local business

New Food Truck Launches In Virginia Square Today

By ARLnow.com

Today is the first day in business for Bada Bing Cheesesteaks and Spiedies, a new Arlington-based food truck.

What is a Spiedie, you ask? It’s an upstate New York delicacy — a sandwich made with marinated meats cooked over an open flame.

While the truck’s name doesn’t exactly convey an aura of culinary sophistication, the man behind Bada Bing is Nicholas Terzella, a trained chef whose resume includes fine dining restaurants in Napa Valley and Palm Beach.

Terzella, who has also worked as a private chef for an actress in Manhattan (he won’t name names), says he will be serving gourmet seasonal side dishes in addition to sandwiches. Needless to say, it’s not often that you hear the words “truffle oil” uttered by a tough-looking guy selling cheesesteaks out of the side of a truck.

Terzella, a Centreville resident, says he’ll be operating the truck as a full-time business in Arlington, though he’s hoping to eventually start selling in the District once the DC government starts issuing vendor licenses again.

Bada Bing will be stationed outside the Virginia Square Metro station tonight and tomorrow. Next week the truck will start on a regular rotation around Ballston, Clarendon, Rosslyn and Crystal City.

More photos after the jump.

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Crystal City Changes Have Businesses Seeing Dollar Signs

By ARLnow.com

If the sea of suits at the Bisnow “A Whole New Crystal City” conference at the Crystal Gateway Marriott was any indication, local businesses are quite interested in the neighborhood’s future.

With the newly-passed Crystal City Sector Plan calling for more housing, more offices and more ground-level retail, money-making opportunities abound. And for the representatives of non-profits in the audience, the dollars flowing into Crystal City also present cultural opportunities.

On Tuesday the board has approved the financing mechanism for $207 million in infrastructure improvements around Crystal City, raising the green flag for major private investments.

Speaking at the conference, the head of Crystal City’s biggest private property owner said he has two new projects in the planning stages. Mitchell Shear, president of Vornado/Charles E. Smith, said that the company is planning two mixed-use developments to replace two BRAC-impacted office buildings.

The plans would likely call for the demolition of the existing buildings. One such building was thought to be 223 23rd Street, which housed the G-40 street art exhibit earlier this year.

Shear also brought up the possibility of making Crystal City more “green” by implementing a district energy system (centralized heating and cooling plants serving numerous buildings). District energy, he said, would be consistent with the county government’s energy goals, as stated in the current draft of the county’s community energy plan.

Despite all the changes planned for the neighborhood, officials said that some things would not change.

Crystal City Business Improvement District President Angela Fox told that audience that the famous Crystal City Underground (or, in the preferred local parlance, “interior walkways”) will be a part of the “new” Crystal City. She said local residents have expressed a desire to keep the walkways — which provide shopping options in addition to a means to get from place to place comfortably in bad weather.

Music Could Return to Westover Beer Garden by Spring

By ARLnow.com

(Updated at 4:20 p.m.) In August, the county zoning enforcement office told the owners of the Westover Market that concerts and crowds were not allowed at the store’s popular outdoor beer garden. Since then the store has hired a land use attorney, drummed up impressive public support and taken steps to meet the county’s requirements.

Soon, the store will submit plans to the county for building new handicap-accessible bathrooms. Completing code-compliant bathrooms would be the first step toward getting approval to operate the beer garden as an entertainment venue.

Hicks says that the store’s relationship with county regulators has changed significantly since collecting nearly 2,000 signatures from supportive residents and getting nominated for two ABBIE awards.

“The county is now working with us to jump all these hurdles,” Hicks said. “And it’s all because of the support.”

Once the bathroom plans are approved and the facilities are built — at the cost of $25,000 to $35,000 — the market should have all the elements in place to be recognized by the county as a restaurant, Hicks said. Once it receives the restaurant designation, it will be eligible to apply for a live entertainment permit.

In addition to allowing musicians to perform in the beer garden, regulatory approval could increase the allowed beer garden occupancy from the current 9 to nearly 100, Hicks said.

Hicks expects to have the bathrooms built by January, and hopes to get the live entertainment permit soon thereafter.

In an earlier version of this story, Hicks said that plans for the new restrooms had been submitted to the county. However, county official Hunter Moore later told us that the market’s plan for new restrooms have, in fact, not been submitted yet.

Moore also says that more steps may be necessary in order for the market to be considered a restaurant, and thus eligible to apply for a live entertainment permit.

“The County staff remain committed to working with the Westover Market to achieve as much of the owner’s goals as possible,” Moore added. “We realize the community wants it and we want to be supportive of local business, but at the same time they have to play by the same set of rules that everybody else plays by.”

Lease Your Very Own Cherrydale Storefront

By ARLnow.com

The retail space formerly occupied by Cherrydale Clockworks is up for lease.

