Thaiphoon at Westpost in Pentagon City (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Thaiphoon in Pentagon City is closing for good this weekend, we’re told, set to be replaced by a “taco temple” in spring 2022.
The Thai restaurant located in Westpost — formerly Pentagon Row — is closing on Sunday, Nov. 21, an employee confirmed to ARLnow. The owners made the decision to not renew their lease at the shopping plaza on S. Joyce Street, we’re told, and there are currently no plans to open another location at this time.
Thaiphoon has been serving customers for more than a decade at Pentagon Row.
This is the first Virginia location of the self-described “taco temple.” The 3,000-square-foot restaurant will serve classic fare like tacos, quesadillas, and margaritas, and is planning to have outdoor seating.
Thaiphoon’s D.C. location is still open, though it’s run by separate ownership than the Arlington location, the employee noted.
A slew of new restaurants and businesses are opening in Westpost over the next year, but that also has come with a number of closings.
The U.S. Air Force Memorial (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
YHS Wins State Field Hockey Championship — “Yorktown field hockey sticks to its routine to accomplish something it never has before… Patriots beat Western Branch, 1-0, for their first state championship.” [Washington Post]
ACPD Ramping Up Seat Belt Enforcement — “The Arlington County Police Department is teaming up with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on the national Click It or Ticket campaign. Law enforcement agencies across the country will increase enforcement efforts from November 16 – 28, 2021, to work towards reducing the number of fatalities that occur when motorists fail to buckle up.” [ACPD]
County Has Available Kid Vax Appointments — “Arlington County Public Health is continuing vaccinations for 5-11-year-olds this week, Monday-Friday from 2-7 p.m. Over 6,000 kids ages 5-11 have already received their first dose. Schedule your appointment today.” [Twitter]
Arlington Man Charged in Fatal Crash — “A tip led to the arrest Monday of a 54-year-old Arlington man wanted on charges of DUI-related involuntary manslaughter and operating without a driver’s license in connection with a Nov. 6 crash in Montclair that killed a Dumfries man. Investigators obtained warrants Thursday for John William Harris… but attempts to locate him had been unsuccessful, police said.” [InsideNova]
Free Coffee at Taco Bamba — “To promote the breakfast menu and the free coffee program, Taco Bamba is giving away branded coffee tumblers to the first 50 guests at each store who purchase a breakfast item.” [Press Release]
Secret Santas Wanted — From Arlington County: “You can make the holiday season a little happier for some of Arlington’s most vulnerable residents by taking part in the @ArlingtonDHS’ Secret Santa/Holiday Giving Program. This program benefits Arlington’s at-risk residents.” [Twitter]
It’s Tuesday — Today will feature mostly cloudy skies through mid morning, then gradual clearing, with a high near 53. Sunrise at 6:52 a.m. and sunset at 4:53 p.m. Tomorrow will be sunny, with a high near 65. [Weather.gov]
Ballston at twilight (Flickr pool photo by Tom Mockler)
Slight Dip in Apartment Rents — “The average rental rate for an Arlington unit over the past month was down 0.4 percent compared to the month before, according to figures reported Nov. 1 by Apartment List. Arlington’s rental rates averaged $2,032 for one-bedroom units and $2,460 for two-bedroom units. Arlington was one of 22 of the nation’s 100 largest urban areas to see pullbacks in rental rates over the month.” [Sun Gazette]
Federal Funds for Local Bridge? — From reporter Michael Lee Pope: “@RepDonBeyer #VA08 infrastructure projects requested: $9 million for renovating the bridge connecting Mount Vernon Avenue in #AlexandriaVA to Arlington Ridge Road in #ArlingtonVA” [Twitter]
Post Reviews Lyon Park Restaurant — “When not hawking food, she is a parking enforcement officer with the Arlington County Police Department… In September, she moved indoors when she took over El Fuego Peruvian Kitchen, an Arlington business that had already made the successful transition from street vendor to a bricks-and-mortar restaurant.” [Washington Post]
Wild Incident on Columbia Pike — “At approximately 9:30 a.m. on November 6, police were dispatched to the report of an assault just occurred and fire department units were also responding to investigate the smell of smoke and natural gas. Upon arrival inside the residential building, the suspect approached responding officers and began shouting. As the officers attempted to place the suspect into custody, he actively resisted and a brief struggle ensued before he was detained without further incident. The investigation determined that the suspect was allegedly acting irate and damaged the doors to multiple residential units.” [ACPD]
Parents Group Calls Out APS Calendar — “In prior years, APS aligned its calendar with neighboring (and vast) FCPS – an effort to support staff who worked and lived in different jurisdictions. This year’s calendar has a different start date and Spring Break than FCPS, and APS is off for five holidays when FCPS is not, which makes the schedule almost impossible for staff and working families to navigate.” [Arlington Parents for Education]
Rare Opening of Tomb Plaza — Updated at 9 a.m. — “Arlington National Cemetery will open up the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Plaza Tuesday and Wednesday to members of the public and allow visitors to lay flowers for the first time in almost 100 years. The privilege is typically reserved for members of ‘The Old Guard,’ sentinels in the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment who stand watch constantly at the Arlington National Cemetery landmark, officials say.” [NBC 4]
It’s Tuesday — Today will be near perfect, with sunny skies and a high of 72. Sunrise at 6:44 a.m. and sunset at 4:59 p.m. Tomorrow will be sunny, with a high near 67. [Weather.gov]
Time has expired for Spanish tapas restaurant and soccer-watching venue Copa Kitchen & Bar in Ballston.
