local business

New Alcohol-Free Restaurant to Open in Former Purple Lounge Space

By Matt Blitz

A new local business owner is taking over the troubled, former Purple Lounge location and is pledging to make it family-friendly.

Layth Mansour will be opening a restaurant and hookah lounge called “Eska” at 3111 Columbia Pike, the Columbia Pike Revitalization Organization (CPRO) announced earlier today.

Mansour also owns Legend Kicks & Apparel several blocks down at 2609 Columbia Pike.

This new restaurant will be an “authentic celebration of Arabic culture,” featuring decor, seating, and a menu inspired by Mansour’s roots. He tells ARLnow that he’ll make the new establishment “more family-friendly” and won’t be serving alcohol.

“I just want to provide a different vibe to the Pike,”said Mansour, who was born in America to a family originally from Jerusalem. “Also, that’s just not me. I’ve never drunk liquor… It’s against my religion.”

Plus, he says, the customer base at Legend Kick is predominantly 19 or younger, so he wants an establishment that complements his other business.

“Literally, five feet from our back door are houses,” he says. “‘It gives the community a peace of mind as well. There’s not going to be a lot of chaos.”

Mansour noted that, instead of alcohol, traditional Arabic teas, coffees, and desserts will be served. In fact, he’s bringing in a chef from Ramallah to help build out the menu.

“The Chef is well known in the village of Ramallah,” Mansour said, as quoted by CPRO. “He’ll be here for six months to help us build the menu.”

Mansour is working on repainting the exterior from purple to a “beige, brick-color.” Interior renovations are ongoing, as well, but the work has been challenging since the building was not kept in good shape.

“The last people here really, really screwed this place up,” Mansour says. “The exterior of the building is damaged, the plumbing is messed up… they were never up to date with any type of inspection. They didn’t even have fire extinguishers in the place.”

For years, the nightlife venue Purple Ethiopian Restaurant & Lounge was the site of a number of incidents, including multiple shootings. The situation got so dire that a bill was passed by the General Assembly and signed by Governor Ralph Northam that gives communities greater say over the issuance of liquor licenses.

Despite the building challenges, Mansour expects Eska to open by June 1, a prospect that excites local business boosters.

“CPRO is thrilled to have a new business coming to this location that embodies the spirit of Columbia Pike — a celebration of community, family, and the diverse cultures that make up our amazing corridor,” Kim Klingler, Executive Director of CPRO, tells ARLnow. “And we are proud to see a Columbia Pike small-business owner continue to grow and invest in our community.”

Mansour’s other business Legend Kicks & Apparel, a popular store focused on reselling high-end athletic gear, was a victim of arson and theft back in 2018. Later that year, the store reopened in a new location, a few doors down from the original one, which was severely damaged in the fire.

Mansour says that he’s currently looking for a new location for Legend Kicks, since a multi-use development is being planned for that block. He says his lease runs until January 2022, but expects to keep Legend Kicks in the Columbia Pike corridor

Chef Tim Ma Fighting Anti-Asian Racism While Preparing to Open Arlington Outpost

By Matt Blitz

After the murder of eight people, including six of Asian descent, last week near Atlanta, Northern Virginia-native Chef Tim Ma immediately thought of his parents.

The chef, on the verge of opening a Pentagon City location of his popular D.C. restaurant Lucky Danger, grew up in Centreville and is the son of Chinese immigrant parents.

“My parents don’t leave the house because of the pandemic,” he tells ARLnow. “And now they don’t leave the house because of fear of retaliation for looking a certain way. It’s really heartbreaking.”

As hate crimes against Asian-Americans have increased in our country and region over the last year, Ma knew he had a “responsibility” to help. He is the co-founder of Chefs Stopping AAPI Hate, a collective of D.C.-area chefs committed to creating awareness of anti-Asian and Pacific Islander racism and working on ways to stop it.

“We are using our skills to do what we can. And our skills are cooking,” says Ma. “We are using our platform as chefs to bring awareness and raise money to affect change.”

That includes a weekly dinner series, with a significant portion of proceeds going to the organization Stop AAPI Hate.

“A lot of what people know about Chinese culture is actually due to our food,” he says.

Ma admits that, while he’s still targeting an April opening for Lucky Danger at Westpost (formerly known at Pentagon Row), his activist efforts have taken time and bandwidth. He acknowledges it has led to a potential delay for the restaurant’s opening.

