Crystal City

Good Stuff Eatery to Open in Crystal City

By ARLnow.com

‘Top Chef’ contestant Spike Mendelsohn’s Good Stuff Eatery is announcing its impending arrival in Crystal City.

A photo posted on Facebook over the weekend shows big, colorful signs covering the doors and windows of the future burger-and-milkshake joint’s prime, 3,300 square foot space on Crystal Drive’s restaurant row.

This will be Good Stuff’s second location. Its original location on Capitol Hill opened in 2008.

Washingtonian reported earlier this year that Good Stuff Eatery was hoping for a January opening. So far we’ve been unable to reach anyone associated with Good Stuff for confirmation, but a review of permit applications for the restaurant’s location at 2110 Crystal Drive reveals that it’s still without a building permit. That means an opening would likely be at least a couple of months away.

Power Outage in Crystal City

By ARLnow.com

(Updated at 4:55 p.m.) More than 2,500 Dominion customers are without power in the Crystal City area this afternoon.

Numerous traffic lights are reported to be dark in the area. Police are beginning to direct traffic at certain intersections.

According to a Dominion map, the power outage appears to be centered in Alexandria, where more than 7,100 Dominion customers are said to be without power.

Memphis Barbeque to Open on Dec. 1

By ARLnow.com

Crystal City’s newest sit-down restaurant is expected to open on Thursday, Dec. 1.

Memphis Barbeque, located at 320 23rd Street S., will feature “authentic” Memphis barbeque as envisioned by chef and owner Chris George.

“Memphis Barbeque will feature a menu of finger licking, barbequed meats, fish and shellfish,” the restaurant said in a press release. “Meats will be slow cooked over hickory wood from two smokers and finished with a selection of tomato and vinegar based sauces.”

The nearly 5,500 square foot restaurant features a 54-seat bar and a 170-seat dining room, in the storefront once occupied by Mackey’s Public House. During warm weather months, Memphis Barbeque plans to have a 48-seat outdoor patio.

George’s 20 years of restaurant experience includes managing upscale restaurants in Atlanta, Memphis and Los Angeles. The Memphis, Tenn. native counts his father Dr. William George, a Memphis business leader and ordained minister, and his sister Yolanda George Turman, who works in bio-pharmaceutical sales, as partners in the new restaurant. Redrick Rayborn, the “pit master” for Memphis Barbeque, just moved to Arlington from Memphis, where he managed a Corky’s Ribs and Barbeque location.

(more…)

Anime Festival Comes to Crystal City For Last Hurrah

By ARLnow.com

The Anime USA convention, an annual celebration of Japanese arts and popular culture, has brought plenty of colorful, costumed characters to Crystal City over the years.

This year’s convention at the Crystal City Hyatt was no exception — but it also represented what may be the last hurrah for the convention’s tenure in Arlington. Next year Anime USA will be held at the Washington Marriott Wardman, off of Connecticut Avenue in Northwest D.C.

“The Marriott will offer a larger, convienent [sic], and more cell phone friendly location as the [convention] continues to grow,” organizers wrote on the Anime USA blog.

The convention attracts thousands of passionate attendees each year. Below are some of the more memorable costumes we spotted around Crystal City Friday night.

1/18

Restaurant Event in Crystal City to Blend Italian and Indian Cuisine

By ARLnow.com

It’s a culinary combination you don’t hear about all that often: Indian-Italian fusion. But on Saturday, Crystal City’s Cucina Vivace restaurant will be devoting an entire night to it.

The exotic cuisine will be prepared as part of a collaboration between two local chefs: Gordon Vivace of Cucina Vivace and Pritha Mehra of Falls Church-based The Mystic Kitchen. The two came up with a 10-course, $69 prix fixe menu that blends “Indian and Italian staples into dishes that remain true to both specialties.”

The menu includes:

  • Papri Chaat: Flour crisps topped with potatoes, mascarpone cheese based cream, tamarind chutney and chickpea shavings.
  • Polpetti di Paste e Pollo: Patties made with Chicken, Potatoes, Spaghetti and Cheese served with Chutney.
  • Insalata di Kachoomber: A lemon flavored salad mixture of Indian and Mediterranean fruits dressed in lemon zest.
  • Tandoori Chicken Pizzetti: Flat bread with a thin layer of tomato, topped with Tandoori Chicken, onions, arugula and pine nuts.
  • Salmon Bruschetta: Salmon grilled in an array of spices served over olive roasted toast.
  • Pesto Paneer: Homemade Paneer in a tangy pesto chutney sauce.
  • Curried Shrimp Polenta: South Indian Shrimp curry over creamy polenta.
  • Raja’s Cannelloni: Fresh pasta tubes stuffed with Indian-spiced spinach and paneer baked in an Italian tomato sauce, flavored with Indian five-spice.
  • Spaghetti Keema Bolognese: Indian spiced beef curry in an Italian Bolognese style sauce over freshly made spaghetti.
  • Risotto Dolce: Cardamom flavored Arborio Rice pudding topped with fruit.

The menu is being offered for one night only: Saturday, Nov. 19, at 7:00 p.m. Reservations can be made online or by calling 703-979-7676.

Winter in Crystal City to Feature Wine, Beer & Fashion

By ARLnow.com

Crystal City is planning a series of events to help make the dead of winter a bit livelier.

