outdoor dining

Arlington’s Outdoor Cafe Guidelines

By ARLnow.com

What does it take to open an outdoor cafe in Arlington? With the arrival of spring, the county is reminding restaurant owners about the rules and regulations behind outdoor seating.

Below are a few of the guidelines for outdoor cafes, as outlined in this county-produced flyer which is being distributed to local businesses.

  • Outdoor cafes must be part of a lawful operating restaurant, cafe, or vendor with a valid license from the Commissioner of Revenue and a Certificate of Occupancy from the Zoning Office
  • Outdoor seating or cafes are seasonal, permitted typically from April through November of each year, from Spring through Autumn and only during normal business operating hours. They cannot be enclosed and no parking is required.
  • The Location and seating arrangements must be pre-approved as part of the Certificate of Occupancy application and should remain that way for the duration of the outdoor season.
  • Umbrellas are allowed and may not have logo(s) or signs(s) without legislative approval
  • Portable signs are not permitted. These include A-frame signs, triangular or arrow signs, etc. Permits must be obtained for all signs.
  • Shielding of fenced area with banner or logos are not permitted. State and local permits and approval is required for other services such as ABC, health, etc.
  • During the course of the season, a County staffer may visit your business as part of our observation and verification process.

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

Northside Social to Hold “Pigtoberfest” Tomorrow

By ARLnow.com

If you’re in Clarendon tomorrow night, and you find yourself wondering where the smell of barbeque is coming from, look no further than the big red building at the corner of Wilson Boulevard and Fairfax Drive.

Northside Social will be smoking not one but two pigs on its patio tomorrow, part of the cafe’s inaugural “Pigtoberfest.” The pork will be accompanied by side dishes and several rare Octoberfest beers and pumpkin ales.

The event starts at 6:30 p.m. and costs $35 per person plus tax and tip. Weather-permitting, outdoor seating will be available.

Call 703-465-0145 to make a reservation.

Another Accident in Front of Rhodeside Grill

By ARLnow.com

Remember back in May when a car came crashing into the front window of Rhodeside Grill? Well, it almost happened again.

A tipster sent us this photo of a two-car accident in front of the popular Wilson Boulevard hangout this morning.

“Glad the vehicle didn’t go through the window again, since the building’s exterior has recently gotten a facefilt (new paint, awnings),” our tipster writes. “But I’ll think twice about eating on the patio so close to this intersection!”

Other County Board Actions Last Night

By ARLnow.com

It was a long night for the county board, which didn’t adjourn its recessed meeting until a few minutes after midnight. In addition to a controversial resolution regarding the Secure Communities program, a briefing on next year’s budget projections and the passage of the Crystal City Sector Plan, the board took a number of other significant actions.

The board heard a presentation by County Manager Michael Brown regarding staff research into the proposed development plan for East Falls Church. Details are available on the county’s web site.

Funds for the design of a better Ballston beaver pond were approved unanimously. The $471,842 contract calls for a new design that will allow the pond to do a better job of treating stormwater while still providing a habitat for wildlife.

A plan to renovate 162 apartments in Colonial Village was approved unanimously. The board looked into concerns about parking and trash expressed by neighboring residents, but otherwise made no alterations.

After another somewhat lengthy discussion about outdoor patios, the board voted unanimously to renew Hard Times Cafe’s outdoor seating permit. The board specified an allowance of four tables and eight chairs on the North Highland Street sidewalk during dinner time.

The board voted 4-1 to advertise a steep fee increase for restaurant and food vendor licenses. The board was careful to emphasize that the fee hike, from $100 to $285, was mandated by the state and already in place in neighboring jurisdictions. The fee would apply evenly to brick and mortar restaurants and mobile food vendors.

At the very end, the board approved some sort of settlement with the owner of the long-delayed Bromptons development in Cherrydale. Update at 11:15 a.m. — The settlement deals with a dispute between the owner and the county over utility undergrounding. Under terms of the settlement, Bromptons owner R15, LLC will pay $255,000 to a utility fund.

