in April.

It was nearly two years ago when Life Time first announced it was opening a facility in a converted office building at The Crossing Clarendon. Initially, an Equinox gym was supposed to move in but that company pulled out and was sued for breach of contract in early 2021.

Construction, meanwhile, has continued on Life Time for the past year or so as other new businesses opened around it.

There are several other Life Time locations in Northern Virginia, including in Fairfax, Reston, Centreville and Ashburn. The Clarendon location is roughly the same size in square footage as the Reston and Ashburn locations, but it will be the only one with a co-working space.

New Japanese restaurant opening in Ballston, next to Uncle Julio’s

By Matt Blitz
1/3

A new Japanese restaurant appears to be opening next to Uncle Julio’s in Ballston.

Not much is known beyond a permit application that notes there will be “interior alterations” in the space at 4301 Fairfax Drive that will convert it to a “new Japanese restaurant.”

That’s the former home of Willow restaurant, which closed way back in 2015. It does not appear as if a restaurant or business has occupied that space since then.

ARLnow has reached out to the Bethesda-based management company Willard for more information but has yet to hear back as of publication.

What is clear, however, is that neighborhood mainstay Uncle Julio’s is not closing, a restaurant spokesperson confirmed to ARLnow. There was initial worry from some locals, but the anxiousness appears to be unfounded.

The Uncle Julio’s spokesperson said that the staff and ownership are excited to finally have a business moving into the space next door, since it has been vacant for so long.

Whenever the new restaurant does open, it will have some Ballston competition.

Earlier this month, the Japanese barbeque restaurant Gyu San opened just a few blocks away. Also close by is Hawkers Asian Street Food, which serves a number of Japanese dishes along with other Asian-inspired food, plus a handful of poke, ramen and sushi options.

Local civic association says parks department ignoring their pickleball court objections

By Matt Blitz
Pickleball restriping plans for Marcey Road Park (via Arlington County)

Arlington County’s pickleball plans continue to peeve particular people, prompting a potential project pause.

The Donaldson Run Civic Association (DRCA) sent a letter to the county’s Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) late last week expressing the belief the department did not sufficiently involve the civic association when making the decision to re-line several tennis courts for pickleball at Marcey Road Park in North Arlington.

“DRCA does not believe the public engagement process for selecting Marcey Park as a pickleball destination provided any real opportunity for input from our neighborhood,” reads the letter signed by DRCA President Bill Richardson.

When initially shown plans for the redesigning of Marcey Park, it did not include any pickleball courts, the letter says, adding that the neighborhood had “specifically rejected pickleball use there.”

Parking is one of the big issues, says DRCA, due to the popularity of the park as well as nearby Donaldson Run Pool and Potomac Overlook Park. Adding pickleball would only exacerbate the issue.

“As we understand it, DPR believes that these problems will not be significantly aggravated by adding pickleball to the already growing existing demands for these various facilities concentrated at the end of Marcey Road,” Richardson writes in the letter. “This view seems inconsistent with the extent of the pickleball craze.”

What’s more, the letter alleges — perhaps erroneously, per the county — that this restriping is scheduled to take place as soon as early as next week, providing a very shortened time frame for the DRCA to provide its thoughts.

“This appears to underscore your determination to disregard any input from our neighborhood in making this decision without regard to the unique problems here,” the letter says.

In response, a DPR spokesperson told ARLnow that there have been numerous opportunities for the public to provide feedback over the last several years. That includes the Outdoor Courts Assessment project, which dates back to the fall of 2021. That assessment determined that Marcey Park was one of eight county parks or community center where it was appropriate to restripe for pickleball.

Altering courts for multiple uses is also a fairly common practice in the county, the spokesperson said.

“Restriping courts or athletic fields for multi-use is a common operations practice in Arlington,” they said. “DPR often puts down soccer lines on diamond fields or have hard surface courts that are striped for basketball and volleyball, for example.”

