bb.q Chicken is opening in Virginia Square (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
A new Korean fried chicken restaurant in Virginia Square hopes to be hot and ready by next month.
A new location of the fried chicken franchise bb.q Chicken is aiming to open in Virginia Square in late May, a restaurant spokesperson confirmed ARLnow. It’s coming to 3503 Fairfax Drive, in the former location of Cosi, which closed three years ago.
The location remains under construction, the spokesperson said. The restaurant is known for its Korean-style fried chicken and has applied for a permit to serve alcohol.
This will be the first bb.q Chicken location in Arlington, though there are currently five others in Northern Virginia including in Falls Church and Centreville. Those are run by different franchise owners than the one coming to Arlington, however. There are more than 130 locations nationwide.
ARLnow first reported bb.q Chicken was crossing the road into Arlington back in January. The original aim was to open in April, but the debut has been pushed back by at least a month.
The Virginia Square location will be run by married couple Lydia and Harrison Om. It’s their first restaurant after running a grocery store in D.C., they told ARLnow earlier this year.
Tacos from Banditos Bar & Kitchen in Pentagon City (photo courtesy of Banditos & Kitchen)
In the past, big crowds have converged on Arlington’s Mexican restaurants on Cinco de Mayo and this year will likely be no exception with a number of events going on across the county.
Friday, May 5 marks the anniversary of Mexico’s victory over France in 1862’s Battle of Puebla. While considered a relatively minor holiday in Mexico, Cinco de Mayo in the United States has become a day to celebrate Mexican culture.
Here in Arlington, that often includes eating tacos, drinking margaritas, and general revelry.
There is no shortage of local bars and restaurants hosting special Cinco de Mayo events this year, including the following.
Assembly in Rosslyn is hosting a week of events including trivia, salsa dance lessons, and food specials.
B Live in Clarendon is putting on a “nacho average Cinco De Mayo event” starting at 3 p.m. with food specials, live entertainment, drinks, and the “infamous Patron Tree.”
Banditos at Westpost in Pentagon City is celebrating by opening early at 11 a.m. with tequila, tacos, and kid-friendly activities. A live band, Maria and The Sacred Hearts, will be playing from 2-4:30 p.m. in the plaza.
Buena Vida Gastrolounge on Wilson Blvd in Clarendon will have a discount on margaritas and a special four-course “Cinco Fiesta Feast” available all weekend.
Clarendon Ballroom is hosting a free Cinco de Mayo rooftop party starting at 3 p.m. featuring a Mexican and taco buffet, music, giveaways, and tequila.
Don Tito’s in Clarendon is hosting its annual Cinco de Mayo Block Party on both Friday and Saturday.
The Lot, which is closing for good later this year, is putting on a Taco, Tequila, Taps outdoor festival starting at 3 p.m. in Clarendon with frozen margaritas, live entertainment, and a “taco toss.” Furry friends are also invited.
WHINO in Ballston is hosting a Latin house party at 9 p.m. on Cinco de Mayo with DJ Mike Rodriguez spinning.
Arlington Rooftop Bar & Grill in Courthouse is holding a “margarita and mimosa fest” on Saturday, May 6 starting at 2 p.m. There will be drink specials, live DJ, and bar hopping.
There is also a Cinco de Mayo-themed bar crawl also planned for Saturday, beginning at 3 p.m., that will visit several Clarendon bars.
The Arlington County Police Department will be blocking off N. Hudson Street between Wilson Boulevard and the alleyway behind CVS starting Friday morning through 10 p.m. Saturday. The closure and police presence is intended to assist with crowd control and safety during the Don Tito’s Block Party.
Also for safety, the regional SoberRide program is offering free Lyft rides, up to $15, from Friday at 4 p.m. through Saturday morning at 4 a.m. A promo code is scheduled to be posted on the program’s website at 3 p.m. Friday.
The New York City-based cookie shop is making its move into Arlington by opening up at the Crossing Clarendon at 2700 Clarendon Blvd. It is setting up shop near the back of the development, a few doors down from Barnes & Noble and next to the recently opened cosmetic dermatology business Ever/Body.
The plan is to start baking by the fall, CEO Peter Phillips told ARLnow.
Chip City is known for its “big, gooey five and half ounce cookie,” as Phillips put it. It has a rotating weekly menu encompassing 40 different flavors, including classics like Chocolate Chip and Triple Chocolate and more unique flavors like Blueberry Cheesecake, Horchata, and Cannoli.
Chip City’s weekly menu (image via Instagram)
The Clarendon location is the cookie business’s first foray into Virginia, though Chip City is in the midst of a big expansion effort overall in the D.C.-area and across the country.
