(Updated at 6:58 p.m.) Virginia Square will soon have a new outpost for fruit smoothies, juices and wraps.
A Pulp Juice and Smoothie Bar is moving into the storefront at the Virginia Square Towers at 3444 Fairfax Drive. Signs advertising the new eatery went up recently.
A look through the Ohio-based company’s menu reveals a long list of smoothies in flavors such as “pulp fusion,” “peach beach” and “orange chill.” The cafe also sells wraps, which can be filled with ingredients like spicy turkey, tuna and peanut butter.
The business is slated to open within weeks, according Pulp Juice and Smoothie founder Tom Knepp.
“We are hoping to open in the first or second week of March,” he said. “We are just waiting on some of our proprietary products to get in.”
This is the first Pulp Juice and Smoothie in Virginia.
A restaurant serving “adapted versions of Indian classics” will be opening in the Pentagon City mall food court area, perhaps as early as Wednesday.
Located between Haagen-Dazs and the Garrett Popcorn Shop, Naan & Beyond will serve dishes like Tandoori chicken, biryani, meat or veggie rice plates, roti rolls, naan sandwiches, salads and other various specialties.
The restaurant is hoping to open either tomorrow or Thursday, a company rep said today at the mall.
Naan & Beyond has three existing locations in the District listed on its website,
There’s a new sandwich and salad spot on Pentagon Row.
“A Deli” opened recently at 1301 S. Joyce Street, in the former Subway storefront, next to Rite Aid. The interior is relatively spacious, for a deli, and includes a number of tables for dining in and a TV for those in line, in addition to the large deli counter.
The menu includes breakfast options, hot subs, deli sandwiches and hoagies, specialty Italian sandwiches, cheesesteaks, salads, party platters, sides and desserts. Free lunch box delivery, with a five box minimum, is offered. Wine is also available for sale.
The deli’s hours are 7 a.m.-7 p.m Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. on Sunday.
Work is underway on a new kabab restaurant in Shirlington.
Moby Dick House of Kabob will be opening later this year in the former Medi space. The fast casual Mediterranean restaurant, which served pitas, salads and rice bowls, closed this past fall.
Moby Dick serves Persian cuisine, including various salads, pita bread sandwiches, rice plates and kabobs. The company has around 20 locations in the D.C. area, including one in Clarendon at 3000 Washington Blvd.
So far, no opening date has been announced. A call Thursday morning to a spokesman for the company has not been returned.
A Dunkin’ Donuts location appears to be coming to the now-empty building at 70 N. Glebe Road that used to house a KFC.
Building permits for the construction work were approved last month, county records show. The KFC closed just over a year ago, initially claiming that it was “closed due to maintenance” and would “re-open shortly.”
The property on which the stand-alone restaurant building sits is owned by the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, which is based nearby at 200 N. Glebe Road. The property includes eight parking spaces and a drive-thru window.
(Updated at 1:55 p.m.) A Manassas-based brewery and coffee roaster has plans to open a new Clarendon brewpub later this month.
Heritage Brewing’s Arlington outpost is scheduled to open its doors at 2900 Wilson Blvd by the end of February, according to Sean Arroyo, the company’s chief executive officer. The company launched a Kickstarter campaign last November to help open the restaurant.
When it opens to the public, the gastropub will serve small-batch beers in addition to a lineup of IPAs, pale ales and wheat beers.
“We’ll have a brew pilot system there,” Arroyo said. “We’ll do small batches and exclusive beers for the Arlington community.”
Though the food menu isn’t yet finalized, it will be more than “your typical pub and grub,” Arroyo said. Dishes from executive chef Donal Crosbie will include roasted chicken, steak, burgers and fish.
“There’s a lot of thought in the menu and in the dishes,” Arroyo said. “Everything is fresh. We’re purchasing local ingredients. You’ll see Virginia chicken and beef.”
Another idea Heritage plans to implement is to serve beef from cattle that were fed some of the brewery’s spent grains.
“It’s the ultimate farm-to-table,” Arroyo joked.
Inside the eatery, repurposed wooden barrels, brick walls and reclaimed wood will help create a style Arroyo calls “barn chic meets industrial rustic.”
“All of the benches and booths that are in there are made from barrels that once aged whiskey and then aged our beer,” he said. “We want you to feel all-encompassed while being comfortable.”
Above all else, Arroyo said he’s just excited to start serving food and beer in Arlington.
“Most of our consumers are from Arlington,” he said. “We know that we will have a great community there.”
(Updated on Friday at 5:06 p.m.) Clarendon restaurant Ambar will open a sister cafe, restaurant and cocktail lounge called Baba next week.
The business, named after the Serbian word for grandmother, is slated to open in the basement level of 2901 Wilson Blvd by Wednesday, Feb. 1.
Owner Ivan Iricanin said the new hangout is meant to conjure the kind of warm, homey feeling one might get when visiting their grandmother’s house.