Anyone interested in opening up shop on Lee Highway can lease the 1,600 square foot space for a relatively cheap $1,995 per month (good luck finding a 1,600 square foot apartment with a monthly rent below $2,000). Plus, the lease comes with two parking spaces in the rear of the building.

The building was built in 1957, according to a real estate sheet posted in the window. Your neighbors will include the Columbia Masonic Center, a bindery equipment company, and a Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins store.

The upstairs is also available for lease — $1,700 per month will get you a full bathroom and a rear deck.

Just don’t be surprised when unhappy-looking people stop by asking where their clocks are.

Red Top Cab Installing Self-Pay Credit Card Machines

By ARLnow.com

Soon, playing for a cab ride in Arlington will be as simple as swiping your credit card. Red Top Cab has started the process of installing self-pay machines in the back of each of its 350 taxis in Arlington.

In a press release, Red Top says it’s the first local cab company to fully implement the technology — which is widely used in cities like New York City, Boston and Chicago.

“Customers are very enthusiastic,” about the self-pay machines, according to driver John Svay. “Customers see their fare charges right in front of them, and can swipe the card before arriving at their destination… itʼs quicker and easier than the old way.”

Red Top expects the machines to be installed in all of its vehicles by the end of November.

Photo courtesy Red Top Cab

Panel Begins Process of Rewriting County’s Zoning Ordinance

By ARLnow.com

Over the past several months, business owner have complained loudly about the county’s confusing and inconsistent zoning code. From stringent sign enforcement to outdoor seating debates to extended delays in getting permits, business owners — particularly new business owners — have expressed frustration with the level of expense and effort required to avoid running afoul of county regulators.

But that may be changing.

Tomorrow night, the county’s zoning committee will meet to plan a comprehensive rewrite of the zoning ordinance. The meeting, which will run from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. in Room A of 2100 Clarendon Boulevard, is open to the public, although the discussion will be confined to the committee.

In a draft proposal, county staff noted that the zoning ordinance was last rewritten in 1950. Because the ordinance has been amended many times on a piecemeal basis, it “contains many inconsistencies” and “includes many sections and regulations that are difficult to understand.”

“There are many administrative practices that are not codified within the Ordinance,” staff also concluded.

See the staff report here.

Rosslyn’s Future, as Foretold by an Office Building

By ARLnow.com

If Thursday’s groundbreaking for the 1812 North Moore Street office tower was anything, it was a vote of confidence in the DC area, and Rosslyn specifically, as a commercial center.

“The fundementals of our market are probably the best in the entire country, if not the world,” said Tim Helmig, the executive who just placed a $30 million bet on Rosslyn. “Investors worldwide have focused on the [Rosslyn-Ballston] corridor.”

Helmig, who heads the DC office New York-based Monday Properties, said he is embarking on the project without a signed tenant and without full financing because he believes that demand for office space in Rosslyn will be there once the building is completed. His company is so sure of Rosslyn’s viability that a full 45 percent of the company’s portfolio, in square feet, is based here.

“You’re seeing that a market like Rosslyn can withstand what is arguably the worst recession in American history, and move forward on a speculative office building,” Helmig said as a group of developers and local leaders gathered for lunch on the empty 30th floor of an existing Monday Properties building on Wilson Boulevard.

Congressman Jim Moran, who joined Arlington officials and Monday Property executives on stage at the ceremonial groundbreaking, said the event will help inspire confidence in the country’s economic recovery.

“This sends a signal to the whole region that the future is going to be brighter than the past,” Moran said. “It has made it clear that [the Washington area] is going to lead the country out of this recession.”

Calling Rosslyn the area’s “second downtown,” Arlington Economic Development Director Terry Holzheimer said that 1812 North Moore Street, and the still-stalled Central Place towers, are big steps in the continuing evolution of Rosslyn.

“This building and Central Place and some others are going to change the market dynamics of Rosslyn,” he said. “It’s going to be competing with some of the best of the District.”

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BBQ Bandidos Sling Sammys and Cemitas in Rosslyn

By ARLnow.com

There’s a new mobile food vendor in town, and it’s just one of a host of new mobile lunchtime options that are sprucing up the tired Rosslyn food scene.

BBQ Bandidos served up their first sandwich less than three weeks ago, but already they’re developing a loyal customer base.

“It’s awesome, it’s authentic… you can taste the smokiness of the meat,” said India Hubbard, who along with several co-workers were getting lunch from the truck for the second time. Hubbard said they’ll be back soon to try other items on the menu.

BBQ Banditos serves up American barbeque sandwiches and Mexican cemita sandwiches –all either $6.50 or $7.00 — along with $1 chips and $2 bottled sodas.

Co-owners Shawn Lucas and Nathan Spittal both came from the restaurant industry, where they have a combined 17 years of experience and most recently held the titles of general manager and executive chef.

