food

Taste of Arlington to Feature Largest Restaurant Row in its History

On Sunday, May 20, from 12-6 p.m. the 31st Annual Taste of Arlington presented by Courthaus Social returns to Ballston.

Hosted by BallstonGives, the charitable arm of the Ballston Business Improvement District (BID), this family-friendly street festival will benefit several Arlington non-profits including the Animal Welfare League of Arlington, Arlington Food Assistance Center, Arlington Arts Center, Arlington Chamber of Commerce, Leadership Center for Excellence and Volunteer Arlington.

The event features a craft beer and wine garden, live music on two stages, a dedicated KidZone and a pop-up dog park but the real focus of Taste of Arlington is the food. With over 60 restaurants and food trucks, this year’s restaurant row will be the biggest in Taste of Arlington history and will continue to showcase the best of Arlington’s rapidly growing food scene.

Buzzworthy newcomers like The G.O.A.T., Ambar and Bartaco will be in attendance, along with delicious Arlington favorites such as Epic Smokehouse, SER Restaurant and Rocklands Barbeque.

For those interested in trying something with an international flair, Taste of Arlington boasts a diverse lineup of vendors offering tastes from across the globe. From Venezuela (Arepa Crew) and the Philippines (Bistro 1521) to Australia (Oz) and Anatolia (Ozfeka Catering), there’s something to satisfy even the most adventurous of palates.

What can we expect to eat at this year’s festival? Here’s some of the dishes that already have our mouths watering:

  • Cheesetique’s gooey Melted Raclette, served with an assortment of dippable accompaniments.
  • Wood-fired pizzas from Timber Pizza, specifically the Green Monster, loaded with pesto, zucchini and kale.
  • Tacos Al Pastor, stuffed with roasted pork and pineapple, from TTT & Buena Vida.

Hungry yet? Tickets are on sale now, with discounted prices available until May 1. Head over to www.tasteofarlington.com to purchase your tickets today!

Medium Rare Sets Expected Virginia Square Opening Date

By Bridget Reed Morawski

Looks like Virginia Square residents won’t have to wait long for the opening of prix-fixe steakhouse Medium Rare.

The restaurant had signs up as early as November 2017, but co-founder Mark Bucher confirmed via email that the restaurant is targeting to open the first week of April.

Currently, the popular chain has three open locations — two in D.C. and one in Bethesda, Md.

Medium Rare is known for its relatively inexpensive pre-fixe dinner menu of bread, salad, and culotte steak with fries and a “secret sauce” for about $20.

Photo courtesy of Leslie Koch

A Farmers Market May Be Coming To Barrett Elementary School

By Bridget Reed Morawski

An open air market is coming to Barrett Elementary School in Buckingham, pending an Arlington School Board vote on its license agreement tonight.

The market would be run by Field To Table, Inc., the same nonprofit that operates the Westover Farmers Market, and would pay an annual fee of $200 to use the property.

Proposed operating hours are 8 a.m.-12 p.m. on Saturdays from April to November, with the nonprofit being responsible for premise clean up by 1 p.m. School board document do not list the exact start date of the market.

Superintendent Patrick Murphy’s office has recommended that the school board approve the license agreement at its monthly meeting tonight (March 22).

The market is expected to be called the Lubber Run Farmers Market which, according to a newsletter for the Arlington Forest neighborhood, will “avoid some of the negatives of other suggested names.”

Additional volunteers are being sought to help out with the market, the newsletter says, adding that it will be “an exciting addition to the neighborhood community bringing together residents from Arlington Forest and neighboring areas to enjoy shopping for fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy, bread and so on.”

Vendors for a farmers market at Barrett are not yet listed, but current vendors at the Westover Farmers Market include Baltimore’s Dimitri Olive Farms, Woodbridge’s Gina’s Pacific Jams and Jellies, and Arlington’s Mormor Crepes.

File photo

JBG Smith Seeking Feedback on Crystal City ‘Central District’ Development

By Bridget Reed Morawski
1/8

(Updated at 8:30 p.m.) An older office building in Crystal City may be converted into apartments, and developer JBG Smith is soliciting public feedback on the project.

JBG Smith is looking to convert a 12-story office building at 1750 Crystal Drive into a 21-story residential building. The building, across from the Crystal City Water Park, would be 257 feet in height.

In the first phase of the “Central District” project, a new 74,000 square foot, street facing retail area would be built, reportedly anchored by an Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. The retail area may also include a smaller-format grocery store, like a Trader Joe’s.