“We spent a lot of time canvassing the area and I fell in love with the opportunity when I saw all of the strong growth energy in the area and just the general vibe,” Phillips said. “I really fell in love with it. And, then, we identified a small space that fits our model and we were quick to jump on the opportunity.”
This is not the only Arlington location that Chip City is planning, either. Phillips told ARLnow they are also considering a space in Shirlington.
“We are very excited about entering the market,” he said. “There’s a great food scene in [Northern Virginia].”
Cookie shops seem to be having a moment in Arlington. Captain Cookie and the Milkman opened a location in Courthouse earlier this year while Crumbl Cookies is planning to open this fall at the Lee-Harrison Shopping Center. There’s also delivery-only local cookie purveyor MOLTN.
Afomia Organic Market on Columbia Pike (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Afomia Organic Market on Columbia Pike (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Afomia Organic Market on Columbia Pike (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
(Updated at 5:25 p.m.) A new Ethiopian market has opened along Columbia Pike.
Afomia Organic Market at 4105 Columbia Pike opened its doors late last week, co-owner Shah Feyisa confirmed to ARLnow.
The market is in a shopping center near the corner of S. George Mason Drive and Columbia Pike in the Alcova Heights neighborhood. It is two doors down from Papa Deeno’s, a family-owned halal pizza shop that opened last year. Afomia is in a 960-square-foot space that was formerly occupied by a hairstylist and beauty salon that has since moved to S. Glebe Road.
The market stocks a large selection of spices, grains, meat, and groceries “from home,” Feyisa said. Plus, everything is organic.
“Afomia Organic Market is a small, family-owned business that sells injera, bread, herbs, spices, clothing, coffee sets, traditional coffee, and accessories, from Ethiopia. We additionally sell vegan cakes, which can be ordered for special occasions (by our email: [email protected]), and also vegan cookies and sweets! We also have non-vegan treats as well,” reads the business’s Yelp page.
The decision was made to move into this location because there’s a large population of Ethiopian immigrants living along the Pike but there are few markets to meet the demand, Feyisa noted. Plus, more and more people are becoming vegetarian and vegan, he said, and the market provides plenty of choices for them as well, he continued.
There are at least a couple of other Ethiopian markets in the area, including Ayana Ethiopian Market a half mile west on Columbia Pike and Lideta Gebeya about a mile away, on S. Glebe Road.
Kong Dog is opening at the Pentagon City mall (photo courtesy of Kong Dog)
Kong Dog at the Pentagon City mall is marking its opening this week by giving away free corn dogs.
The Korean corn dog restaurant announced that it would be opening its first Virginia location this weekend in the Pentagon City mall food court. It will be located near the end of the food court, close to the Forever 21 store.
To celebrate, the eatery says it will be serving up free corn dogs to the first 200 customers in line starting at 4 p.m. on Friday.
Per a press release:
To celebrate its grand opening, Kong Dog’s Pentagon City location (found in the Fashion Centre food court) will be giving away free corn dogs to the first 200 customers in line during its soft opening on Friday, April 28. With its trendy, delicious, and homemade corn dogs, Kong Dog is opening its doors in Pentagon City as a ‘new bite to grab’ offering corn dog lovers a selection of fun and flavorful toppings that make for a customizable experience unlike any other, The new food-lovers destination will also host a grand opening the next day, Saturday, April 29.
The restaurant will officially open to the public at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
In January we first reported that Kong Dog was setting up shop in the mall. It was originally set to open up in February but inspections and other delays pushed it back several months, a restaurant spokesperson told ARLnow.
The eatery sells Korean-style corn dogs with toppings like cheese, fried potato, hot Cheetos, and ramen. With U.S. locations mostly clustered in Illinois and New Jersey, the Pentagon City location is the first in Virginia. Locally, there is a location in Silver Spring and another opening in Georgetown later this year, the spokesperson said.
Kong Dog is not the only Korean-style corn dog restaurant in Arlington. Oh K-Dog and Egg Toast opened in Ballston Quarter last year and said it was also working to open a Crystal City location, though that does not appear to have materialized yet.
A look around Metropolitan Park and Amazon HQ2 in Pentagon City (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
It appears another new restaurant is coming to Amazon HQ2.
Makers Union has applied for a Virginia ABC permit for a location inside Amazon’s second headquarters at 510 14th Street S. in Pentagon City.
The pub is owned by the local restaurant group Thompson Hospitality, which also operates Matchbox, Big Buns Damn Good Burgers, Wiseguy Pizza, and a number of other local restaurant concepts.
This would be the second location of Makers Union, the first location of which is in Reston. The menu consists of gastropub-styled lunch with more upscale choices for dinner.
ARLnow has reached out to Thompson Hospitality to confirm the opening and other details but has yet to hear back as of publication. Eater reported last year that the company was “in talks with Amazon to put some of its restaurants into HQ2.”
