A new paint job for the Mongol Nomads restaurant on Columbia Pike
The Mongol Nomads restaurant along Columbia Pike appears to have shut down.
The Asian fusion eatery, located at 3202 Columbia Pike in the Arlington Heights neighborhood, appears to have been emptied out recently. The restaurant wasn’t open on Monday afternoon (Aug. 13) and staff did not answer the phone.
Several Yelp commenters have also observed in recent weeks that the restaurant seems to be closed. County records show Mongol Nomads opened back in 2016, though a variety of restaurants have cycled through the space over the years.
The restaurant appears to have been given a different coat of paint in recent weeks, though there have been no permit requests for the location filed as of Monday.
The owner of a vegetarian restaurant that was briefly open in Lyon Park died last month.
Bryan Francis Morrell passed away last Sunday (July 29), according to an obituary posted on a Fairfax funeral home’s website.
Morrell helped found Alt’s Vegetarian Restaurant, which opened this past spring and served up meatless burgers in a space at 2300 Pershing Drive.
A tipster told ARLnow that Morrell was dealing with health problems, but otherwise didn’t provide details on how he died. Representatives with Alt’s did not respond to a request for comment, and the restaurant has shut down after opening its doors in late March.
Morrell was born and raised in Fairfax, according to the obituary, and attended W.T. Woodson High School. After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Morrell worked for SAIC, in addition to founding Alt’s.
The obituary memorializes Morrell as “an avid environmentalist and wildlife enthusiast, sneakerhead and technology buff” and says he “will be missed for his stubborn, yet charismatic and humorous personality.” It added that Morrell helped champion the passage of a state law requiring that drivers over the age of 75 renew their licenses in person every five years, after his brother, Darren, was killed by an elderly driver in 2011.
Morrell is survived by; his parents, David and Cynthia; his brother, Matthew; and his “best friend,” Roxanne, according to the obituary.
The family is holding a private funeral, and urges anyone interested to send donations to the World Wildlife Organization in Morrell’s name in lieu of flowers.
A new restaurant could be on the way along Lee Highway, taking the place of the Nook Play Space.
The indoor play area, once located at 5649 Lee Highway in the Leeway-Overlee neighborhood, is picking up and moving to the new Ballston Quarter development.
The space currently sits empty, but it’s unlikely to remain that way for long — a chef at a Turkish restaurant in East Falls Church appears to be eyeing the location for an expansion.
Imam Gozubuyuk has applied for a permit at the location, using the business name “Maya Bistro,” county records show. Gozubuyuk currently cooks up food at the Yayla Bistro, located at 2201 N. Westmoreland Street, with his brother, Abuzer.
Managers at Yayla Bistro did not immediately respond to a request for comment on plans for the Lee Highway space. Maria Vogelei, Nook’s owner, said she didn’t have any information on what might take her business’s place in the small shopping center.
Nook is set to re-open in Ballston Quarter sometime this fall.
Burger District, located at 2024 Wilson Blvd, held its grand opening on Friday (Aug. 3), taking the place of Basic Burger, which closed up shop at the location last month in order to expand elsewhere.
The new burger eatery is offering a free drink with any meal, through next Monday (Aug. 13) to lure in customers. The restaurant’s menu includes wings, shakes and hot dogs, in addition to burgers.
Burger District also currently has a state license to sell beer and wine, according to restaurant staff, with plans to eventually offer a full bar.
The restaurant will be open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. most days.
Work on Dudley’s Sport and Ale in Shirlington continues (via Facebook)
Dudley’s Sport & Ale in Shirlington (file photo)
Dudley’s Sport & Ale in Shirlington (file photo)
Work on a long-awaited Shirlington sports bar seems to be picking up steam.
Dudley’s Sport and Ale, set to be located at 2766 S. Arlington Mill Drive in the Village at Shirlington, could be open in time for football season to kick off, according to a post on the restaurant’s Facebook page.
Owner Reese Gardner has worked for years now to open up a new pub in the space formerly occupied by The Bungalow Sports Grill, which closed in June 2015.
Gardner told ARLnow that he still doesn’t have a firm opening date ready, though he hopes to have “a solid date after a big round of inspections next week.” As of late May, he was eyeing a grand opening sometime this month for the restaurant.
Most of the delays have been driven by wrangling with county inspectors over the bar’s planned steel rooftop, Gardner’s stressed in the past. He’s hoping to have 3,000 square feet of rooftop bar space to sit atop the 12,000-square-foot restaurant.
Gardner’s company also owns Copperwood Tavern in Shirlington and Irish Whiskey Public House in D.C.
We, The Pizza is gearing up to open a new location in Ballston this fall.
The restaurant is set to be part of the Ballston Exchange building at 4201 Wilson Blvd currently undergoing some big renovations, following the departure of the National Science Foundation.
The Ballston store, located between a Dunkin Donuts and a UPS Store, will be We, The Pizza’s second restaurant in Arlington, with another location open in Crystal City. The chain serves up gourmet pizzas, chicken wings and beer, and was launched by former “Top Chef” contestant Spike Mendelsohn.
The building’s owner, Jamestown LLP, is still in the midst of recruiting new tenants for the property, with plans to wrap up construction by the end of the year.
Shake Shack, Cava and Philz Coffee plan to set up shop as retailers, while the coworking space Industrious recently committed to become the first new tenant in the building’s offices.
Clarendon Grill, long a fixture of Arlington’s nightlife, could soon be on the move.
The restaurant’s space at 1101 N. Highland Street is currently listed for lease by realtors at the Trimark Corporation, and an online listing notes that the location is “currently occupied by the Clarendon Grill but is available right away.”
