new restaurant

Bell 20 Tavern Opens in Crystal City

By ARLnow.com

It doesn’t exactly have the local appeal of a Buffalo Wild Wings, but a new bar/restaurant has opened in the lobby of the Crystal City Marriott (1999 Jefferson Davis Highway).

Bell 20 Tavern features a full bar with a selection of 10 beers on draft and numerous beers by the bottle. Happy hour drink specials start at $3.20.

The restaurant’s food selection is still being worked out, but the initial happy hour bar menu includes fried chicken tenders, a cheeseburger, spicy meatballs and a bowl of turkey chili — all $6.20 from 3:20 to 7:20 p.m. Happy hour appetizers include chips and salsa, pretzel rolls, garlic fried and a half-dozen wings — all for $3.20.

Bell 20 has a lounge-y feel, with plush seating areas and a slick bar design. That conflicts a bit with other aspects of the restaurant, including the large windows that let in plenty of light, and the food and drink selection, which can best be described as “traditional.” Bell 20 will cater mostly to travelers staying at the hotel, but it will also be a solid happy hour option for local 9-5ers who don’t want to brave the crowds other after-work spots.

Buzz Bakery in Ballston Opening Next Month

By ARLnow.com

There’s finally an opening date in sight for Buzz Bakery in Ballston.

“Coming soon” signs have been up at the storefront on the 4000 block of Wilson Boulevard for almost a year now. Next-door sister eatery Rustico opened in October while Buzz remained closed. Now, at long last, comes word that Buzz will start serving cupcakes and cappuccinos early next month.

Neighborhood Restaurant Group spokeswoman Jennifer Eberline says the company expects to announce an official May opening date “very, very soon.”

The will be NRG’s second Buzz Bakery. The first, on Slaters Lane in Alexandria, serves breakfast, baked goods, paninis, coffee, tea, wine and beer.

Virginia Square ‘Hot Pot’ Restaurant to Open Tomorrow

By ARLnow.com

Mala Tang (3434 Washington Blvd), a new ‘hot pot’ Chinese restaurant in Virginia Square, is planning to open tomorrow.

The Washington Post’s Tim Carman reports that the restaurant is planning a soft opening for Wednesday and a grand opening for Monday, May 2. The owners have invested more than a half million dollars into the restaurant.

In addition to sit-down, fondue-style dining, the restaurant will offer pre-made “quick” hot pots to go, Carman reported.

Zoë’s Kitchen Coming to Ballston

By ARLnow.com

Greek-inspired soup, salad and sandwich restaurant Zoë’s Kitchen is coming to Ballston.

According to the company’s web site, the new Zoë’s will be located near the Ballston Metro station at 4245 Fairfax Drive, formerly home to do-it-yourself stir fry restaurant Flat Top Grill.

Founded in 1995, Alabama-based Zoë’s is a rapidly-growing chain with restaurants from Arizona to Florida. It has three D.C.-area locations: Fairfax, Woodbridge and Potomac, Md. Its menu includes kabobs, sandwiches, pitas and a variety of soups and salads.

No word yet on when the restaurant will open.

Off the Beaten Path: Cafe Sazon on Columbia Pike

By ARLnow.com

You don’t typically expect to find anything of any culinary significance between a hair salon, a check cashing store and a Goodwill outlet, but Cafe Sazon (4704 Columbia Pike) may be the exception to the rule.

Sazon means “seasoning” in Spanish, which is a good way to describe the contrast of the cafe’s smartly-decorated interior to the rather drab section of Columbia Pike outside its windows. Open since January, Cafe Sazon specializes in South and Central American food and baked goods, with a few American items thrown into the mix.

Co-owner Adriana Torres, who has not left the area since she moved from Bolivia to this section of the Pike as a seven-year-old kid, says that business has started out slow but is picking up. Thanks to a favorable mention on the “22204” email listserv, she says her customer base — primarily Hispanic — has gotten a bit more diverse lately.

Cafe Sazon is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and has items on the menu for all three meals. There are omelettes, freshly-baked pastries (made by an in-house baker), fajitas, soups, salads, and daily specials. On the drink menu is coffee, trea, cappuccino, Latin American sodas and Api Morado, a surprisingly delicious Bolivian specialty made with boiled red corn and “zest.”

The cafe offers free WiFi. Torres says she’ll soon be opening the restaurant’s basement for movie screenings and special events.

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Wiinky’s Enters Crowded Burger Field With A Hope, A Prayer, and Angus Beef

By ARLnow.com

If a business could survive on earnestness alone, Wiinky’s in Ballston would be around for quite a while.

As it stands now, however, Wiinky’s is a homegrown restaurant concept operating within a very crowded market space — subs, salads and burgers — in a building that has seen a succession of failed restaurants. And they don’t even have a sign yet.

The restaurant is the brainchild of a young George Mason University grad and Arlington native named Ryan, who didn’t want us to use his last name. Ryan — nicknamed “winky” in high school — recently left his job as a manager of a local pizza restaurant to open his own business. He said he wanted to create a “cool spot” that would remind him of the backyard barbecues he used to love as a kid.