“Part of our delay is part of those efforts as well. We’ve accelerated a lot of things [at Chefs Stopping AAPI Hate]… because of the frequency and the severity of what happened in Atlanta,” he says.

But the events of the past few weeks were not the only time Ma says he felt threatened.

On January 6, he made the decision along with executive chef Andrew Chiou to shut down Lucky Danger’s location in D.C. despite a large number of pending orders.

“We’re five blocks from the Capitol and hearing sirens constantly for three, four hours,” Ma says. “As a Chinese-American take-out… we feared being targeted. So, we shut down. We were sold out, but we refunded everyone. All the guests were very understanding. We drove [our employees] home and left the city.”

Lucky Danger’s pop-up location in D.C. is massively popular, so much so that food often sells out. Ma believes this is because they’re bringing a modern take to a beloved cuisine.

“Chinese-American food is unilaterally loved in America,” he says. “But Chinese take-out tends to be ignored, while everything else has been updated. This has really been this exploration of staying true to what the food is in America and updating it.”

Menu items include well-known fare like cashew chicken, shrimp fried rice, and orange beef.

“It’s not Kung Pao ‘insert trendy meat here,'” he says. “It’s chicken. It’s sweet and sour pork.”

He thinks that the appeal will absolutely play across the river. The Westpost location makes it more adaptable for delivery and carry-out, providing enough parking spots for drivers and the ability for customers to walk-up and order.

“I think for the guests it will be more accessible. So, there’s not like this mad dash to make your order at 10 a.m. every morning,” Ma says. “That’s not great for anybody.”

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Bill’s True Value Hardware Remaining Open Following Founder’s Death

By Jo DeVoe

Bill’s True Value Hardware, which William “Bill” Ploskina owned and operated for 42 years, is staying open under the ownership of one of his children.

The elder Ploskina, who opened Bill’s along Lee Highway in 1979, died on Feb. 18 at 75 years old, according to his obituary. The new owner, his son Sean, lives in Virginia Beach and is a retired fire lieutenant. He tells ARLnow that he has been running the business since becoming president last year.

For employees, business continues as usual over at 2213 N. Buchanan Street.

“We told everybody who was worried if we’re going to stay here that we’re planning to stay here as long as possible,” said Robert Moody, the store’s manager and grill specialist. “Nothing has changed.”

The hardware store has been busy since the pandemic started. Bill’s son Mark told ARLnow last year that masks flew off the shelves, and people were stocking up on emergency supplies — as well as gardening supplies to break the monotony of lockdown.

Over the last month since Ploskina’s death, the store has received a wave of support from the community, said Moody, who worked with Bill for 20 years.

“There’s been a lot of feedback from the neighborhoods, they’ve been sending their condolences, cards, cookies, things of that nature,” he said. “He was a real known man.”

As a testament to the store’s longevity and its community focus, Ploskina even donated to Moody’s baseball team when he was a kid.

“That was 30 years ago,” Moody said, chuckling. “He’d help you out any way he could and was always willing and able to donate to any organization if they came in.”

According to his obituary, Ploskina was born in McKeesport, Pennsylvania — outside of Pittsburgh — and graduated from Penn State with a degree in aeronautical engineering.

“Bill enjoyed traveling and lived in Singapore for one and a half years,” the obituary noted.

Community members and longtime patrons remembered Ploskina as knowledgeable and invested in the local area.

“Mourning the loss of a neighborhood and North Arlington institution,” one person wrote in a post on the obituary. “My family and I will think of you whenever we go to Bill’s Hardware (which is often).”

“I know he will be greatly missed by many,” wrote another.

Photo via Bill’s True Value Hardware/Facebook

Mario’s Pizza House Continues to Serve Up Slices and Memories

By Matt Blitz
1/4

For 64 years, Mario’s Pizza House on Wilson Blvd has served up slices and memories.

From late night pizza runs to Little League baseball, for many Arlingtonians Mario’s has remained one of the only constants in a county where change is the norm. And, according to its current owner Tuhin Ahmed, Mario’s Pizza is not going anywhere, despite some of the change happening around it.

“Mario’s Pizza is going to be here forever,” says Ahmed. “It’s an Arlington institution.”

Howard Levine and his wife, Norma opened Mario’s Pizza House in 1957.

