(Updated, June 11 at 1:30 p.m.) A Fairfax dumpling restaurant will soon move into the space next to what was once the Arlington Diner in the Arlington Ridge Shopping Center.
District Dumplings, based in the Mosaic district, is planning to open a new location at 2923 S. Glebe Road, once the home of a Domino’s, according to a manager who answered the phone at the restaurant’s Fairfax location. She says the new eatery could be open as soon as next week.
The building’s landlord secured a permit for a 28-seat “fast casual restaurant” in early March, according to county records. One reader noticed signs advertising the change up at the location as of Monday (June 4).
The diner closed last May, after 32 years in business at the location. Its owner cited challenges in negotiating an affordable lease in his decision to close up shop.
The shopping center is also home to a Giant grocery store and a Gold’s Gym.
Demolition permits have been issued for a retail kiosk at Pentagon Row
Demolition permits have been issued for a retail kiosk at Pentagon Row
Demolition permits have been issued for one of the freestanding retail kiosks at Pentagon Row.
The kiosk is one of two built in Pentagon Row’s central plaza during its 2013 renovations. A frozen yogurt store operated out of the kiosk until it closed in November 2015.
We’re told the kiosk is being torn down to provide additional outdoor seating for the forthcoming Basic Burger location and “pop-up” street taco eatery.
Pentagon Row’s other retail kiosk is currently home to Bread and Water cafe, which opened in February.
(Updated at 2 p.m.) A former D.C.-based sports bar is temporarily setting up shop in the space once occupied by Bistro 360 in Rosslyn.
Parlay Sports Bar and Lounge has set up a “pop-up” bar at the location at 1800 Wilson Blvd., according to one-time Bistro 360 owner Art Hauptman. He told ARLnow that the temporary takeover is set to last through the end of this week, though he said it could become a more long-term set-up.
Parlay was once located near Dupont Circle, before shutting down in April. The bar’s management posted on Facebook that it would be “doing events throughout the summer at various places” as it searches for a permanent home in D.C., and a Parlay banner is now draped over Bistro 360’s old signs.
“We will have game 6 on tonight so swing by and grab some wings #ParlayVA,” said one recent Facebook post, encouraging patrons to visit the pop-up. “Just look for the group that seems like they’re not from Arlington.”
Parlay’s owner did not immediately respond to a request for comment on his plans.
Bistro 360 had operated out of the space since the fall of 2014, but Hauptman said he decided to shutter the restaurant last week after receiving some lucrative offers for the space and losing his longtime chef and general manager. He’s since consolidated some of the restaurant’s wine and food options at the other Arlington eatery he owns: Cassatt’s Kiwi Café and Gallery, at the Lee Heights Shops off Lee Highway.
(Updated at 1 p.m.) Longtime Crystal City restaurant Cafe Italia is getting new life, thanks to some former employees and one prominent local restaurateur.
Freddie Lutz, the owner and namesake of Freddie’s Beach Bar at 555 23rd Street S., says he’s planning to revive the restaurant after it closed in April.
Lutz worked for 25 years as a waiter and maitre d’ at Cafe Italia (519 23rd Street S.), and he hopes to reopen it in the next few months as “Freddie’s Italian Cafe.” To do so he’s teaming up with a former Cafe Italia bus boy and chef, brothers Adolfo and Birtillo Urrutia.
“I’ve missed it all these years, so it’ll be sort of like coming home,” Lutz told ARLnow. “Freddie’s brought a lot of diversity to Northern Virginia and Arlington and I’m proud of that, but I feel like I left my heart in Cafe Italia.”
Cafe Italia first opened its doors in 1976, and Lutz believes the place became “part of the history” of Crystal City. Though he says its former owners struggled to afford rising rent prices, thus leading to its closure, the Urrutias approached him a few weeks back with a plan to “bring it back to its former glory,” and he jumped at the chance.
“In the day, it really was something,” Lutz said. “I would tell people, ‘There’s an hour and 45 minute wait tonight,’ and they’d actually wait. I just hope we can restore it back to the fun, romantic little Italian restaurant it used to be.”
Lutz says he finished up the paperwork on the sale on May 21 and he plans to give the space a bit of “loving attention” before it’ll be ready for diners once more.
“The basic skeleton and soul of the restaurant is there,” Lutz said. “And the good news is we’re all in agreement that we want to get it open as soon as we can.”
Lutz, who still lives in the South Arlington home he grew up in decades ago, says he’s even kept in touch with some of the former patrons of Cafe Italia, and excitement is already building in the neighborhood. As new restaurants continue to cycle into that section of Crystal City, Lutz expects the revival of Cafe Italia will help the neighborhood continue to attract more business.
“Cafe Italia was always very gay friendly, and Freddie’s is very straight friendly,” Lutz said. “So both businesses will complement each other.”
It looks like Shirlington will be getting its own ice cream shop.
An application has been filed to convert a storefront at 4150 Campbell Avenue into an “ice cream take out” business. There is a frozen yogurt store a block away, but no other ice cream shops in the neighborhood.
The exact storefront could not be confirmed, though Knits Etc. at 4150 Campbell Ave recently closed and is currently vacant.
(Updated at 5:10 p.m.) A long-delayed Shirlington sports bar could open in late summer, as its owner revises his timetable once more.
Reese Gardner has been hoping to open Dudley’s Sport & Ale in a 12,000-square-foot space at 2766 S. Arlington Mills Drive. The bar would replace the former The Bungalow Sports Grill, which closed in June 2015, and Gardner envisions it including a 3,000-square-foot rooftop bar as well.
