Ballston Quarter

Employees of Union Kitchen in Ballston are looking to unionize

By Matt Blitz
Union Kitchen in Ballston (staff photo)

(Updated, 5:00 p.m.) Employees at Union Kitchen in Ballston are looking to unionize, joining colleagues at other area locations.

The employees cite pay cuts, lack of sick leave, and staffing shortages among the reasons for organizing.

In late January, employees at three Union Kitchen stores in D.C. filed union petitions, as DCist reported. Within days, workers at the Ballston location joined those efforts, Union Kitchen union organizing committee member and Ballston employee Mckenna Willis tells ARLnow.

Now, employees at all five open locations have signaled their intent to unionize. That includes eight eligible employees in Ballston.

A mail-in election is set for Tuesday, March 8 with a count planned for March 28. Workers are holding a “pre-election rally” in D.C. this Saturday.

The United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 400 would be the collective bargaining agent for the store’s employees if the vote passes.

Union Kitchen started as a food accelerator, helping food and beverage startups by providing business and technical expertise, and has since grown into a retail shop and restaurant. The Ballston location opened at 4238 Wilson Blvd in August 2020, offering a mix of packaged food, beverage and convenience items for sale as well as a takeout menu of breakfast items, sandwiches, salads, melts and pizzas.

Many of the reasons for organizing are common across all of the locations, but Willis explains that a number of these grievances are acutely felt at the Ballston location.

Earlier this year, management stopped providing customers the option to tip on their payments. This has effectively cut employees’ pay by three or four dollars an hour, according to Willis.

In February, management sent a notice, which was provided to ARLnow by Union Kitchen CEO Cullen Gilchrist, to workers that they were “increasing compensation by almost 20% on average across all positions.”

Willis says that increase does not come close to making up for the lost wages from losing tips. She explains that the Ballston location has more “established” employees — those with families, mortgages, and long-term relationships — than the other locations and can not afford what is effectively a pay cut.

Union Kitchen management, which has said it won’t voluntarily recognize the union, wrote that employees’ compensation is “industry leading pay.”

“We pay a minimum wage of $18/hr with an average compensation in our Ballston store of $28.5/hr,” Gilchrist wrote to ARLnow in an email. “We are very proud of our ability to pay so well.”

As for why tips were cut, Gilchrist said this is what customers wanted.

“The vast majority of customers don’t tip, and many of those who did felt pressure to do so,” he told DCist. “We’re trying to make our customers comfortable.”

Sick leave is also an employee concern, with Willis calling Union Kitchen’s Covid policy “horrible.” During the pandemic, Willis says employees wanted to take sick leave as a precaution but didn’t want to risk not getting paid.

Willis says she lives with her father and when he contracted Covid, she told work she wasn’t coming in because “it was the right thing to do.” She was told it would be unpaid leave.

Additionally, “severe” staffing shortages have hit the Wilson Blvd location of Union Kitchen hard. While Willis acknowledges that this is an issue across the industry at large, she says management is not handling it appropriately.

(more…)

Ballston bridge illuminated in blue and yellow in support of Ukraine

By Matt Blitz
1/3

The Ballston pedestrian bridge is shining blue and yellow tonight in support of Ukraine.

The two-year-old pedestrian bridge that stretches over Wilson Blvd, connecting with Ballston Quarter mall, will be running “blue and yellow lights 24/7 for the time being,” a county spokesperson tells ARLnow. It is a show of solidarity with the country that remains under attack by Russia.

Officials worked quickly with Arlington public arts staff to make this happen, after ARLnow was previously told that something of this nature was not in the works.

This comes as other neighboring localities, like D.C. and Alexandria, have enacted similar symbolic gestures in recent days.

On Monday night, the County Board issued a resolution condemning Russia’s “unprovoked attack” on Arlington’s sister city Ivano-Frankivsk in southwestern Ukraine.

“The Arlington County Board… stands in support and solidarity with the people of Ivano-Frankivsk and all of Ukraine in their defense of sovereignty and democracy,” said the resolution.

Ballston pierogi stand Rogi has closed, but its owner hopes to keep serving the area

By Matt Blitz
1/4

Pierogi stand Rogi at Ballston Quarter’s food hall has closed, chef and owner Ed Hardy tells ARLnow.

The pierogi stand’s last official day was Super Bowl — Sunday, February 13. There were several reasons behind the decision to close the eatery after only a little over a year of operations, Hardy says.