Their son, Alan Levine, tells ARLnow that his dad was a criminal defense attorney but saw a need for a quick bite type of restaurant on Wilson Blvd, which was a very busy road at the time.

“At that time, you didn’t have [Interstate] 66,” says Levine. “So, the main thoroughfare in the D.C. was Wilson Boulevard.”

So, Levine took an old flower shop and converted it to a pizza shop, one that sold ten cent slices.

As to why his father named it Mario’s, Alan laughs.

“Because not many people would have gone to a place called ‘Levine’s Pizza House’ in the 50s.”

Instantly, Mario’s became a community gathering spot. But there was one group that Howard Levine refused to serve.

“The American Nazi Party,” says Alan, of the group led by George Lincoln Rockwell, notoriously had its headquarters nearby. “If they had a swastika, he wasn’t going to serve them.”

Unsurprisingly, the Nazis didn’t take too fondly to a Jewish business owner who refused to serve them but who served slices to the Black community. They protested the pizza shop, holding signs that said things like “Mario the Jew.” But Levine was not intimidated.

“My father was a big son of a bitch,” recalls Alan. “He knew how to handle himself.”

According to Alan, the protest ended when Howard doused the Nazis with a power washer.

Howard and Norma divorced in 1962, says Alan, and his father left the restaurant to his mother as part of the settlement.

“He ran away with the au pair girl,” says Alan, “He ended up crashing a boat in Antigua and staying there forever.” 

From that point on and for more than two decades, Norma Levine was the hand at the register exchanging pizza for dollars.

She always worked the register at lunch, Alan says, and that’s how she got to know everyone. When asked if his mother enjoyed the running Mario’s, Alan pauses.

“It supported the family,” he says. “She enjoyed that.”

Thanks to the Levines, Mario’s was a pillar in the community.

Countless Arlingtonians have memories of Mario’s, from sponsoring Little League teams to the donuts to a miniature golf course with a monkey that bit kids.

“My father [initially] purchased the entire block and there was a miniature golf course where the Highlander is now,” says Levine. “There was a macaw that only cussed and a monkey that [had] a hatred of little girls. [We] had to get rid of the monkey.”

Willie “Lefty” Lindsay started working the grill at Mario’s in 1965 and did so for the next five decades. He only stopped grilling up steak and cheese sandwiches (the most popular thing on the menu, he says) last year, when the pandemic hit.

He remembers Norma Levine as a good boss and someone who was great to the customers.

“She was such a fine person to work around, customers loved her,” 85-year-old Lindsay tells ARLnow. “If you did a good job, she’d reward you for it.”

He believes the key to Mario’s longevity is that the menu and the recipes have hardly changed since it first opened. The customers and the employees have not changed much, either.

Alongside Lindsay for most of those years was Joe Williams, who made the pizza.

Williams worked at Mario’s as well for more than five decades, often side-by-side Lindsay.

“We were like brothers,” says Lindsay. “We never had an argument.”

Williams died in October 2019.

“Joe was an amazing man. He worked seven days a week,” Levine says about Williams. “He never missed a day of work. Except for his wife’s funeral.”

In the mid-1980s, Norma Levine retired and left the restaurant to her kids. She died in 1990. Alan Levine ran day-to-day operations for the next several decades.

“A lot of famous people would come through [to get pizza],” says Levine. “Bill Clinton was a big fan.”

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A Note Handed to an Arlington Barber Is Going Viral

By Matt Blitz
James Moore at his barber shop on Lee Highway (Staff Photo by Jay Westcott)

A short, sweet, secret note handed to an Arlington barber earlier this week may perfectly encapsulate the hope that the pandemic could be nearing its end.

James Moore of Moore’s Barber Shop at 4807 Lee Highway posted on social media Thursday morning a note handed to him by a fully-vaccinated, 91-year-old client named Warren upon walking into the barber shop for the first time in more than a year. Moore’s Twitter post has since garnered nearly a thousand likes and retweets.

The note was written by Warren’s wife, Maria, and it was presented to Moore in a sealed envelope without Warren knowing its contents.

The note reads:

Hi JT,

I’m so happy to be relinquishing my barber duties — you have no idea! I don’t know what was worse — having to learn on the fly or taking instructions from my client! I’m having a celebration on this day! Here’s a little something so you can have a celebration too. I wish we could celebrate together but COVID still reigns.

Thankful,

Maria

Moore tells ARLnow that Maria wasn’t the only one thankful.