The establishment at Ballston Quarter mall served its final brunches over the weekend after apparently failing to score with local diners. Of course, stiff opposition — in the form of the pandemic and a labor shortage — probably didn’t help.
Copa opened in March 2019, in a separate space adjacent to the Quarter Market food hall. It offered Spanish-inspired small plates, flatbreads, sangria from its “sangria garden,” outdoor seating and soccer matches on the bar’s TVs.
Late last month, however, Copa announced on its website it would soon close.
We’ve got some news to share about Copa Kitchen & Bar. We’re closing our doors and serving our last brunch on Sunday November 7th. We have had such a good time bringing you our Spanish inspired tapas and being a part of the Ballston Quarter family over the last two years. We want to thank every customer who has dined with us, watched games with us, followed our journey on social media or enjoyed a happy hour with us. We’d like to extend a special thanks to the customers who have supported us (and all restaurants) through the pandemic.
Today workers could be seen in the restaurant space, packing up items and removing some of the fixtures.
It’s the second time in just over a year that a soccer-centric restaurant has shuttered in Arlington. Summers Restaurant in Courthouse closed last fall ahead of a redevelopment project.
The last day for the fast casual stand known for their empanadas and peruvian coffee was Sunday, co-owner Giuseppe Lanzone tells ARLnow.
But the brothers went out in style, hosting a party on Sunday. There were Halloween costumes, free cookies, music, dancers, and alpacas.
“In Virginia, it’s much easier to bring alpacas,” says Lanzone, about the animal that’s native to the Andes and part of Peruvian culture. “Fewer regulations than D.C.”
Giuseppe and his brother Mario Lanzone are originally from Peru, but moved with their family to McLean in 1997. Before going into the food business together, Giuseppe was a two-time Olympic rower for Team USA.
The two started their first food truck in 2013. Soon, that one truck became two, then three. Next, the brothers started working with the Peruvian Embassy in D.C.
This got them enough attention to open their first outpost inside of the Latin market La Cosecha in Northeast D.C., next to Union Market. Soon, they were getting accolades from a number of localmediaoutlets.
But then the pandemic hit.
It was at this time that Lanzone was living on Crystal Drive in Crystal City. He would often go for runs and walks “since there wasn’t much else to do” and passed the unoccupied stand (which was previously a rotating cast of pop-up eateries) at the privately-owned park.
“It was just an empty space. I kept think ‘what would be better than being able to stop outside and grab a coffee and an empanada,'” he says. “I didn’t want the space to go to waste.”
In April 2020, he and his brother partnered with National Landing Business Improvement District and made a deal with park owner JBG Smith to bring their Peruvian cuisine to Crystal City.
For the last 18 months, they’ve been serving out of the stand. But their contract is now up as renovations near.
“It was an incredible experience being part of the community,” Lanzone says. “National Landing BID and JBG were great partners to us.”
The 1.5-acre park at 1601 Crystal Drive is scheduled to undergo renovations during the winter, a spokesperson for JBG Smith confirms to ARLnow. It will reopen in the spring of 2023.
New vendor kiosks, an updated performance platform, a bar with a terrace, and restrooms will all be added. There will also be updates to the water feature, a widening of sidewalks, and improved walking and cycling connections.
What it won’t include, though, is the Peruvian Brothers — but that doesn’t mean they are disappearing from Arlington.
Lanzone said they are in discussions for opening a small brick and mortar in the neighborhood. While nothing is finalized and ready to be announced, there have been “talks” about opening up a new outpost that would be accessible to those who work at Amazon’s nearby HQ2.
“We are big fans of National Landing and Amazon and want to be part of the new development,” Lanzone says. In terms of the neighborhood, the feeling seems to be mutual.
“We have greatly enjoyed and appreciated our collaboration with Peruvian Brothers in National Landing,” said Amy Rice, Senior Vice President of Retail Leasing at JBG Smith. “We were thrilled to be able to offer them a temporary outdoor location during the height of the pandemic, and that setting proved to be a hit for National Landing residents.”
“As the transformation of National Landing continues, we are actively working with Peruvian Brothers to find a more permanent home with us in the neighborhood,” Rice added.
❤️ We are sad to bid farewell to @perubrothers at The Stand. Thank you for being such an amazing community partner, bringing energy, delicious eats, and Peruvian spirit to Crystal City Water Park. Looking forward to your next chapter in #NationalLanding.🦙 pic.twitter.com/nxs2yM4xlE
Jimmy John’s in Rosslyn is now closed (Staff photo by Matt Blitz)
Jimmy John’s in Rosslyn has made its last sandwich.