One is that the brand is focusing on getting its USDA certification in order to be able sell its filled pastry products in stores. Additionally, the last two months — during the Omicron wave — were particularly hard on the business even compared to the last two pandemic years, a sentiment echoed by a lot of local eateries.

“We took some moon shots and took a risk,” Hardy said of his effort to make a pierogi stand work in the competitive Ballston market.

While Hardy is from Richmond and spent a large portion of his career in New York, he’s no stranger to Arlington — and he’s hoping to remain active here.

Prior to Rogi, he was teaching classes at the Ballston location of Cookology Culinary School. Shortly after the pandemic shut down in-person classes, Hardy shifted from teaching to cooking and opened a “ghost kitchen” inside of Cookology serving up pierogies calling it “Zofia’s Kitchen.”

A short time later, space at nearby Ballston Quarter opened up and Hardy moved all operations there, officially becoming “Rogi.”

With Rogi’s closure, Hardy had planned to replace his pierogi concept with a series of collaborations and pop-ups from other regional restaurateurs, but those plans are currently in flux while details are being worked out with Ballston Quarter. He remains hopeful that this pop-up plan will bear fruit soon, though its future is unclear.

Should he get the go-ahead, among the first up would be an international meatball-centric concept called “Chef Ed’s Flyballs,” followed by empanada, crepe and other pop-ups centered around specific foods.

Grace Community Church to fill huge space in Ballston Quarter mall

By Jo DeVoe
Ballston Quarter in the snow (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

(Updated at 3:55 p.m.) Grace Community Church has its sights set on a new home: Ballston Quarter.

The church would occupy about 23,280 square feet of space on the second floor of the mall. It will be across the atrium from WHINO, the art gallery, wine bar and restaurant, and next to the Macy’s.

Next month, the Arlington County Board is set to hear the church’s request to operate in the mall. If approved, Grace Community Church Pastor John Slye says construction on the indoor mall space will begin shortly after and the congregation could move in between July 1 and September of this year.

Ballston Quarter would be a big change from Grace Community Church’s current meeting place — the Thomas Jefferson Middle School auditorium at 125 S. Old Glebe Road. For most of its 20-year history, the church has held worship services at Key Elementary School and later TJ, which Slye attended as a kid. (For office space, Grace Community Church did for a time use a church at 11th Street N. and N. Vermont Street — being redeveloped as apartments.)

“We’ve really enjoyed our time and our partnership [at TJ]. They have been absolutely fantastic,” Slye said. “We’ll be sad to go.”

But a permanent, dedicated home has always been the goal, one the church has started pursuing seriously in the last four years, Slye says. It chose the Ballston Quarter location in 2020, signed a lease and assembled a construction team shortly after that.

The future location of Grace Community Church in Ballston Quarter (via Ballston Quarter, with circle added by ARLnow)

While the space will seat 200 fewer people than TJ’s auditorium, the trade-off is that the church will have a space customized to its needs for the first time.

“Our name is Grace Community Church, so we’re really into community, and we do a lot of stuff around food and fun,” Slye said. “We’ll do some concerts — not just Christian — but partnerships with the community, conferences, all kinds of fun things that, we believe, will be a help in some way, shape or fashion in the community.”

An architectural drawing of the new Grace Community Church, planned for Ballston Quarter Mall (via Arlington County)

The church will have two Sunday services, one at 9:30 and another at 11 a.m., with each bringing in about 480 worshippers, as well as a Thursday service at 7 p.m., according to an application filed with Arlington County. The conferences and concerts will take place on Friday evenings and during the day and evening on Saturday.

Nick Cumings, a land use lawyer representing the church, writes in the church’s application to the county that the regional shopping center “can easily accommodate the expected number of worshippers” as well as their cars in the Ballston Quarter garage.

Religious uses are allowed under the zoning code for the mall, but the church is required to get a site plan amendment approved by the County Board to operate, per the application.

Ballston Quarter’s amenities, its centrality and proximity to the Ballston Metro station will increase the church’s profile, Slye says. That will allow the church to amplify its partnerships with local organizations, such as Arlington Food Assistance Center.

It will also introduce more people to what he says is the “vaccine” to modern malaises such as anxiety, loneliness and purposelessness: the Biblical mandate to love the stranger through community organizing and volunteering.

“We’ve got anxiety running wild, frustration, meaningless, purposelessness,” he said. “We have a vaccine for that: loving-kindness… We need these principles introduced to make a difference to our lives and to the world — and they just work.”