“[Warren] told me ‘Please, don’t tell my wife that you did a better job than her. She’ll be mad,'” he said laughing.

Moore says he opened the card when Warren had left and it came with a “substantial tip” as a thank you, for which he was grateful.

Moore immediately called Maria to thank her.

“She got choked up,” he says. “She explained how difficult it was to cut his hair… [Warren] wanted everything so particular, he made her a nervous wreck. She used YouTube to learn, but there were a lot of anxious moments.”

Moore says Warren has been a long-time customer, whose kids and grandkids have also come to the shop for hair cuts.

Husband and wife were both very much looking forward to the return to the barber shop, but they waited to be vaccinated.

“He got it, waited a few weeks, and got his wife’s permission. Then, he came in,” says Moore, who recently received his first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine as well.

The customer relationship with the couple extends beyond the barbershop. Moore helped the couple pre-COVID with a few tasks around the house, like re-installing smoke detectors, when they lived in Rosslyn. They no longer live in Arlington, but Warren remains a loyal client.

Moore worked at the Arlington Fire Department for 32 years before retiring this past summer. He inherited the barber shop from his dad, who opened it as Arlington’s first integrated barbershop in 1960.

Moore says that business remains slow due to the pandemic, but he’s been getting customers from D.C. and Maryland due to his shop’s strict COVID protocols — like checking customers’ oxygen saturation levels.

The hope is that with more and more people getting vaccinated, come summer, things will return to normal.

“People still aren’t going to work, so getting haircuts is more about looking and feeling good for people they live with,” Moore said.

Or, in Maria’s case, no longer having to cut her husband’s hair.

More Arlington Businesses Burglarized Amid Continued Wave of Break-Ins

By Matt Blitz
1/2

More local business were broken into this week, in a similar manner to others over the past several months.

Two men broke into Olive Lebanese Eatery at 1100 N. Glebe Road in Ballston early Wednesday morning and stole hundreds of dollars in cash, restaurant owner Yvonne Risheq tells ARLnow.

An Arlington County police report says that two suspects smashed their way into the restaurant and fled with stolen cash registers in a Ford F-150 pickup truck.

Around the same time, a similar burglary happened on the 4700 block of Lee Highway. From the crime report:

BURGLARY, 2021-03170043, 4700 block of Lee Highway. At approximately 9:00 a.m. on March 17, police were dispatched to the late report of a commercial burglary. Upon arrival, it was determined that between 6:00 p.m. on March 16 and 9:00 a.m. on March 17, an unknown suspect(s) forced entry into the business and stole a cash register and an undisclosed amount of cash.

These are just two in a rash of burglaries targeting cash-based local businesses that have the Arlington County Police Department concerned.

On February 22, ACPD released a statement that said the department had investigated 21 commercial burglaries so far in 2021. Since then, spokesperson Ashley Savage confirms that four more business burglaries, including the two this week, have occurred — for a total of 25. Savage also noted a recent attempted theft.

Many of the burglaries follow a similar pattern: suspects arriving in the middle of the night, forcing entry by smashing a glass door or window, removing registers or safes with cash, and fleeing in a waiting vehicle.

The entire crime takes mere minutes.

This is exactly what happened at Olive Lebanese Eatery, says Risheq.

At 2:45 a.m. Wednesday morning, security cameras captured two men throwing a boulder through a glass window, entering the building, and stealing the cash registers.

“They were in and out within one minute,” she says. “They knew what they were doing and exactly what to get.”

She says that two cash registers were stolen, each holding between $250 and $350.

Risheq believes it was pre-planned due to their precision and the fact that, when looking back at the surveillance video from earlier in the day, there was a man who had come into the restaurant and looked around for five minutes before exiting.

“He didn’t order anything, didn’t pick anything up. He was inside… just really looking at how things flowed,” she says. “To me, that’s very suspicious.”

In the end, the damages caused by the break-in will probably cost more than the $500 to $700 stolen, she says. They have to fix the glass window, the door, repair their sign, change all the keys and locks, and replace a few other items in the restaurant.

“No one was here and nobody got hurt,” says Risheq. “That’s the most important thing.”

The restaurant closed on Wednesday for repairs and re-opened on Thursday.

Olive Express Mediterranean Café opened in Ballston in October 2019, joining locations in Reston and Herndon. Later, the restaurant changed its name to Olive Lebanese Eatery.

