new restaurant

Buffalo Wild Wings Opens Today

By ARLnow.com

The Buffalo Wild Wings in Crystal City is officially opening to the public today.

The beer-wings-and-sports joint, with its large expanse of flat screen TVs, is sure to attract a nights and weekends crowd. Today we’ll get our first taste of what the buttoned-up Crystal City workday set thinks of it as a lunch destination. The restaurant will open at 10:00 a.m.

While today is the official opening, some lucky customers were able to sneak in for a free meal this week. The restaurant quietly opened its doors for two hours at a time for employee training. Anyone who happened to wander by got their food for free.

Circa in Clarendon Is Hiring

By ARLnow.com

With Circa in Clarendon “just weeks away from opening,” according to its Facebook page, the restaurant has started hiring the bulk of its staff.

Circa is seeking servers, bartenders, barbacks, hosts and food runners for its first Virginia location. Interested parties can apply via this Craigslist posting.

Interior work is still on-going at the restaurant, located on the ground floor of the Clarendon Center project’s south building, at 1200 North Garfield Street. The restaurant released new construction photos (above) on Thursday.

Buffalo Wild Wings Opening Pushed Back

By ARLnow.com

The new Buffalo Wild Wings in Crystal City (at 23rd Street and Crystal Drive) held an employee orientation session for a couple dozen new hires last night.

During the orientation, the glow from the galaxy of overhead flat screen TVs illuminated a relatively wide open, comfortable-looking space. The decor looked a bit more sleek than your standard, suburban Buffalo Wild Wings location. The huge floor-to-ceiling windows facing the street also helped to add a more urban feel.

An employee coming out of the orientation revealed that the restaurant’s opening date has been pushed back. Instead of opening on Monday, as originally planned, the restaurant is now expected to open to the public on Thursday, Dec. 16, he said.

Paisano’s Pizza Coming to Market Square at Potomac Yard

By ARLnow.com

Fairfax-based Paisano’s Pizza is coming to the Market Square at Potomac Yard development (3650 South Glebe Road), just south of Crystal City.

Paisano’s “offers true gourmet pizza, using the finest, most expensive ingredients available,” says the chain’s web site. “Taste the difference for yourself, and find out why Paisano’s has become the top choice of selective pizza-cravers across the Northern Virginia area!”

In addition to pizza, Paisano’s offers pasta, subs, strombolis, wings and desserts.

Owned and operated by James Madison University alum Fouad Qureitem, Paisano’s has been expanding quickly in Northern Virginia. Locations in Tysons, Burke, Springfield and Vienna are all listed under the “coming soon” section of the web site, in addition to the six existing locations.

The chain has plans to eventually expand nationally, according to a 2009 Washington Business Journal article.

No official word on when the restaurant might open, but we project it could be open as soon as this summer.

Update at 1:20 p.m. — Paisano’s is applying for a beer delivery permit for the new location, a potentially unique service for this section of Arlington.

Arlington Rooftop Bar and Grill Now Open

By ARLnow.com

Arlington Rooftop Bar and Grill in Courthouse is now open and awaiting its first customer. (Update at 12:00 p.m. — And just like that, the first customers have arrived.)

This seems to meet the definition of a “soft opening.” So far, there’s nothing that would indicate to passersby that the unmarked door near the Subway on Wilson Boulevard leads to a swank new restaurant with a dozen employees waiting to applaud their first official customer. (Yesterday’s “friends and family” preview doesn’t count.)

The restaurant features two-story high ceilings and huge windows overlooking an inconspicuous part of Courthouse. The menu features American-style favorites and some surprises, prepared under the leadership of Aldrin Asencio, a chef who counts a number of bold-faced local fine dining restaurants — including 2941 in Falls Church and Roberto Donna’s former Galileo restaurant in the District — among his resume.

The restaurant is a bit hard to describe: it’s a mash-up of a number of different styles. The oldies pumped through the speaker system, the Prohibition-era woodwork behind the bar, the generally upscale, modern surroundings and the reasonably-priced menu — together defy easy comparisons.

General Manager John Cosgrove says Arlington Rooftop Bar and Grill is “an upscale sports bar with food that exceeds expectations.” There are plenty of flat screen TVs to watch sports on, for sure, but it’s wholly lacking tacky sports memorabilia on the walls, distinguishing it from just about every sports bar in the area.

The rooptop part is built, but it’s not ready for customers. Expect it to open at some point this spring.

More photos after the jump.

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Morning Poll: Spending Less Time in the District?

By ARLnow.com

Over the past few years Arlington has experienced an amazing boom of new bars and restaurants (like the future BGR The Burger Joint in Clarendon, pictured).

But what exactly is fueling the expansion? The openings have far outpaced Arlington’s population growth. From a purely economic standpoint, there can only be a few explanations for how so many new bars and restaurants can open and stay in business.

One theory is that we’re spending more and more money going out to restaurants and bars. With so many new options, perhaps residents feel more compelled to go out when they would have otherwise stayed in.