Lucas said they came up with the idea for the truck just three months ago.

“We were mad that there was no good barbeque in DC,” he said, explaining the idea’s genesis. He noted that the truck licensed only in Arlington — “for now.”

“We really like Arlington, we like Rosslyn,” Lucas said. “The people around here are really friendly… we have regular customers after two weeks, it’s great.”

The truck recently went to the inaugural Curbside Cookoff in DC, and captured third place. Other than that adventure, Lucas says, the truck has not ventured far from its regular lunchtime spot in Rosslyn.

Lucas attributes the truck’s success thus far to the lack of good food choices for local workers.

“I’m not going to say any names, but they’re all on that side of the street,” Lucas said, motioning in the direction of Chop’t, whose manager allegedly threatened to call the police when the truck parked in front of the restaurant recently.

(A police officer checked on the Bandido’s permits just before our interview. It’s unclear if the officer was there after receiving a complaint.)

Rosslyn workers are “kind of tired of the same lemming line that’s impersonal and corporate,” Lucas said of his brick-and-mortar competitors.

He may be on to something. Around lunchtime today, at least four food trucks and carts were parked along Lynn Street, and all had sizable lines. With Rosslyn’s hoped-for restaurant renaissance happening at a snail’s pace, it seems that mobile food vendors are swooping in to provide more selection and sophistication — a quirky, homegrown alternative to the chains.

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Lyon Hall Answers the Call When a Customer Pops the Question

By ARLnow.com

Local Realtor Laura Rubinchuk and her now-fiance Mitch Schwartz went to Lyon Hall on their second date. When Mitch popped the question over the weekend, the popular Clarendon eatery came to them.

“I came up with the idea because Lyon Hall has great significance in our relationship and I wanted it to be a part of our proposal,” said Schwartz, who teaches high school English for Loudoun County Public Schools. “Lyon Hall… was where I fell in love with her.”

While proposing at the restaurant itself may have seemed like a natural choice, Mitch had bigger plans. He wanted more privacy, more intimacy for the big moment. He wanted to spread flower pedals around the room, light candles, put on their favorite song and surprise Laura without two dozen people gawking at them. But he still wanted Lyon Hall to be a part of it. So he talked to manager Mark Fedorchak.

“I went in to Lyon Hall and spoke with Mark and asked if he would be open to doing a dinner in our condo which is next door” to the restaurant, Schwartz said. “He loved the idea and asked if he could have some freedom in planning it.”

“Thursday night I sat down with Mark and he had drawn up a menu for me to look over and it was an amazing five course meal with all of our favorites on there,” he said. “We discussed wine options and agreed that I would come back on Friday… to give him a key and let them set up.”

When the big night arrived, Fedorchak, a waiter and another manager delivered silverware, place settings and ice buckets, which Schwartz hid just before Laura arrived home. After she got dressed for what Mitch said was going to be a date night to celebrate a recent anniversary, he gave her a series of envelopes with clues that sent her around Arlington to places with special meaning to their whirlwind, five-month romance.

In the meantime, Schwartz went about setting up the room. With the condo now looking like their own private restaurant, Laura returned and Mitch greeted her at the door.

“I asked her to dance and immediately asked her a question I always ask: ‘What would you say if I asked you (to marry me) tomorrow?’ She responded with her usual response of ‘Why don’t you ask and find out’.  I said ‘okay’ and got down on my knee.  She, thankfully, said yes.”

Then, with a phone call, the meal started.

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Arlington to Launch “Green Games” Competition

By ARLnow.com

Arlington County is launching a friendly competition that will encourage commercial building owners and office tenants to reduce energy usage and increase efficiency.

The “Arlington Green Games” will begin next Tuesday (Oct. 19) with an opening ceremony in Rosslyn, complete with booths that will instruct competitors on ways to reduce energy consumption and cut down on emissions. The event will start at 11:00 a.m. on the 30th floor of 1000 Wilson Blvd.

The competition is being organized by Arlington’s Fresh AIRE program, which seeks to reduce carbon emissions in the county. Competitors will first benchmark their “current energy and sustainability practices,” then work to improve performance in those area.

The county has also launched a web site for the Green Games, featuring a registration form for building owners and office managers.

What Will Replace the Pike’s La Cabana Restaurant?

By ARLnow.com

Several months ago, La Cabana restaurant, on Walter Reed Drive next to the Arlington Drafthouse, boarded up its colorfully-decorated windows and locked the doors.

Since then, despite the increasing foot traffic in the area and the continuing revitalization of Columbia Pike, leasing agents have struggled to find any restaurants that want to move in and fix the place up.

Bizarrely, public records show that a company applied for a liquor license at this address in July. But leasing agent Ray Leverty said the space is vacant and still up for lease.

The area is ripe for another food and drink option. What would you like to see open up here?

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