Risheq says that they initially suffered a 90% drop in sales due to the pandemic, but catering has picked back up somewhat in recent weeks. The hope is that when people begin to return to the office — potentially this summer — business will slowly return to normal.

As for dishes she recommends to new customers, Risheq says the Lebanese kabobs or the falafel are the way to go.

“We make our falafel from scratch,” she says. “We’ve won awards for our falafel and humus.”

Due to their location in an office-heavy portion of Ballston, near a busy road, they’ve always felt safe. With the break-in, that illusion of safety is now shattered — but it won’t deter her from continuing to do business in Arlington.

“I was really surprised by the outpouring of support yesterday from residents and the community,” Risheq says. “I’m glad we made the move [to Arlington]. We do love it here.”

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Alleged Carjacking Crew Busted in Arlington — “The audacious spree, police officials said Thursday, accounted for five of 21 armed robberies and armed carjackings in the D.C. region linked to the same four-person crew in January and February… Two were arrested Feb. 5 and Feb. 19. The other two were apprehended a week later after a SWAT team converged on them in a hotel in Arlington.” [Washington Post]

Va. Expands Eligibility for Retail Vaccinations — “The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) announced today that Federal Retail Pharmacy partners will expand within Phase 1b to offer vaccines to individuals who are 16-64 with high-risk medical conditions, as well as frontline essential workers.” [Virginia Dept. of Health]

Still a Thing: Homes with Septic Tanks — From Chris Slatt on Twitter: “I was today years old when I learned that there are 38 residences in Arlington County with septic tanks.” [Twitter, Arlington County]

Maintenance Worker Exposes Himself — “5300 block of N. Carlin Springs Road. On March 16, police received a message on the Telephone Reporting Unit phone line regarding an indecent exposure. The victim stated that at approximately 3:30 p.m. on March 15, while having maintenance completed inside her residence, the suspect exposed his genitals to her.” [ACPD]

Rosslyn-Based Rosetta Stone Acquired — “IXL Learning, developer of personalized learning products used by more than 12 million students, announced that it has acquired Rosetta Stone, the leader in technology-based language education.” [PRNewswire]

Origin Coffee Lab Profiled — “For the coffee, Mekonnen relies on a 5-kilo-capacity Probat P5-2 roaster to turn out fresh roasts. The machine also serves as an industrial centerpiece and natural focal point, one the company plans to highlight more through educational events and tastings as the COVID-19 pandemic subsides.” [Daily Coffee News]

Mom’s Pizza on Columbia Pike Closing This Summer After 32 Years

By Matt Blitz

(Updated at 3:35 p.m.) Mom’s Pizza Restaurant at Westmont Shopping Center is closing this summer after 32 years, the owners tell ARLnow.

Owner John Hosein says the property manager recently informed the long-running restaurant that they would have to vacate their space along Columbia Pike for a planned redevelopment.

“They need the space,” says Hosein. “They want to… demolish the whole shopping center.”

He says it’s likely that they’ll close in June.

The County Board approved the shopping center’s redevelopment in September 2019. The plan is to replace the aging shopping center and surface parking lot with 250 market rate apartments and new retail. A small-format grocery store may be among the new retail options.

Demolition will likely happen shortly after the shopping center closes in June, a spokesperson for the property management company tells ARLnow. Construction is currently targeted to begin in late 2021, Jessica Margarit of Arlington’s Dept. of Community Planning, Housing and Development says.

The project would likely wrap up by 2024, though an exact timeline could not be immediately confirmed.

Hosein says the news wasn’t a total surprise, since their lease was up at the end of the year. While he says the agreement does allow the property owner to do this, he wishes there was more time to say goodbye.

Mom’s has always been a family affair and a showcase for their multi-cultural heritage.

Hosein was born in Jordan, where his mother — who was from Athens, Greece — first met his dad. They all immigrated to the United States, to New York initially, in the 1970s for the economic opportunities.

Hosein attended George Mason University, but opening a restaurant was “my dream,” he says. In 1989, he partnered with his mom, Rahma, and brother to open Mom’s.

“My mom was a really great chef. So, we named it [after her] and have continued calling it that since,” says Hosein, who now owns the restaurant with his wife Manal. Their daughter, Areen, also helps with the restaurant too, including running their Instagram and Facebook accounts.