Reston-based Thompson Hospitality launched three decades ago with the purchase of several Bob’s Big Boys. It has since become a nearly billion-dollar company, with most of its restaurants still in the D.C. area. The group has recently added locations in Florida and Ohio, with more expansion potentially on the way.
Locally, it recently opened a couple of new restaurants in McLean.
Over the last year, Amazon has announced a slew of new businesses and restaurants that are coming to the first phase of the company’s second headquarters, dubbed Metropolitan Park.
Amazon’s Metropolitan Park office complex is on track to open this summer along with many of the businesses. However, the second phase of the company’s massive Pentagon City presence is currently on “pause.”
The annual, free outdoor local arts festival is set to take place this Saturday and Sunday, running from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days. The event will occupy about three blocks in Clarendon, running along Washington Blvd from Clarendon Blvd to 10th Street N.
Arlington Festival of the Arts 2023 map (image via Howard Alan Events)
The festival will be a bit smaller this year in terms of street space, the festival director Elaine Laurent told ARLnow.
In previous years, the festival also took over a portion of N. Highland Street, including space in front of Trader Joe’s. That’s not happening this year, Laurent said, noting that overall attendance last year was somewhat lower compared to before the pandemic.
Part of N. Highland Street will still be closed to motor vehicle traffic, though.
The 9th edition of the festival will feature more than one hundred artists “selected by an independent panel of expert judges,” a press release says. Over a fifth of the artists at the festival this year are from around Northern Virginia, Laurent said.
To accommodate the festival, the Arlington County Police Department has announced a number of road closures that will be in effect for most of the weekend.
The following roads will be closed from about 3 a.m. on Saturday through 8 p.m. on Sunday:
Westbound Washington Blvd from 10th Street N. to Clarendon Blvd
The left lane of eastbound Washington Blvd, from Clarendon Blvd to N. Garfield Street (the right lane will be open to motor vehicle traffic)
N. Highland Street, from Clarendon Blvd to Washington Boulevard
11th Street N., from N. Garfield Street to N. Highland Street
Local traffic will be able to access the parking garage for 3100 Clarendon Boulevard from 11th Street N.
Road closures for Arlington Festival of the Arts (image via ACPD)
Additional closures may be implemented “at police discretion in the interest of public safety,” says the traffic alert.
ACPD is encouraging festival goers to use the Metro. Residents should expect to see an “increased police presence” in the area over the weekend, the police department said.
Bluefish Bistro appears to be opening at Centro Arlington (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
A restaurant called Bluefish Bistro is looking to make a splash on Columbia Pike, but details remain murky.
A new eatery going by the seafood-sounding name is opening on the ground floor of the Centro Arlington development at the corner of S. George Mason Drive and Columbia Pike, per photos and the development’s updated site plan.
The 1,450-square-foot restaurant is set to be next to H&R Block and Vietnamese restaurant Pho Saigon Pearl while across from the Harris Teeter. The business also has applied for a liquor license with the company name listed as “PJW Corp.”
Other than that, though, no other details have surfaced.
“At this time, we don’t have any information to share,” a Centro Arlington spokesperson told ARLnow in an email.
ARLnow has reached out to a company linked with the restaurant in public records, PJW Corp, but has yet to hear back as of publication.
The three-year-old, six-story development is home to a Harris Teeter, several doctors’ offices, an Orangetheory fitness studio, a veterinarian’s office, and apartments.
The annual summer music festival is set to take place on June 17 this year and will span several Columbia Pike blocks. It will feature a collection of performances, local food, beer, and family-friendly activities, as it usually does.
This year’s headliner is Judith Hill, a singer and songwriter featured in the Oscar-winning documentary “20 Feet from Stardom.” She’s performed and worked with John Legend, Josh Groban, Prince, and Michael Jackson and has self-produced several of her own albums.
Also playing at the festival are Annika Chambers and Paul DesLauriers, local blues guitarist Bobby Thompson, Gayle Harrod Band, and Spice Cake Blues.
A number of local restaurants will be providing food and drinks, including New District Brewing. As co-owner Mike Katrivanos told ARLnow last month, the Green Valley-based brewery will be serving beer at the festival again this year despite the fact they may be without a home come June.
Another now-shuttered business, Rincome Thai, is still set to curate the wine list for the Blues Festival.
More programming and activities are still expected to be added to the line-up this year, Arlington Arts marketing director Jim Byers told ARLnow. Those additions will be announced via social media as it gets closer to the festival.
Arlington Arts co-produces the event with the Columbia Pike Partnership.
About 7,000 people are expected to come to the festival this year, though that depends on the weather, Byers said. In 2022, it’s estimated about 8,000 people attended, as the festival returned to being fully in-person for the first time in three years. It was also the festival’s 25th anniversary.