Ballston’s New Pizza Autentica Expected to Have Outdoor Seating

By ARLnow.com

Pizza Autentica has applied for sidewalk seating outside its forthcoming Ballston restaurant, and county staff is recommending that the request be granted.

The county board is expected to decide on the matter at Saturday’s board meeting. Staff is recommending that the board approve seating consisting of eight tables with two seats apiece at the northwest corner of Wilson Boulevard and North Randolph Street, facing Ballston Common Mall.

Pizza Autentica has apparently done its homework on the county’s outdoor seating do’s and don’t. It has agreed to not have any outdoor speakers in the cafe area, the seating will still allow for a clear seven foot path on the sidewalk and the Ballston Partnership is supporting restaurant’s request.

Pizza Autentica is also slated to open a new location in Crystal City in the near future.

Work Nearly Complete on Arlington Rooftop Bar and Grill

By ARLnow.com

All that’s left on the checklist for the new Arlington Rooftop Bar and Grill (2424 Wilson Blvd) is a few finishing touches, then inspections, permits and a date for the grand opening. Construction has just about wrapped up on the upscale Courthouse-Clarendon dining destination, but owner Yogi Dumera has yet to nail down an official date for the opening.

“I want to make sure everything will be done right,” he said in a brief phone conversation yesterday.

Prodded for an approximate time frame, Dumera would only say that he’s hoping to open by the end of September. That may not allow much time to enjoy the rooftop, but don’t fear, the restaurant’s high-ceilinged indoor dining room will be open year-round.

While management awaits county inspections, the restaurant has been staffing up in anticipation of the launch. A recent Craigslist posting said Rooftop was looking for servers, bartenders and host staff.

In addition to serving dinner, the restaurant will also have a full lunch menu, the posting revealed. That should make it a welcome sit-down destination for the area’s power lunch crowd.

New Name For Whitlow’s New Rooftop Deck

By ARLnow.com

Whitlow’s plans to open its new rooftop deck at some point next month, but it will be opening with a different name than originally announced.

Instead of “Fu Bar” — a military reference that also hinted at an envisioned Asian influence — the deck above Whitlow’s on Wilson will now be called… drumroll, please… Wilson’s on Whitlow’s.

Get it?

A few ARLnow.com readers called the Fu Bar name “lame.” (We liked it, actually.) What does everybody think about “Wilson’s on Whitlow’s?”

Photo by Monika & Tim

Coming Soon: Arlington Rooftop Bar and Grill

By ARLnow.com

Look out, Clarendon Ballroom and Eventide Restaurant. Arlington Rooftop Bar and Grill is expected to arrive on the scene within a matter of weeks, hoping to become the go-to destination for outdoor food and drinks in the Courthouse-Clarendon area.

The restaurant, which is being built atop the Dehli Dhaba and Subway restaurants at 2424 Wilson Blvd, promises to serve classic American cuisine at moderate prices. There will be a large main dining room with high ceilings as well as a rooftop deck — that is, if the necessary permits come through. No official word on expected capacity, but the eatery’s permit application calls for 104 seats.

“Value and variety” will be the restaurant’s food credo, a rep tells ARLnow.com. In addition to a frequently-changing menu, a weekend brunch service is in the works. So far, management has been mum about the restaurant’s planned wine, beer and liquor offerings.

Construction is still underway at the restaurant, but we’re told that they’ve already hired a “great staff” that’s “ready to go.”

Management is hoping to open the doors by the end of August (Update: late September or early October).

American Flatbread Fights For Right to Open Patio

By ARLnow.com

American Flatbread, the wood-fired pizza restaurant that opened on North Fillmore Street in Clarendon last year, is fighting county officials and community associations for the right to open an outdoor patio.

In an exasperated email sent to customers this morning, restaurant management claims they were misled by building owners about the ease with which they would be able to obtain an outdoor seating permit. The email bemoans the “mixed signals, confusion and thousands in lost revenue” caused by the year-long, fruitless effort to get a permit.