“If you watched [the movie] ‘Our Big Fat Greek Wedding,’ that’s exactly us,” Areen laughs.

The restaurant’s menu is influenced by Hosein’s upbringing, featuring Greek specialities like spanakopita, and pastitsio (Greek lasagna) as well as traditional Middle Eastern fare like hummus and gyros.

There’s also, of course, pizza and pasta. Hosein notes that many dishes are made from scratch, including the pastitsio and the pizza dough. Hosein says he still cooks at the restaurant almost every day.

“I like to make the sauce,” he says. “It’s tricky. If you miss a little bit with it, it’s no good.”

When asked what dish they’d recommend to new customers, Manal Hosein says “everything.”

John Hosein says what he loves the most about owning a restaurant are the challenges everyday and that he “just loves to see people happy.” While the pandemic, like for so many Arlington restaurants, has been a challenge, cutting hours and other expenses — in combination with a loyal customer base — have kept Mom’s “above water.”

They’ve recently started informing some customers of their closing, leaving a few in tears, says Hosein. He said the family is deeply grateful for the community’s support over the years.

The couple, despite losing their restaurant, is not planning to retire — but they don’t know what comes next.

“I’m still only 58 and we need income,” says Hosein. “We were left in limbo. We don’t know what to do.”

Photo (bottom) courtesy of Mom’s Pizza Restaurant

Pi Day was ‘Almost-Thanksgiving Busy’ for Columbia Pike’s Acme Pie

By Matt Blitz

Pi Day was a very busy day for Acme Pie on Columbia Pike.

“At the moment, we are trying to restock,” Sol Schott, owner of the seven-year-old pie company, said over the phone Monday morning. “I was expecting it to be somewhat busy, but not expecting it to be almost-Thanksgiving busy.”

Pi Day is an annual celebration on March 14 of the mathematical mystery that is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. The day also, of course, presents a great excuse to eat pie.

Schott said he made 98 large pies, 70 small pies, and had a “whole heck of alot of slices” and nearly sold out of all of it.

Sales, he says, “were in the same ballpark” as the Wednesday before Thanksgiving — aka the Super Bowl of pie sales — and definitely better than Pi Day last year.

“I think everybody was so sick and tired of being cooped up,” Schott says.

The most popular pie was a special one he made for the weekend, an English Banoffee pie.

“We use a graham cracker crumb crust with like a… chewy soft caramel toffee on the bottom,” says Schott. “Then, slices of banana, fresh whipped cream with a little bit of espresso, and then chocolate shavings on top.”

All 76 Banoffee pies sold out. He plans on making more for St. Patrick’s Day.

While Acme Pie started as a wholesaler baking pies in a basement, he opened his retail store at 2803 Columbia Pike two years ago in the spring of 2019. The shop took over the space from Twisted Vines Bar and Bottleshop.

Even before that Acme had presence in the community, selling pies at farmers markets, hailed for making popular vegan versions and helping other struggling local businesses.

This past July, Schott baked pies and hosted a fundraiser for his next-door neighbor Papillon Cycles, Arlington’s oldest bike shop.

He says the past year has also been “tricky” and “rough” for Acme Pie due to losing a large slice of his wholesale business.

“Wholesale is off huge. That’s pretty much the issue,” says Schott. “I went from selling [pies] to 70 restaurants to 10 during the pandemic,” due to many local restaurants cutting back or outright closing.

Nonetheless, Schott says Acme Pie is not going anywhere.

“I’m a baker,” he says. “That’s what I do… I don’t have any choice.”

He’s optimistic sales will rise and normalcy will return in the coming months as the vaccine rollout continues. For the moment, he’s wishing that every weekend could be like the past one.

“It was amazing,” Schott says. “But you can’t have Pi Day everyday.”

Galaxy Hut to Stay Takeout Only Until Staff Vaccinated

By Vernon Miles
1/2

In better times, Galaxy Hut’s main room at 2711 Wilson Blvd would be filled with busy chatter, patrons playing arcade games, and the TV playing a worn out VHS copy of Excalibur (1981).

For the last year, that room has been an empty stretch for staff to cross as they carry food from the kitchen to the barricaded front door, where they drop off food for customers. Even as other Clarendon spots draw customers for indoor dining and drinking, Galaxy Hut’s owner said the restaurant will remain takeout only until their staff is vaccinated, no matter the cost.