The Columbia Pike Blues Festival started in 1995 and, according to organizers, it is considered the largest music festival of its kind in the D.C. area.
The first phase of Amazon’s HQ2, dubbed Metropolitan Park, in Pentagon City (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Toby’s Ice Cream is moving into Amazon HQ2 (photo courtesy of Amazon)
Taqueria Xochi is coming to Amazon HQ2 (photo courtesy of Amazon)
Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington is opening an outpost at Amazon HQ2 (photo courtesy of Amazon HQ2)
Taqueria Xochi and Toby’s Homemade Ice Cream are among another group of local businesses that are set to move into Amazon’s HQ2.
Amazon announced today that four more businesses will be opening up in Pentagon City, in the forthcoming first phase of the company’s second headquarters dubbed Metropolitan Park.
All of the businesses are planning to open up this summer, an Amazon spokesperson confirmed to ARLnow, along with the rest of “Met Park.”
This new shop will be Toby’s Homemade Ice Cream’s third location. It originally just had a shop in Westover Village before expanding to Vienna a year ago.
“You know, we present ourselves as your friendly neighborhood ice cream shop. We are ingrained in the Arlington community,” co-owner Toby Bantug said in a press release. “When we heard that Met Park’s focus was going to be on giving local community businesses expansion opportunities, we knew it aligned with our philosophy. It goes hand in hand.”
MoCA Arlington, the county’s preeminent art museum, is opening an “Innovation Studio” at Amazon HQ2.
This will be “where the public can experience the artistic process directly by interacting with artists and making art themselves,” said Amazon’s press release. The space will offer artists talks, public programming, and a museum retail store.
“When the organization was established, one of MoCA Arlington’s founding principles was to connect the community to contemporary art and artists,” said MoCA Arlington Executive Director Catherine Anchin. “This continues to be the mission that guides us today. Next year, we’ll celebrate our 50th anniversary, and our new location in Met Park will help us reach more of the county’s residents and visitors, providing a venue to celebrate the energy and creativity of both artists and the community.”
The coffee shop and cafe Mae’s Market, which opened in Old Town Alexandria in 2021, is also expanding with a second location inside of the new office complex. It’s owned by Nicole Jones, who also runs Del Ray’s Stomping Ground but it will be shuttering this month and turned into a taqueria.
The Amazon HQ2 shop will be the same concept as its original Mae’s Market in Old Town, per the press release.
Finally, popular D.C. fast-casual taco eatery Taqueria Xochi is making its move across the river with its inaugural Arlington location at Amazon HQ2. Launched by two chefs who cooked at celebrity chef José Andrés’ restaurants, it earned rave reviews when it first opened on U Street NW in 2020.
“Our dream when we opened the first Taqueria Xochi location was to bring authentic Mexican food to the D.C. area,” said co-owner Teresa Padilla. “Our tacos, how they are served, the simple ingredients, and the bold flavors are the same you would find on a trip to Mexico. To launch this second location at Amazon’s HQ2 is an expansion of that dream.”
These four new businesses joins a number of others that have previously announced their moves into the complex along S. Eads Street.
Tuna Restaurant in Cherrydale (photo courtesy of Sak Vong)
Tuna Restaurant in Cherrydale has been sold to a new owner, who is reopening with a more Thai-focused menu today (Friday).
The restaurant at 3813 Langston Blvd that served Laotian and Japanese cuisine was put up for sale only a few months after it initially opened, replacing Maneki Neko Express. Owner Sak Vong told ARLnow in late February that he was selling because of a “new business opportunity overseas.”
And, fairly quickly, it found a buyer in Leesburg-resident May Ditnoy, who also owns a catering company with her mother.
The plan, Ditnoy told ARLnow, is to reopen today after being shut down for a week to “upgrade” the menu and make minor layout changes. The restaurant will keep the “Tuna” name for the moment and will serve Thai and Japanese cuisine, similar to the previous menu.
This is Ditnoy’s first restaurant, but she couldn’t pass up the opportunity of a fully built-out kitchen that served a similar cuisine to what her and her mom plan to cook.
“[Building] a brand new restaurant is definitely a lot of investment and money, so this is big for us,” she said. “We are very fortunate to find Tuna Restaurant, though it could be in better condition, we can definitely improve and work with it. The fact that they served Laotian and Japanese cuisine is good too.”
The neighborhood is also a big plus, Ditnoy said. In recent weeks, she’s walked the neighborhood and eaten a number of different places in Cherrydale. Her experiences have convinced her to reopen Tuna.
A new name is “in the works,” but Ditnoy didn’t want to delay opening her first restaurant by waiting on name change paperwork. Both she and her mom are excited those first customers to come in today.
“This is a great spot for us,” Ditnoy said. “All in all, this is going to be a great place for us to start.”