“You get fed well, you get treated well, you always have a fire,” Iricanin said. “It’s a rustic feel, but very comfortable.”
In the morning, Baba’s chefs will whip up a breakfast and brunch menu that includes pastries, french toast, oatmeal, customizable grain and veggie bowls, sandwiches and La Colombe coffee. Then, later in the day, the lights dim and the spot becomes a spot for cocktails, sliders and music.
“Grandma here is a little bit modern and a little bit edgy,” Iricanin joked. “It’s very transformative.”
One of the eatery’s specialties will be Rakia, a boozy Balkan beverage made from distilled, fermented fruit juice. Patrons can also order cocktails made from various liquors alongside house-made tinctures and infusions and 20 kinds of wine from countries such as Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia.
“We want you to come here, drink cocktails, get a few bites of this, a few bites of that,” said Iricanin.
But it’s also the kind of place where patrons might want to hang out, he added. The restaurant will feature free Wi-Fi, and outlets with USB ports under every seat.
The 2,400-square foot interior, which was designed by Iricanin’s wife, Nya Gill, features a mix of vintage and modern materials, eclectic artwork and antique glass chandeliers. Going along with the comfortable theme, the bar also has a real working fireplace flanked by two leather “king chairs,” as Iricanin calls them.
“You won’t want to leave,” said Iricanin. “Again, think grandma.”
A D.C. restaurant known for steak frites and “secret sauce” might open a new location in Virginia Square.
Last year, Medium Rare tweeted out a cryptic message that seemed to suggest a new location was in the works for Arlington. Where and when that new restaurant might open remained a mystery, though.
But a tipster may have solved the mystery while touring an apartment building. Medium Rare is looking to open its restaurant in a retail space at the Latitude apartment development at 3601 Fairfax Drive, across from the Virginia Square Metro station, the tipster says he was told during the tour.
Though a visit to the apartment complex yesterday revealed little evidence that a new Medium Rare was on the way, the company seemed to confirm the opening in a brief correspondence.
When asked when a Virginia Square location might open, a representative for the eatery responded “likely early 2018.” The representative didn’t respond to additional requests for comment, however.
Medium Rare currently has two locations on Barracks Row and in Cleveland Park in the District.
Reminder: Inauguration Closures Today — Many Arlington County facilities are closed today, Inauguration Day, and parking meters are not being enforced. Traffic is light around Arlington but drivers should expect closures and delays approaching the District. [ARLnow]
Arlington EOC Open — Arlington’s Emergency Operations Center is open and fully functional today for the inauguration. [Twitter]
Two Local Neighborhoods Among D.C.’s Hottest — Arlington Heights, between Columbia Pike and Route 50, and Yorktown in north Arlington, are No. 2 and 3 respectively on real estate firm Redfin’s list of the hottest Washington, D.C. area neighborhoods for 2017. [Redfin]
Schlow May Open Arlington Restaurant — Restaurateur Michael Schlow, the man behind Tico and The Riggsby in D.C., is “close to a deal” to open a new restaurant in Arlington. [Washington Business Journal]
School Bus Accident — There was a minor collision between two school buses at Randolph Elementary yesterday afternoon. According to initial reports more than a dozen students were evaluated by medics, but ultimately no injuries reported. [Twitter]
Schmuhl Sentenced for Home Invasion — Former lawyer Alecia Schmuhl was sentenced to 45 years in prison for her role in the home invasion attack on her former boss and his wife. Leo Fisher, a shareholder in Arlington law firm Bean, Kinney & Korman, was held captive by Schmuhl’s husband, who shot, stabbed and tased the couple during a three hour torture session. [NBC Washington]
After six years in business, Mad Rose Tavern (3100 Clarendon Blvd) is shutting its doors.
The Clarendon bar and restaurant did not look like it was going to survive long after it opened in 2011 and within weeks underwent a management change and, later, a menu change.
However, survive it did, as it focused more on nightlife and events. One memorable moment: bringing in Sisqo of “Thong Song” fame to perform in 2013.
Now, Mad Rose is closing after a final blowout party starting at 8 p.m. on Saturday. (It’s also scheduled to host a Democratic brunch on Sunday.)
Replacing Mad Rose will be a new Asian restaurant called Bao Bar, which will specialize in Taiwanese street food. As reported by the Washington City Paper, restaurant owner Social Restaurant Group, which just opened Pamplona restaurant across the plaza from Mad Rose, is planning a “major renovation” of the space but is hoping to open Bao Bar as early as March.
An exact opening date for the restaurant has not been announced. In an earlier Facebook post, the owner and chef, Kenji, described Hanabi as “an authentic Japanese ramen and gyoza restaurant featuring Japanese chefs.”
“We are currently remodeling the venue to make your ramen and gyoza experience in an authentic Japanese ramen shop as great as possible,” the post says.
(Updated at 6:58 p.m.) Virginia Square will soon have a new outpost for fruit smoothies, juices and wraps.