Korean rice dog eatery looking to open in Crystal City next month, Ballston in March

By Matt Blitz
1/3

It still may be another month or two before Korean rice dog eatery Oh K-Dog and Egg Toast opens in Arlington.

In November, we reported that the fast casual franchise was set to open two new locations in Arlington, one in Crystal City and one in Ballston, perhaps as soon as December, as part of the franchise’s country-wide expansion.

However, it appears both locations are now delayed in opening, restaurant spokespeople tell ARLnow.

The Crystal City location at 509 23rd Street S is now aiming for a mid-February opening while the Ballston Quarter one at 4238 Wilson Blvd is looking at March.

ARLnow has asked for any reasons behind the delay, but has not gotten a response to that inquiry as of publication.

The Crystal City eatery is moving into the space formerly occupied by Taj of India and in the neighborhood’s restaurant row. Last month, a significant fire caused nearly $2 million in damage to restaurants next door. It remains unknown if this had any impact on Oh K-Dog and Egg Toast’s opening there.

The Ballston Quarter location is taking over the lower level stall that was formerly Mi & Yu Noodle Bar, which closed about a year ago.

Korean rice dogs are comparable to corn dogs, but more elaborate. The deep fried treat is quite popular in South Korea and is now enlisting fans in the United States as well.

“Unlike a typical hot dog, we specialize in using a stick to deep fry our signature item until it crips golden brown,” says the Oh K-Dog’s website. “It’s the perfect snack filled with your choice of mozzarella cheese, squid-ink, rice cake, potato, and more.”

Oh K-Dog and Egg Toast will also serve egg toast, another Korean speciality that’s reminiscent of a breakfast egg sandwich.

Capitals watch parties start at Ballston Quarter this week

By Matt Blitz
Ballston BID is hosting Washington Capital watch parties (logo courtesy of Ballston BID)

The Ballston Business Improvement District is hosting a series of Washington Capitals watch parties as the local hockey team closes in on another playoff spot.

Beginning this Thursday (Jan. 20), the Ballston BID is partnering with the Capitals and Ballston Quarter for seven “home-away-from-home” watch parties at Quarter Market Plaza at 4238 Wilson Blvd. The series of parties will run through the end of hockey’s regular season, which is April 29 for the Capitals.

There’ll be high-definition jumbo screens set-up outdoors and indoors, plus food, drinks, and music from a DJ. There’ll also be giveaways like Caps tickets, branded stadium seat cushions and autographed items.

“We are proud that Ballston is home to the Caps’ practice facility, naturally we’re thrilled to celebrate our hometown team even when they’re on the road! This inaugural event series will be the new place to watch Caps away games,” Ballston BID CEO Tina Leone wrote in a press release. “Everyone from the Caps superfan down to the general passerby will find a great reason to sit down, watch the game, support our team and support our local businesses.”

Ballston has been home to the team’s practice facility and headquarters since 2006.

“We are excited to partner with Ballston BID to offer away-game Capitals watch parties at Ballston Quarter for the remainder of the regular season,” the Capitals’ vice president of marketing, Amanda Tischler, also noted in the release. “With Ballston serving as the location of our practice facility MedStar Capitals Iceplex, we are thrilled that area fans will be able to cheer on the team from a unique home environment.”

The Washington Capitals are once again skating toward the playoffs, led by one of the greatest goal scorers in NHL history, Alexander Ovechkin. Even with the season only about half over, it appears that the team is well on its way to making the playoffs for an eighth straight season.

The Caps won the team’s first – and, so far, only – Stanley Cup championship in 2018, celebrating in Clarendon.

More details about the parties, including what local eateries and businesses will be participating, are set to be announced via social media as it gets closer to the events, organizers tell ARLnow.

For those who are not hockey fans, also in Ballston on Jan. 20, there’s a screening of the James Bond classic “License to Kill” complete with a DJ live scoring the film. That’s taking place at WHINO and part of a six-month series highlighting James Bond movies put on Shaolin Jazz.

This Friday, Santa is in Ballston to take photos with your dog

By Matt Blitz
The Ballston Quarter location of Heart + Paw (courtesy photo)

Dog parents can get a few photos of their furry best friend with Santa while chowing down on free donuts in Ballston over the next couple of days.

This Friday afternoon (Dec. 17) from 1-3 p.m., four-legged locals can join Santa outside of Ballston Quarter’s Hearts + Paw for holiday pet photos. The combination veterinarian, dog daycare, and grooming business opened in May.