Anther theory is that we’re spending less at older bars and restaurants. There have been a few restaurant closings lately but, then again, there have been many more openings than closings.

Yet another theory is that the new eateries and night spots are bringing more people into Arlington — either from the District, Fairfax County or elsewhere.

But the theory that’s perhaps most intriguing is that with all the new places to go out to, Arlingtonians are feeling less and less compelled to head into the District for dinner and entertainment. To attempt to prove or disprove that theory, we’ve devised the following poll.


Does ‘Lobster Pot’ = Ray’s The Catch?

By ARLnow.com

Update at 5:10 p.m. — We spotted a number of people coming and going from the brown-papered doors of 1650 Wilson Boulevard today. A quick peek inside an uncovered window revealed a mostly empty, under construction interior. So far, Landrum has not returned our calls.

Proving that this site has some of the smartest commenters out there, it turns out that the seafood restaurant planned for 1650 Wilson Boulevard — called ‘The Lobster Pot’ in a filing with Virginia’s liquor regulator — is actually owned by Michael Landrum of Ray’s Hell Burger fame.

For the past two years, Landrum has been relentlessly teasing area foodies with the promise of a new seafood restaurant.

First it was supposed to be called Ray’s the Net. Then that was changed to Ray’s the Catch.

First it was going to be located at 2300 Wilson Boulevard. Then 1725 Wilson Boulevard. Then President Obama single-handedly put those plans on hold.

Now it appears that Landrum’s seafood plans are back on track in the ground floor of a Rosslyn apartment building.

Will the new restaurant actually be called ‘The Lobster Pot,’ or was that a merely ruse to throw off the readers of lesser blogs? Stay tuned, we’re going to try to get in touch with Landrum to find out.

Seafood Restaurant Coming to Rosslyn

By ARLnow.com

A seafood restaurant called The Lobster Pot is apparently coming to the ground floor of the Bennett Park apartment complex at 1650 Wilson Boulevard.

The restaurant applied for a license to serve wine and beer this morning. In the Virginia ABC application, the restaurant is described as having a seating capacity of between 101 and 150 seats.

There are a number of Lobster Pot restaurants along the east coast, but none seem to be part of a chain. No word yet on who’s behind this particular restaurant.

Photos of the New Arlington Rooftop Bar & Grill

By ARLnow.com

We haven’t heard an “official” opening date yet, but it appears that Arlington Rooftop Bar & Grill is just about ready to open.

Photos posted on the establishment’s Facebook page show an inviting, high-ceilinged bar/lounge area chock full of flat screen TVs. The bar stools, chairs, booths — all ready for customers.

We’ve also seen photos of the wood-floored rooftop deck, with some neat views of the Courthouse area, but would-be deck-goers may have to wait until the spring to enjoy it.

It has been an especially arduous permitting process for Arlington Rooftop Bar & Grill, which had hoped to open while the weather was still warm. Building permit applications for the bar go all the way back to mid-2009.

Photos via Facebook

Bozzelli’s Italian Deli Opens in Crystal City

By ARLnow.com

Yet another restaurant has opened in Crystal City.

Bozzelli’s Italian Deli served its first customers around 11:00 this morning. It will be open tonight until 8:00 tonight, an employee told us over the phone.

The new Bozzelli’s (the original is located in Springfield, Va.) is serving its “famous subs” and fresh-made salads today. Hand-tossed pizzas, soups and pasta will make it onto the menu within a couple of days, we’re told. An employee said they’re still working out the kinks.

“The ink on the Certificate of Occupancy is not even dry yet,” he said.

The deli is located at 2600 Crystal Drive, on the ground floor of the Concord apartments. Its phone number is 571-970-4570.

Bozzelli’s will be open seven days a week for lunch and dinner. According to the deli’s web site, it may eventually serve breakfast.

The opening of Bozzelli’s follows two other recent restaurant openings in Crystal City: Chick-fil-A and Jimmy John’s. The opening of another, much larger restaurant, Buffalo Wild Wings, is expected in about two weeks.

Update at 1:05 p.m. — Owner Mike Bozzelli, who was on hand for today’s soft opening, tells friend-of-the-blog Doug Wendt that he’s planning a formal grand opening event “in the near future.” Despite the cold and the rain, Wendt says some customers chose to eat outside on the tables that Bozzelli’s is sharing with the Starbucks next door.

Photo via Facebook

Morning Poll: Food Options in the R-B Corridor

By ARLnow.com

The Rosslyn-Ballston corridor will be getting not one but at least two new frozen yogurt stores next year thanks to rapidly-expanding D.C. chain FroZenYo.

While some will take a “more the merrier” approach to food in Arlington, others may question whether a three-mile stretch of Wilson Boulevard can really support 5-6 frozen yogurt shops, not to mention numerous ice cream and gelato places.

Likewise, many people have already wondered aloud whether there are more than enough pizza joints and cupcake bakeries planned for the R-B corridor. Receiving less attention is the abundance of food trucks, cafes and “modern American” style restaurants in the area.

Which of the preceding, if any, do you think has reached the highest “saturation” point?


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