A JBG Smith presentation says the project would include “delivery of nine screen Alamo Drafthouse Theater that shows first run and art house films as well as dining, entertainment, and event space hosting.” According to the feedback website, JBG is hoping to start construction in the fall and to have the theater open by the spring of 2020.

As part of the project, a two story, 16,000 square foot retail building would be built at the corner of 18th Street S. and Crystal Drive — next to a proposed second Crystal City Metro entrance — with renderings showing an sizable outdoor dining area adjacent to it.

Feedback from JBG’s online portal is helping to shape the development, said a representative for the company that created the portal.

“It’s a new approach for the developer, which added online outreach to the traditional process involving community meetings,” said the rep. “Over 1,600 people have interacted with the Central District at Crystal City website… Based on the feedback, JBG Smith has committed to providing seating, plantings, and seasonal events in the plaza.”

“The developer is also recruiting a full-service grocery store, which online voters said was the most important element to make the spot a neighborhood destination,” he added.

An open house on the Crystal City Block Plan “G” and Metro Market Square, which will plan open space and retail around the existing and new Metro entrances, is scheduled for Wednesday, March 21.

Northern Virginia Restaurant Week Returns Next Week

By Bridget Reed Morawski

This year’s Northern Virginia Restaurant Week is kicking off next week.

From Monday, March 19 to Monday, March 26, more than 50 restaurants, around Arlington and the region, will be offering special menus and pricing.

Arlington has at least 17 restaurants participating this year, including Bistro 360, BABA, Gaijin Ramen Shop, and La Côte d’Or.

Diners at these restaurants aren’t required to order from the restaurant week menu, and menus and pricing varies by the restaurant. Some restaurants have already listed their restaurant week menus, and customers are encouraged to reserve in advance to guarantee seating.

Some of the Arlington restaurants which have listed their restaurant week menus are below.

Photo via Northern Virginia Restaurant Week

Rice Bar Opens In Crystal City

By Bridget Reed Morawski
1/5

A new Korean bibimbap restaurant has opened in Crystal City.

Rice Bar opened its first Arlington location at 1235 S. Clark Street on Monday, March 5, according to the store’s manager, James Lee. They company’s website lists five additional locations, all in the District.

Bibimbap is a hot rice dish served with meat, egg, sautéed or seasoned vegetables, and other toppings.

Diners can either eat one of seven signature dishes, like the Kalbi Korean BBQ beef rib, or build their own bowl. Toppings include edamame, burdock root, roasted seaweed, and bamboo shoot, and there are seven sauce options listed, like gochujang, a red chili paste.

The restaurant also offers noodle dishes with similar toppings.

Operating hours will be from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday, with additional hours on Friday from 10:30 a.m. – 4 p.m. Rice Bar Crystal City will be closed on Saturdays and Sundays, according to the location’s web page.

File photos.

Rosslyn Farmers Market Starts CSA Program

By Bridget Reed Morawski
1/3

The Rosslyn Farmers Market will kick off once again in a few months, but with a new feature: a weekly community supported agriculture program (CSA).

Like other CSA programs, FRESHFARM Share program staff pull together fruit, vegetables, and other goods from local farmers and producers that also sell at the farmers market.

Residents have the option of a regular share, which costs $30 a week and feeds two people or “one person who eats a lot of veggies,” or a large share that will feed two to four people for a week, according to the subscriber website.

A rotating market treat can be added on for $5 per week, and can be anything from pickles to pasta sauce to pastries (and other non-alliterative supplementary snacks).

Subscribers can pick up their share of the week’s crop at the farmers market, which is held weekly at 1800 N. Lynn Street at the Central Place Plaza from late spring through early autumn. The CSA is limited to 40 subscriptions, and members can skip up to two weeks per half season with three days notice.

More from a press release on some subscription logistics:

While the Rosslyn Farmers Market season will begin on May 9 and run through October, FRESHFARM Share will not begin until May 16. If you subscribe for the first half of the season (12 weeks) of FRESHFARM Share, your subscription will run through August 1.

If you subscribe for the second half of the season (12 weeks), your subscription will run from August 8 through October 24. Full season subscriptions are also available (May 16 – October 24). Share pick-ups will be available during the market’s afternoon operating hours.

The announcement of the program, in partnership with the Rosslyn BID, follows the results of a Rosslyn resident and worker survey which noted the neighborhood’s desire for more healthy food options.