Then, on Saturday, free donuts and hot cocoa kits from District Doughnut will be available at the mall from 1-3 p.m. along with $25 gift cards to REWILD, the trendy plant shop that opened at Ballston Quarter earlier this fall. The snacks and gift cards are available while supplies last with only one giveaway given per person. Holiday tunes will also be spun by local D.J. Cyndi Tran.

Both events are taking place at and hosted by Ballston Quarter on Wilson Blvd.

Elsewhere in Ballston this weekend is a holiday wreath market at the corner of Wilson Blvd and N. Stuart Street. That event is being organized by the Ballston BID and will feature live music, a local TikTok star (the cello-playing one), a light art projection, holiday wreaths for sale, and Santa selfies.

There’s plenty of other holiday cheer in Arlington this weekend with Christmas now just over a week away. There’s the Rosslyn holiday market (with Santa and dog photos, too), holiday light displays in Crystal City, and a number of local Christmas tree sales (depending on availability among the current tree shortage).

‘Immersive group gaming’ to open in Ballston Quarter in early 2022

By Jo DeVoe
1/2

The “immersive group gaming” experience that’s coming to Ballston Quarter could be ready for gamers in just a few months.

Early in 2022, the mall will debut a location of London-based Electric Gamebox, where people work together in teams to complete challenges and games in what the company calls “smart rooms,” ARLnow has learned.

“We are hoping to open our doors to the public in early 2022,” a company spokeswoman tells ARLnow.

The entertainment facility will take up about 2,217 square feet of space located at Suite 2233, on the second floor of Ballston Quarter, according to a permit filed with Arlington County.

Users in teams of two to six use their whole bodies to play 15-minute to 1-hour games in these smart rooms. New games are released regularly.

“Visitors to the Ballston Quarter location can enjoy a range of these games, including our recently launched ‘Shaun the Sheep‘ game,” she said.

The games, designed in-house, are fully immersive without virtual-reality headsets — but gamers do have to don visors with sensors.

The expansion is part of Electric Gamebox’s 2022 expansion into the U.S., says the spokeswoman.

In the first quarter of 2022, Electric Gamebox will be opening at least five U.S. locations, including Arlington, Chicago, Houston, Salt Lake City and Los Angeles. The Ballston location was chosen as part of an existing partnership the company has with Brookfield Properties, which owns Ballston Quarter.

“We chose Ballston Quarter because of its reputation as a young, vibrant, family friendly community, and as it’s a quick train ride to Washington, D.C., this is a perfect spot for locals and tourists alike,” the spokeswoman said.

Earlier this year, Electric Gamebox announced it had closed on $11 million in funding, with participation from Brookfield, which agreed to bring the immersive gaming experience to some of its properties over the next year. The company aims to open 100 new locations over the next two years and more than 1,000 locations in the U.S. and the United Kingdom by 2026.

The company was co-founded by Will Dean and David Spindler, who founded the popular obstacle race Tough Mudder and Tough Mudder Bootcamp, respectively.

The company has raised $25 million since it was founded in 2019 in Central London. Today, Electric Gamebox has locations in Essex and Manchester in the U.K. It opened its first U.S. spot in Dallas in December 2020.

Electric Gamebox is expanding while other VR gaming companies have reportedly struggled to take off and faced significant setbacks during the pandemic.

JINYA Ramen Bar coming to Ballston Quarter this spring

By Jo DeVoe
1/7

(Updated 10:40 a.m. on 12/1/21) A new outpost of JINYA Ramen Bar is coming to Ballston Quarter as soon as March, according to a local restaurant group.

The restaurant appears to replace Spanish tapas restaurant and soccer-watching venue Copa Kitchen & Bar, which closed earlier this month in a space adjacent to the Quarter Market food hall.

Ballston Quarter will be JINYA’s fifth location the D.C. area, with others located in Merrifield’s Mosaic District, Reston Town Center, 14th Street NW in D.C. and the Pike & Rose shopping center in North Bethesda. In total, the chain has 42 locations in the U.S. and Canada with multiple new locations in the pipeline, according to the company.

More from a press release:

Introducing a new JINYA Ramen Bar location in the DMV Area, expected to open in March 2022 in Ballston Quarter (4238 Wilson Blvd Suite 150, Arlington, VA 22203). At JINYA, experience ramen for the first time on this side of the Pacific like it was meant to be – with thick, rich broth in perfect balance with handmade noodles.