In addition, restriping for pickleball will not begin next week,  but rather basic maintenance work and the repainting of tennis lines will be taking place.

“Starting the week of June 26, the courts at Marcey Road Park are being repainted and relined for tennis. The addition of pickleball lines at Marcey Road Park does not begin on June 26,” said the spokesperson. “This is in preparation for the addition of pickleball lines later this summer.”

The latest opposition to DPR’s attempts to increase pickleball facilities across the county echoes other concerns that have played out in recent months.

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Clarendon’s B Live to have more karaoke, shift away from hosting original acts

By Matt Blitz
1/3

B Live “has decided to pivot” to having live band karaoke for most of the weekend, decreasing the number of live original acts the local music venue will be hosting going forward.

Co-owner Christal Bramson tells ARLnow that the restaurant and live music venue, at 2854 Wilson Blvd in Clarendon, is shifting away from hosting a full slate of original musical acts all week long and towards more live karaoke.

The reason, Bramson said, is that Thursday night’s karaoke has proven to be so popular and has garnered so much “positive feedback” that it made sense for B Live to lean into it.

“We will still have live bands, but will have more nights of live karaoke,” she wrote. “Our Thursday evenings, we have received a lot of positive feedback on the live karaoke band.”

Bramson said B Live is “responding to demand” since there is no other dedicated live karaoke venue in Clarendon.

It’s unclear when this shift in programming might happen. The June calendar still has a number of weekend shows listed to appear later this month. Bramson said her team is “currently working on the calendar”

B Live, owned by wife and husband team of Christal and Mike Bramson, opened just over a year ago in the long-time space of Whitlow’s — which has since moved to the District — with a promise of allowing guests to “engage with the local music scene.”

In an interview last June, Mike Bramson told ARLnow that they wanted to open B Live in Clarendon because of the neighborhood’s long history of being home to live music venues. With several closing in recent years, including the beloved Iota Club in 2017, the hope was to fill that live music void for locals.

B Live is also making several other changes in the coming weeks. This coming weekend, the venue is opening an outdoor/lawn space complete with a “launch party.”

And, by the end of the month, a restaurant pop-up will be launching out of B Live. Wicked Buns from local chef Nacho Olivera, who also has worked at Detour Coffee and the Rebel Taco food truck at the Lot, will  be serving double-patty burgers, kobe beef hot dogs, and fried chicken sandwiches at the venue.

The long-planned “tropical glam” bar coming to B Live’s rooftop is also planning a much-anticipated debut next month. Coco B’s, as the rooftop venue will be called, is described by  Christal Bramson as the “female version” of B Live.

“We are awaiting a couple more inspections,” Bramson said. “But anticipate an early July opening date.”

Juice shop now opening two new locations, in Ballston and Courthouse

By Matt Blitz
1/2

A growing Northern Virginia juice shop chain is now coming to Courthouse, in addition to a previously-announced location in Ballston.

The Ballston shop will be squeezing itself into the former home of Philz at 4121 Wilson Blvd, which closed late last year. The hope is that it will open next month, perhaps by July 15, co-owner Reese Gardner tells ARLnow.

The second Arlington location is set for Courthouse, moving into the one-time home of Rāko Coffee at 2016 Wilson Blvd. That shop quietly closed late last year as well, claiming it was just temporary due to a “out of order” espresso machine. The next month, however, pieces of equipment and furniture were put up for public auction by the county, with the money going towards the company’s tax bill.

It’s not clear when Greenheart will open in Courthouse, though signage is now in place above the door.

This will be the juice shop’s fourth and fifth locations, with other shops in Vienna, Leesburg, and Aldie, Virginia. The menu is focused on cold pressed juices, smoothies, salads, and bowls.

In addition to co-owning the juice shop, which he acquired a few months ago, Gardner also owns a number of other local bars and restaurants. That includes Dudley’s Sport and Ale in Shirlington, Quinn’s on the Corner in Rosslyn, and Brass Rabbit Pub in Clarendon.

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