Photo courtesy of the Rosslyn BID.

Photos: Rosslyn Nando’s Opens Monday

By Bridget Reed Morawski
1/5

South African spicy chicken restaurant Nando’s is opening its newest location at Rosslyn’s Central Place on Monday (March 12), the company announced today.

A press release noted that players with a Washington sports team will make an appearance for a grand opening charity event to benefit “local underserved youth,” but a Nando’s representative declined to be more specific. A Ballston Nando’s opening in 2016 featured several Washington Capitals players flipping chickens.

The location is the newest of the chain’s now 41 U.S. restaurants. Decorations inside the new location include a portrait by South African artist Nqabutho Phakathi, colorful lighting and an undulating ceiling.

Beginning Monday, the restaurant at 1800 N. Lynn Street, with an entrance on N. Moore Street, will operate from 11 a.m. – 10 p.m. on weekdays, from 11 a.m. – 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, and from 11 a.m. – 10 p.m. on Sundays.

Photos courtesy of Nando’s

Taste of Arlington Brings Back Free General Admission

By Bridget Reed Morawski

Taste of Arlington is bringing back free general admission after charging for an entry wristband last year for the first time.

Gormandizing gaggles will still need to pay to eat or drink at the event, which is being held Sunday, May 20 from noon to 6 p.m.

Listed prices for tickets purchased before May 1 range from $6 for a single beer or wine ticket to $40 for a book of 10 “taste” tickets to $95 for a V.I.P. lounge pass. Tickets purchased after May 1 are more costly, and tickets purchased on the day of the event are even more so.

It’s rain or shine ticketing, so there are no refunds for bad weather.

Local brewery New District Brewing Company is listed as a vendor at a beer and wine garden. A live concert will be held at the beer garden, but no word yet on the performing artists.

Ballston’s SER and Pepita Cantina and Clarendon’s Don Tito and Oz are participating, as well as dozens of other Arlington restaurants and a few from outside of the county. The event web page notes that there will be over 50 food trucks and restaurants serving their specialties, though currently there are only 41 listed.

The festival will be held on Wilson Boulevard between N. Randolph and N. Lincoln streets, approximately along the stretch between the Ballston and Virginia Square Metro stations.

The dog-friendly “BarkPark” will cost $15 for entry, which includes a bandanna and a taste ticket as well as a place for your dog to hang out. A family area with games will be free.

UPDATE: Shirlington Sports Bar Dudley’s Sets New Opening Timeframe

By Bridget Reed Morawski
1/4

Update at 4:30 p.m. — Reese Gardner, the owner of Dudley’s Sport & Ale and Copperwood Tavern, reached out to ARL now after deadline. The sports bar has a revised projected opening time frame of between May and June 1 this year.

“We’re putting in a steel rooftop with 300 some people on top of a structure never designed to have a rooftop,” said Gardner. “There’s a whole lot of things that go into it.”

An updated construction schedule will be posted soon on the Facebook page, and Gardner says that he believes that they have completed all of the special inspections that were holding them back from opening.

“We’re back in there working, and we think that that is the last hoop that we have to jump through,” said Gardner.

Earlier: Shirlington is still waiting for its sports bar.

Dudley’s Sport & Ale, a sports bar planned for Shirlington, originally had an opening date for set for early 2016. Fast forward to February 2018 and, following numerous delays, the bar — which bills itself as “Est. 2015” — is still under construction.

Replacing the former The Bungalow Sports Grill at 2766 S. Arlington Mills Drive, which closed in June 2015, Dudley’s is bringing a 3,000 square foot rooftop space to Shirlington, the neighborhood’s first such rooftop bar.

According to Dudley’s Facebook page, the owners received a permit to continue construction on the rooftop deck last year. Another post stated that the bar had passed two of six necessary county special inspections.

Calls and emails to Dudley’s and its sister restaurants were not returned.


Delia’s Brick Oven Pizza Opening Arlington Ridge Location

By Bridget Reed Morawski
1/2

Delia’s, a mediterranean grill and brick oven pizza parlor with several area locations, is set to open a new location in Arlington Ridge in mid-March.

The location’s general manager, Oliver Garnowski, confirmed the scheduled opening and added that there will be more daily specials than at the Alexandria, Va., location that he currently works at. There will also be a few menu changes.

The restaurant, at 2931 S. Glebe Road, replaces the former Tazza Kitchen, which closed in November 2016.

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