JINYA is ramen culture, where the relationship between broth and noodles is serious but delicious business. From the water we use to prepare our broths – we only use FUJI which is 99.9 percent free from impurities – to the special aging process that our noodles undergo before they’re cooked and served, we’re crazy about ramen and pay meticulous attention to everything that goes into your bowl. You’ll quickly see why at JINYA we say, “No ramen, no life.”

Ramen and Japanese Whisky are at the heart of our menu. Besides our Tonkatsu Ramen, Spicy Chicken Ramen and Spicy Creamy Vegan Ramen, guests will have a range of chef curated pairings of spirits and beer to experience with their favorite JINYA offerings. Each pairing ranges in price from $16- $24. See below for a full list:

  • Toki Highball with Brussel Sprouts Tempura – $17.5
  • NIKKA from the Barrel with Takoyaki Octopus Ball – $18
  • SAPPORO with Karage Crispy Chicken – $17
  • HIBIKI Harmony with JINYA bun – $16

In addition to dining in, customers can order for takeout and delivery online, over the phone and through Uber Eats, Grubhub, Postmates and Doordash.

The restaurant group behind the Ballston JINYA location, Harvest Eats LLC, is linked to local restaurateur Sam Shoja, who owned Emilie’s in D.C. — now a Mexican restaurant under his ownership — and, according to Eater, other Washington area franchises of JINYA. Shoja also previously owned a stake in Ballston Quarter eatery Hot Lola’s.

Korean rice hot dogs are coming to Arlington, perhaps as soon as next month

By Matt Blitz
1/5

A new Korean street food restaurant is coming to Arlington, and plans to set up shop in two different neighborhoods.

The fast casual eatery Oh K-Dog and Egg Toast is set to open two locations, in Crystal City and Ballston, likely within the next few months, the company tells ARLnow.

It’s part of a country-wide expansion to bring the “best Korean street food” stateside.

Korean rice dogs, essentially a fancier, souped up version of a corn dog, are popular in South Korea. They are now becoming widely sought-after in the United States.

“Unlike a typical hot dog, we specialize in using a stick to deep fry our signature item until it crips golden brown,” says the Oh K-Dog’s website. “It’s the perfect snack filled with your choice of mozzarella cheese, squid-ink, rice cake, potato, and more.”

The Crystal City location will be on restaurant row, at 509 23rd Street S. It’s set to move into the space formerly occupied by Taj of India, which appears to have closed earlier this year.

That one is planning to open prior to Christmas, we’re told.

The other location is moving into Ballston Quarter at 4238 Wilson Blvd, appearing to take over the lower level stall that was once Mi & Yu Noodle Bar, which closed in February.

Ballston’s Oh K-Dog and Egg Toast is looking at a December or January 2022 opening, the company said in response to an inquiry from ARLnow.

Each location is owned by separate owners. We reached out to both for more details, but have yet to hear back.

In addition to the Korean rice dogs, Oh K-Dog and Egg Toast serves — as its name suggests — egg toast, another Korean speciality. Also on the menu are croffles, a croissant/waffle mash-up that’s being described as the new “cronut.”

Photos via Instagram (as marked)

Soccer-centric restaurant Copa has closed in Ballston

By ARLnow.com
1/2

Time has expired for Spanish tapas restaurant and soccer-watching venue Copa Kitchen & Bar in Ballston.

The establishment at Ballston Quarter mall served its final brunches over the weekend after apparently failing to score with local diners. Of course, stiff opposition — in the form of the pandemic and a labor shortage — probably didn’t help.

Copa opened in March 2019, in a separate space adjacent to the Quarter Market food hall. It offered Spanish-inspired small plates, flatbreads, sangria from its “sangria garden,” outdoor seating and soccer matches on the bar’s TVs.

Late last month, however, Copa announced on its website it would soon close.

We’ve got some news to share about Copa Kitchen & Bar. We’re closing our doors and serving our last brunch on Sunday November 7th. We have had such a good time bringing you our Spanish inspired tapas and being a part of the Ballston Quarter family over the last two years. We want to thank every customer who has dined with us, watched games with us, followed our journey on social media or enjoyed a happy hour with us. We’d like to extend a special thanks to the customers who have supported us (and all restaurants) through the pandemic.

Today workers could be seen in the restaurant space, packing up items and removing some of the fixtures.

It’s the second time in just over a year that a soccer-centric restaurant has shuttered in Arlington. Summers Restaurant in Courthouse closed last fall ahead of a redevelopment project.

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