The homeowner’s association president for the townhouses across the street from the restaurant “has made it his personal goal to use his new position of HOA president to attack all of our seating,” the email says. The Clarendon-Courthouse Civic Association has also joined the effort to block outdoor seating, despite efforts to find a compromise, according to the email.

“I have gone to meetings of these associations and offered many compromises (close by 9pm, no music, the idea that our patrons aren’t the rowdy ones doing shots and vomiting on the sidewalk on the weekends),” a restaurant representative writes. “But the HOA president and his cohorts don’t want to compromise, they just want to flat out say no and deny you the pleasure and right to enjoy what every other restaurant in the County can offer.”

The Arlington County Board is set to take up the issue at its meeting on July 10. The Planning Commission will discuss the request on Monday. Public hearings may also be held, according to county documents.

American Flatbread has started an online petition to boost its case for outdoor seating. So far, 277 people have signed.

Despite the online support, the restaurant — which specializes in organic and locally-sourced ingredients — seems to think it will lose the fight unless it can mobilize a sufficient number of people to show up in person. From the email:

We have received “off the record” information that the Arlington County Planning Division will recommend that the County Board DISALLOW our application for outdoor seating at their meeting to take place on June 28, 2010 in Room 307, 2100 Clarendon Blvd. at 7:00 P.M.  Why? Because [community association opponents] spent the day last Friday leading key Planning officials around by the nose, parading around our space and characterizing you, our beloved guests and patrons as, “loud, partying, drunkards” that would disrupt their privacy. The only way to defeat these folks is to turn out enmasse on Saturday, July 10 (8:30AM) at the Board Meeting and show your support. Appreciation Party to follow at the restaurant. Thank you for your support!

Rustico and Buzz Bakery Bringing Much-Needed Local Flair to Ballston

By ARLnow.com

When one thinks of Ballston, an image of soulless office towers, paint-by-numbers “luxury” apartments and oversized bars located in underperforming shopping malls may come to mind. To some degree, that reputation is deserved.

For several years now, Ballston residents have watched with envy as Clarendon has attracted a steady procession of new, homegrown restaurant developments. Ballston has retained its favorite watering holes, but there has been a dearth of new reasons to stay in the neighborhood after quittin’ time.

Enter Michael Babin, co-owner of Neighborhood Restaurant Group.

“We love Ballston,” Babin said in a recent telephone interview. “It’s just what we have been looking for.”

Babin, whose group runs Tallula and EatBar in Lyon Park and Evening Star Cafe in Alexandria, is making a major investment in Ballston. His company is taking over almost an entire block’s worth of ground level retail space with jumbo-sized versions of two of its newer Alexandria restaurant concepts: Rustico and Buzz Bakery.

Rustico, as we’ve previously reported, will be a beer lover’s paradise. It will feature 400 bottled beers, 40 beers on tap and two cask-conditioned ales.

The menu will be similar to the Alexandria location, with a large wood-fired oven on premises for pizza and other hearty foods. Chef Steve Mannino will, however, introduce a few new items, including some Mediterranean-influenced dishes created with the wood-fired oven in mind.

Buzz Bakery will seek to do for Ballston what Northside Social is doing for Clarendon — create a WiFi hangout that attracts coffee-drinking and pastry-eating crowds in the morning, lunch-time crowds in the afternoon, and wine and cocktail-sipping crowds at night (there will be a small bar in the back). It should be noted that the first Buzz Bakery, on Slaters Lane in Alexandria, actually opened well before Northside Social.

Buzz will have “a few wrinkles in the menu” and a feel that’s “coherent with the original location,” Babin says. “What’s neat about the Buzz atmosphere is that it’s not the typical bar atmosphere, and if you want that you can go to Rustico.”

Buzz and Rustico will inhabit two separate storefronts on the 4000 block of Wilson Boulevard, in the Liberty Center development. The storefronts will be divided by a small courtyard that features a rhythmic water fountain. Each restaurant will have abundant outdoor seating.

Rustico is slated to open in August. (Update on 10/7: We’re hearing that Rustico should open by the end of October.) Buzz Bakery will open at an unspecified time later this year.

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