“All through college, I worked my way through school by cooking and by managing the pizza place,” Ryan said. “So I decided, hey man, this is my opportunity, this is my shot. ”

With an undergraduate degree in business, a passion for food and some seed money (source undisclosed), Ryan set out to find a well-trafficked but affordable location. He settled on 3902 Wilson Boulevard in Ballston, formerly home to Papi Pollo and Pike Grill. Although not very inviting from the street, the building does offer off-street parking and features a large, clean kitchen where customers can see their burgers being cooked.

“It’s not like I wanted to have a big casual dining place, I kind of wanted just a cool place that people could stop by and grab a bite to eat for lunch,” Ryan said. He added that he hopes the restaurant could also be a spot for first dates and quick meals with the kids.

(more…)

Pinkberry is Coming to Clarendon

By ARLnow.com

Arlington’s frozen yogurt wars are heating up.

Pinkberry, arguably the originator of the upscale froyo craze in the United States, is planning on opening a location in Clarendon. According to the company’s web site, the store will be located at 1220 N. Fillmore Street.

The only open storefront in the 1220 N. Fillmore Street building is the one facing Clarendon Boulevard with the “for lease” tacked on large sheets of plywood. The storefront (pictured) is between Restaurant 3 and the future Cava Restaurant to the right, and the entrance to an apartment building, Urban Halo salon and Gold’s Gym to the left.

Pinkberry has a “cult-like” following in other parts of the country, but it will face tough competition in Clarendon. A Red Mango froyo store is only one block away and has enjoyed considerable success since it opened nearly one year ago. Rabbit, a hybrid salad/frozen yogurt/cupcake concept, is slated to open one block up Clarendon Boulevard, in the Clarendon Center development. Meanwhile, Sweetgreen — another froyo/salad restaurant — recently opened in Ballston.

We’re awaiting word from Los Angeles-based Pinkberry as to when they hope to open. Although a construction crew was busy working on the interior of Cava next door, the sound of nails being hammered into wood could seemingly be heard in the potential Pinkberry storefront earlier this afternoon.

Pinkberry is planning to open a location in Dupont Circle in the District within the next three weeks.

Taqueria Poblano Coming to Columbia Pike

By ARLnow.com

Local Mexican restaurant chain Taqueria Poblano will opening a new location on Columbia Pike.

“Coming soon” signs are up on the ground floor of the Penrose Square development, at the corner of Columbia Pike and South Adams Street.

This will be Taqueria Poblano’s third location. It currently has restaurants in the Del Rey section of Alexandria and in North Arlington at 2503A N. Harrison St., off of Lee Highway.

Hat tip to John Antonelli

New Restaurant Coming to Ballston

By ARLnow.com

A new restaurant is coming to Ballston. Just for kicks, take a moment to guess what kind of restaurant it is.

Ready?

If you said ‘burger restaurant,’ you are correct! A new burger concept called “Wiinkys” (no, that’s not a typo) is coming to the storefront at 3902 Wilson Boulevard. The space used to house the Pike Grill and, after the grill closed, Papi Pollo.

All we know about Wiinkys so far is that it has a web site with pictures of burgers and wings and a note that says “Wiinkys Coming to a city near you. Spring 2011.”

Wiinkys will be within a short walk of Brgr:Shack (4215 Fairfax Drive) and the future Virginia Square home of Z Burger.

Pike’s Club 31-11 Becoming Deewa Restaurant?

By ARLnow.com

Just days after we reported that Club 31-11 on Columbia Pike had closed, it appears that another restaurant is poised to take its place.

A company has applied for a state liquor license to serve beer and wine at a new restaurant at 3111 Columbia Pike. The restaurant will be called “Deewa,” according to the filing.

The name suggests the new restaurant may have an ethnic theme. “Radio Deewa” is the Voice of America broadcast aimed at residents of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Open House at New Artisphere Restaurant ‘Here’

By ARLnow.com

Here, Artisphere’s newly-christened restaurant/cafe/bar, held an open house for local hotel concierges, nearby office workers and local neighbors today.

A jazz band performed as guests sampled mini versions of some of the sandwiches Here will be serving when it opens to the public on Tuesday. Here’s how Here is being described in promotional literature:

Open the same hours as Artisphere, Here promises to be a modern and exciting addition to Rosslyn’s daytime dining, happy hour and nightlife scene. Its menu will feature a seasonal menu of comfort food with Latin flavors made from locally-sourced and fresh ingredients. The restaurant will also offer delicious alternatives to the usual intermission concession items, including homemade guacamole, fire-roasted salsa and chips, and inventive recreations of American and Latin comfort food. Artisphere’s focus on being a less formal arts space includes welcoming patrons to take a drink from the bar and wander through its galleries and performance venues.

Here’s tentative menu includes salads, sandwiches, burgers (including vegetarian), freshly-made pizzas, pasta, sides, charcuterie, cheeses and daily specials. The restaurant will have eight beers on tap, a wine list and a fully-stocked bar. Co-owner Rolando Juarez says he hopes Here becomes its own destination, rather than just a place people stop by while in Artisphere.

“We’re hoping to draw a crowd of our own who just want to come in to eat,” he said. Here will be open tomorrow night with a limited menu for an fully-booked, RSVP-only launch party. More photos after the jump. (more…)

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