Yet the project has encountered persistent delays over the last few years, related to both construction and Arlington County’s permitting process. But these days, Gardner tells ARLnow that he’s “getting close” to finally finishing the restaurant.
He’s eyeing an August opening for Dudley’s, and he hopes to be able to formally set a date by early July.
Dudley’s also posted on its Facebook page that it received its “final steel delivery” on May 15. The material is largely reserved for the rooftop, which Gardner says will hold up to 300 people when it’s finished.
Final Steel delivery today. Look for an August opening.
Gardner’s company also owns Copperwood Tavern in Shirlington and Irish Whiskey Public House in D.C. He’s previously said that Washington Nationals General Manager Mike Rizzo joined his ownership team for his restaurants.
An Alexandria-based Tex-Mex restaurant is gearing up to move into the space once occupied by Cantina Mexicana in Crystal City.
The owner of Los Tios Grill is planning to open their third Northern Virginia location at the space at 515 23rd Street S., according to landlord Stratis Voutsas.
German Mejia, the owner of Los Tios, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on his plans for the location. But Voutsas expects that Mejia will have the new restaurant, which sits next to what was once Cafe Italia, open to customers within the next month or so.
Voutsas’ company controls many of the properties along 23rd Street S., and he says he and his wife, Georgia Papadopoulos, have been working for years to bring in more small businesses and “re-envision” his section of Crystal City.
“Bob and Edith’s was the first step to that,” Voutsas told ARLnow. “Los Tios is the second building block.”
Mejia currently runs two locations in Alexandria, and just opened a new restaurant in Leesburg, according to the Los Tios website. The restaurants specialize in fajitas, along with traditional Salvadoran dishes, and have extensive selections of margaritas and Mexican beer.
Los Tios will replace one of the area’s oldest restaurants. Cantina Mexicana closed its doors last December, after first opening under a different name in 1978.
Ballston Quarter mall is unveiling 12 new restaurants with plans to open in the development, bringing the shopping center’s total to 22 confirmed eateries ahead of its scheduled re-opening this fall.
Forest City, the company that owns and manages the under-construction former Ballston Common Mall, announced the line-up of eateries today (Thursday). Some of the restaurants will be located in the development’s 25,000-square-foot “food hall,” while others will be spread throughout the mall or even located in the apartment building attached to the project.
The restaurants announced today include the return of Chick-fil-A, an old staple of the Ballston Common mall, and the first location of D.C. chain Compass Coffee outside the city. Union Kitchen Grocery and Baltimore-based The Local Oyster are also planning a location at Ballston Quarter, as is the previously-announced Ted’s Bulletin.
“Our overall mission for Ballston Quarter is to feature some of the most unique, trendsetting restaurants and reimagined brands possible, with a strong focus on best-in-class regional favorites,” Will Voegele, Forest City’s senior vice president of development, wrote in a statement.
The developer announced the mall’s first retail tenants last month, and several “experience-oriented” businesses in February. Forest City added it plans to announce more restaurants for the development ahead of its opening in the fall.
Full details from a press release on the 12 new restaurants, after the jump.
Asiatique, a “Cajun seafood and sushi lounge,” will be holding a soft opening Thursday (May 17) in Clarendon, according to a restaurant rep.
Starting Thursday until the end of May, the restaurant — located at 3225 Washington Blvd., on the ground floor of the Beacon at Clarendon apartment building — will offer restaurant-goers 25 percent off its meals.
Signs were up in January and the restaurant’s owner previously told ARLnow that it would likely open in mid-February. Recently the restaurant placed a lighted “open” sign on the window.
Food on the menu includes fried baskets, with options ranging from chicken tenders to oysters, and a wide variety of sushi offerings, which range in price from $6-$18.
The restaurant also offers blue crab, crawfish, crab legs, shrimp, mussels and steamed scallops. Alongside the seafood orders, customers can choose a sauce to accompany each dish and choose a level of spiciness.
Renowned D.C. restauranteurs Fabio and Maria Trabocchi plan to bring a new Italian eatery to Rosslyn.
The Trabocchis will open a second location of their well-reviewed Sfoglina Pasta House at the base of the office building at 11oo Wilson Boulevard, according to a press release from building owner Monday Properties. The Washington Business Journal first reported the news.
The 4,500-square-foot location will be the Trabocchis’ first restaurant outside of D.C., and will include room for outdoor seating and even offer catering for any company looking to hold an event on the building’s rooftop.
“This is such an exciting opportunity, and we’re delighted to be a part of this vibrant and growing community, while further strengthening our love for the craft of pasta-making,” Fabio Trabocchi said in a statement.
The release did not offer any clarity on when the restaurant might open, but the Business Journal reported that it could open by the end of this year, or in early 2019. The 31-story building is currently home to Politico and local TV station WJLA, and sits adjacent to Rosslyn’s Freedom Park.
The Trabocchis opened the original Sfoglina on Connecticut Avenue in D.C. in 2016, and the couple also manages popular Italian restaurants in the city including Fiola, Fiola Mare and Del Mar.
An organic Korean-Vietnamese food truck is opening up a brick-and-mortar location in Arlington Ridge.
Kovi Kitchen will be opening a location at 2921 S. Glebe Road, near the Arlington-Alexandria border. The restaurant teased the news on Twitter and Facebook over the weekend, but did not announce an estimated grand opening weekend.