“This space will go fast!” the listing proclaims, advertising the location as “the heart of Clarendon.” A realtor with Trimark declined to discuss the listing and referred questions to the restaurant’s managers.
Owner Peter Pflug did not immediately respond to a request for comment seeking clarity on whether the restaurant is shutting down or moving elsewhere. He previously told ARLnow that he’d signed a lease to remain at the location through 2022, even as high rent prices have challenged some local businesses.
The bar’s been in business since 1996, making it one of oldest establishments in downtown Clarendon.
The space was fully renovated in 2010, and has regularly hosted a full slate of live entertainment and even salsa dancing classes. The restaurant currently lists live entertainment dates throughout the month of August on its website.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Rep. Don Beyer (D-8th District) chat at Nestle’s Rosslyn ribbon cutting.
County Board member Christian Dorsey speaks at Nestle’s Rosslyn grand opening.
Gov. Ralph Northam (D) speaks at Nestle’s Rosslyn ribbon cutting.
Rep. Don Beyer (file photo)
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) speaks at Nestle’s Rosslyn ribbon cutting.
(Updated Aug. 1, 9:15 a.m.) For Rosslyn, and perhaps Arlington itself, Nestle’s arrival could represent a bit of a breakthrough.
As the federal government’s cut back on office space and more companies shift to telework, the neighborhood has seen its office vacancy rate skyrocket over the past few years, straining the county’s finances in the process. But the packaged food giant’s decision to relocate its corporate headquarters from California to Arlington, bringing 750 jobs to a high-rise at 1812 N. Moore Street, could very well signal the reversal of that trend.
Or, at least, that’s what local leaders are counting on.
“We were in a long kind of slump,” County Board member Libby Garvey told ARLnow, reflecting on Nestle’s impact as the company officially opened its Rosslyn offices today (Tuesday). “But this is really a turning point, and I think it’s really positive.”
Garvey points out that the building Nestle is moving into was built “on spec,” without any tenants locked in before its construction, and sat vacant for years after its completion in late 2013.
But since Nestle announced last year that it’d be moving to Arlington, she’s seen a domino effect in the neighborhood. The company’s not only brought one of its subsidiaries to Rosslyn, announcing Gerber’s relocation to the area this spring, but Nestle’s arrival also helped convince the Grocery Manufacturers Association to move to get closer to the company, Garvey says.
“It just put us on the map,” Garvey said. “You just start to attract birds of a feather.”
While those businesses may very well help fill the county’s coffers, they didn’t come without a cost. The Board handed out about $4 million in performance grants and committed to $2 million in infrastructure improvements to woo Nestle to Rosslyn in the first place, earning criticism from people all along the political spectrum in the process.
Yet Garvey points out that the county’s denied relocation incentives for some smaller companies looking to come to the area in the wake of Nestle’s move, only to win their business anyway. She has full confidence in county staff to make sure that Nestle is living up to the economic benchmarks laid out in the grant requirements, noting “if there’s a problem, I assume they’ll tell us.”
“But I don’t think there’s going to be a problem,” she said.
Incentives for corporations are a touchy subject around the county these days, with much of the debate around Arlington’s bid to win Amazon’s second headquarters centered on what exactly the county’s offered the tech company to move here.
Officials have largely been silent on the subject, citing the fierce national competition to win HQ2 and its promised 50,000 jobs. But with other states publicly offering billions in incentives and transportation improvements, Virginia leaders have noted that the county’s surest path to luring the tech giant may be highlighting its highly educated workforce and top-ranked schools.
Steve Presley, Nestle USA’s chairman and CEO, repeatedly highlighted the quality of the school system in laying out why his company picked Arlington, and that’s the sort of feature the county’s boosters believe could prove similarly persuasive to Amazon.
“They’ll be thinking not only, ‘Can we find the qualified workers we need?’ but, ‘How do our workers feel about coming to Virginia?'” said Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) “Workforce and the education system go hand in hand. That’s what we always need to focus on to attract businesses and we need to sell the fact that we have a really good education system compared to other states. That’s a real strength.”
Gov. Ralph Northam (D) has certainly been involved in making that pitch to Amazon, reasoning “the more talent we bring in here, the more folks that follow.”
But he says there’s no telling when Arlington might know if Nestle is the biggest fish the county will land, or if there are more ribbon cuttings in its future.
“I think they’re keeping their cards pretty close,” Northam said. “I don’t know anything you don’t.”
Longtime Arlington diner Linda’s Cafe has officially closed its doors, clearing the way for work to start on a new Bob and Edith’s location at the Lee Highway site.
Linda’s, located at 5050 Lee Highway, served up its last meal yesterday (Sunday), after it spent the last two decades at the location. Staff briefly posted a banner saying “Thank You Arlington” prior to the shop’s closing.
Greg Bolton, the owner of the Bob and Edith’s chain, hopes to eventually transform the small restaurant into his third diner in Arlington. County property records show a company he controls purchased the land for $1.1 million.
Ryan Brown, Bolton’s attorney, told ARLnow last month that the new Bob and Edith’s could open in the next “six to nine months.”
A new restaurant offering coffee, smoothies and “superfood” is gearing up to open in Clarendon.
Signs promising that Waterhouse Coffee and Juice Bar is “coming soon” recently appeared on an office building at 3033 Wilson Blvd, near the road’s intersection with N. Garfield Street.
Though the restaurant doesn’t have any online presence to speak of just yet, the signs say the eatery will offer Lavazza coffee and espresso, “freshly pressed juices” and smoothies. The store is also set to serve “powerful superfood” including acai bowls and avocado mash.
The signs do not, however, offer any clarity on when the restaurant might open its doors.
Waterhouse is located around the corner from Casal’s Spa and Salon and Hunan Number One.