“As a bar, gathering place, and live music venue, choosing to be pickup only has been devastating for our sales,” proprietors Lary and Erica, who also own Spacebar in Falls Church, said in an email. “Both of our restaurants occupy small spaces, so we don’t have as many options available to us as restaurants with more indoor square footage and larger outdoor seating areas do. That said, there is more that we are allowed to do under current restrictions, but we have made a choice not to. We continue to make that choice, despite financial harm, until food service workers can be vaccinated.”

While neighboring Alexandria has been able to move food service workers into the current phase of vaccination, in Arlington they’re still listed in the pre-registration phase, as is the case elsewhere in Virginia.

Lary and Erica said holding off until staff is vaccinated is as much for the safety of customers as for staff. Once employees are vaccinated, they said the restaurant will begin a gradual reopening.

“We determined early on in the pandemic that due to the size of our restaurants, it would not be safe for customers or staff to be in the same space without masks on,” Lary and Erica said. “We decided to remain pickup only until we can get ourselves and our staff vaccinated. Arlington is currently vaccinating group 1b. Food service workers have been placed in group 1c. Once we are all vaccinated we will begin a phased opening plan.”

In the meantime, Galaxy Hut’s menu is almost entirely vegan, with dairy-options offered as alternatives on some dishes. As a new Ethiopian restaurant on Columbia Pike recently discovered, Lary and Erica said there’s been some community excitement for having those options available.

“We’ve thankfully had a lot of support and positive feedback from the community,” the pair said. “We now have a set of new pandemic regulars in addition to our pre-pandemic regulars who continue to support both of our restaurants with food orders and merch purchases. There’s a lot more excitement and support for vegetarian and vegan food now than there was back in 2013 when we first tried an all-veg menu, so that’s been great to see.”

Galaxy Hut is open for takeout orders from 4 p.m.-7:45 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and 4 p.m.-8:45 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

Columbia Pike Medicial Practice Gets Grant To Help Business Thrive

By Matt Blitz

A veteran-owned optometry and dental practice on Columbia Pike has won a $15,000 grant from the PenFed Foundation.

Eye Smile Optometry & Dental Care near the corner of Columbia Pike and S. George Mason Drive, next to the Harris Teeter, is owned by U.S. Air Force veteran Dr. Keith James (optometrist) and his wife Dr. Yvonelle Moreau (dentist).

The small, family-owned was awarded the grant because of its commitment “to serving its neighboring community, educating those that are under-represented and underserved, and leading as examples to future under-represented entrepreneurs,” according the PenFed Foundation website.

The foundation is a non-profit aimed at helping military members become financially stable. Its Veteran Entrepreneur Investment Program is specifically earmarked for Black veteran and active duty military entrepreneurs. Two other businesses also received $15,000: one in Maryland and another in Jacksonville, Florida.

James tells ARLnow that the couple is grateful for the grant and plans to use the money for business awareness, marketing, and increased staffing. They currently have three employees, plus the two doctors.

It wasn’t always destiny for the couple’s practice to land in Arlington. James and Moreau met in New York, when they were both in school. Then, James joined the Air Force and was stationed at Joint Base Andrews for three years.

While living in Alexandria, the pair realized the region could be a great place for a family practice.

“We just thought it was a fantastic community. We really want to focus on being a family practice,” says James. “We felt like it was just the perfect setting for us to flourish.”

Yes, they acknowledge, it is certainly unique that a dentist and optometrist share a practice.

“It’s definitely atypical,” James says with a chuckle. “But with both of us practicing health care, it’s definitely a good opportunity. It’s synergistic. We’re both practicing on the head which impacts overall health.”

The practice was initially slated to open in March 2020, James says, but was delayed due to the pandemic.

“We were planning this practice for two years,” James says. “So, that was extremely nerve-racking.”

It finally opened last May, right around the time when Virginia allowed dental practices to re-open.

Over the last ten months the business has continued to grow. Overall, combined, James says they’ve treated nearly 1,500 patients.

“We try not to focus on slower days and get too excited about bigger days,” he says. “It’s definitely steady.”

The practice’s goals continue to be to provide personalized service and access to care in a section of Arlington where options can sometimes be limited.

“We saw a little space there for vision and dental that could be really central to that neighborhood and those families,” says James. “Being a part of that and increasing access to care is important to us.”

Photo courtesy of Eye Smile Optometry & Dental Care

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