The Crystal City 1K Wine Walk — which combines light exercise with moderate drinking — will be back for a second year. The event proved popular enough that it’s being expanded. The wine walk will now be held on two consecutive days: Saturday, Jan. 14 and Sunday, Jan. 15. Participants will be led on a one kilometer indoor course under the streets of Crystal City, with wine and snack stations set up along the way.

The following weekend, Crystal City will hold its inaugural 1K Beer Walk. Featuring the same general format as the wine walk, the beer walk will take place on Saturday, Jan. 21 and Sunday, Jan. 22.

Wine and beer walkers will each be given 20 tickets for sips and snacks, and will each receive a “race” t-shirt.

In February, the annual Crystal Couture fashion show will return to the former underground food court at 1750 Crystal Drive.

Promising “five nights of trunk shows, runway shows, music, open bar, free snacks, free makeovers from makeup artists and hair stylists and chats with wardrobe stylists,” the event will take place from 6:00 to 10:00 each night from Feb. 7 to 11. Admission is free.

Organizers say this year’s event will feature more shopping opportunities and up to 50 percent off designer fashions.

Disclosure: Crystal City BID is an ARLnow.com advertiser

BREAKING NEWS — Suspicious Package in Crystal City

By ARLnow.com

Update at 5:45 p.m. — Firefighters have determined the object is not explosive nor a hazardous material, police tell ARLnow.com. The incident is “winding down” as authorities complete their investigation.

Earlier: The block around the SAIC building at 200 12th Street S. in Crystal City has been shut down as police and firefighters investigate a suspicious package in the building.

The Arlington County bomb squad, hazmat team and traffic control officers are on the scene, on the northern end of Crystal City. Pentagon Police have restricted pedestrian access on 12th Street east of Route 1.

The building, which has been evacuated, contains a number of military-related offices. Initial reports suggest that a bomb-sniffing dog had a positive hit on a suspicious object inside the building.

No word yet on the type of object, but Arlington Police say it was mailed to the office.

Homeland security detectives from the Arlington County Police Department and agents from the FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Protective Service agency are on the scene.

1/6

Help Name Stations Along Upcoming Transitway

By Katie Pyzyk

As the county finalizes its design for the Crystal City Potomac Yard transitway, it’s looking for public input on station names.

The project will enhance bus service to accommodate recent and upcoming developments in the area. Dedicated bus lanes are planned along Crystal Drive, S. Clark Street and S. Bell Street. During the first phase, seven new stops will be added along the route, in addition to the existing one at the Crystal City Metro station. Eventually, the plan is for the project to expand to the Pentagon City Metro station and south to the Braddock Road Metro station in Alexandria.

The locations of the new stations are already set, but you can help name them. The survey allows you to vote for suggested names or fill in your own ideas. To participate in the survey, click here. It will be available until November 10.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

W-L Softball Field Improvements in the Works — At last night’s Arlington County School Board meeting, officials said they were moving forward “at quite a good pace” with plans to improve the softball facilities at Quincy Park used by Washington-Lee High School. Parents loudly complained over the summer about what they felt were inferior, dangerous playing conditions at the team’s home field. [Sun Gazette]

County Offers Free Leadership Course — From a County press release: “Want to learn more about how to make change happen in your neighborhood and County? County government’s Neighborhood College is offering a free, eight-week course — open to all residents — aimed at giving you the inside scoop on how County government works and helping you hone your civic leadership skills.” [Arlington County]

Alexandria Brewery Visits Crystal City — Staff from Alexandria’s Port City Brewing Company will be holding an event at a Crystal City hotel bar over the weekend. On Saturday, starting at 6:00 p.m., Port City will “take over the taps” at BELL20 at the Crystal City Marriott (1999 Jefferson Davis Hwy). The brewery’s IPA, pale ale, wheat bear and porter will be available on draft for $4.20, and will include free take-home pint glasses.

Flickr pool photo by Maryva2

Memphis Barbeque Now Hiring in Crystal City

By ARLnow.com

Memphis Barbeque, a new restaurant that’s starting to wrap up construction in Crystal City, is now hiring.

The restaurant (320 South 23rd Street) recently posted a help wanted ad on Craigslist seeking bartenders, servers, cooks, and hostesses. The ad also described the concept behind the $750,000 restaurant.

“We are Metropolitan Washington’s first upscale-casual BBQ restaurant featuring authentic hickory-pit smoked barbeque and live hickory grilled meats, fish and seafood,” the ad said.

Memphis Barbeque is taking the place of the shuttered Mackey’s Public House.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Norwood Found Guilty of Murder — A Montgomery County jury has found Brittany Norwood guilty of the brutal murder of Rosslyn resident Jayna Murray. Murray was found beaten and stabbed to death in a Bethesda Lululemon yoga store in March. [ABC 7]

Cain Accused of Sexual Harassment in Crystal City — Republican presidential frontrunner Herman Cain has been facing accusations that he sexually harassed female employees while serving as head of the National Restaurant Association. The latest accuser alleges that one incident of harassment happened at an (unnamed) restaurant in Crystal City. [Politico]

‘Puzzle Fest’ This Weekend — Arlington Public Library is hosting its first-ever Arlington Puzzle Festival on Saturday. From 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Central Library (1015 N. Quincy Street) puzzle enthusiasts can compete in crossword and Sudoku tournaments. There will also be speakers and a scavenger hunt. [Library Blog]

Flickr pool photo by Maryva2

View More Stories