The chain’s location at 1512 Clarendon Blvd in Rosslyn has permanently closed, the franchise owners tell ARLnow.
“Sales simply never recovered after the pandemic,” writes Jessica Manning, who owned the shop along with her father and her husband. “It was a difficult and incredibly emotional decision for us.”
Its last day was September 28, closing after lunch. The family also own the Jimmy John’s in Ballston on N. Quincy Street as well as a location in Woodbridge, Virginia. Both remain open.
Manning says that they were able to find all of their Rosslyn employees other jobs.
“Everyone is healthy and we were able to get all staff members another job immediately so that’s really all that matters,” she writes.
Rappaport Company, which is offering the retail space for lease, tells ARLnow that the space formerly occupied by Jimmy John’s is available and they “are actively marketing the space for lease.”
Jimmy John’s on Clarendon Blvd first opened in 2013, more than eight years ago, in what was then the new-Sedona Slate apartment complex.
That block of Clarendon Blvd has seen a number of openings and closings. Most recently, in 2020, barre fitness studio LavaBarre closed, with dog daycare Playful Pack taking its place this summer.
Zoup! Eatery in Ballston (Photo via Instagram/Zoup! Ballston)
Soup and sandwich purveyor Zoup! is serving its final bowls in Ballston this week.
Jim Beverley, owner of the franchised location at 4401 Fairfax Drive, tells ARLnow that Zoup! is closing this coming Friday, Oct. 15. It opened almost exactly two years ago, in October 2019.
“Regrettably, in the end the pandemic just took too large a bite out of our sales and staffing levels for us to survive,” writes Beverley.
Not only has hiring been difficult for the entire restaurant industry, but many office workers continue to work remotely amid Covid waves, shrinking a large potential lunchtime customer base for fast casual restaurants in business districts, like Zoup!
The restaurant tried to give back to the community amid tough times, providing free and reduced-price catered meals to area clinics, hospitals, and homeless shelters. This includes providing meals to Bridges to Independence and Historic Christ Church in Alexandria, Beverley writes.
The location had stayed open nearly the entire pandemic, but was closed on weekends this summer.
“During that time we were down to one person staffing the store at a time on weekdays,” Beverley notes.
The chain is known for its soups, mac and cheese dishes, and sandwiches. While there are other locations in the region, this is the only one owned by Beverley and the only Zoup! in Arlington.
The seafood spot was originally supposed to start serving in spring 2020. The pandemic pushed it to 2021 while construction delays shifted the opening from the summer to the fall.
A PR rep says The Salt Line will open on Tuesday, Oct. 19. Construction on the restaurant at 4040 Wilson Blvd — including its permanent outdoor bar, which was approved by the County Board in 2019 — appears to have largely wrapped up.
Ahead of the public opening, The Salt Line is hosting some private preview events this week. It has also been training staff.
“Any activity in the restaurant at this point is part of staff training” the rep said.
The new 3,800-square foot space in Ballston will include “ample seating” with both indoor and “al fresco” (outdoor) dining. It will have a similar menu as the Navy Yard location, including lobster rolls, clam chowder, rockfish, and oysters. Also, according to a press release, there will be “house-made pastas, an expanded selection of crudos, and daily lunch service.”
The kitchen will be led by executive chef Matt Singer and Long Shot Hospitality chef/partner Kyle Bailey, who once was the executive at the Alexandria-based Neighborhood Restaurant Group.
Ballston startup GoTab, which facilitates QR code ordering in restaurants, has unveiled its new, all-in-one point-of-sale system for restaurants and bars.
The cloud-based system is designed to help restaurants and bars adapt to a growing preference for online ordering without erasing the personal connection of in-person service.
GoTab launched its contactless ordering technology in 2016, but experienced a huge boon in use during the pandemic when contactless ordering and payment became the norm. Today, it operates in restaurants, hotels, resorts, golf courses, festivals and the Capital One Arena in D.C.
And now, the startup is banking on restaurants seeing these technological changes not as pandemic-era adaptations, but as new fixtures of the dining experience. One way it aims to do that is by incorporating the benefits of QR code ordering — more guest control over ordering and paying — into a soup-to-nuts sales platform that works for eateries.
“With the GoTab all-in-one restaurant POS, operators can now easily tailor a guest-initiated experience or a server-initiated experience, enabling both parties to start and access the ordering tab and giving everyone flexibility to place orders however they wish,” the company says.
The all-in-one point of sale from Arlington-based startup GoTab (courtesy photo)
Having the information accessible both by servers and customers makes it easier for customers to communicate what they want and easier for servers to curate positive dining experiences, the company says.
It also means less work for servers, as the system eliminates the need to take down orders and modifications by hand and input them manually into a legacy point-of-sale system.
With GoTab, servers and managers can start and add to a digital tab, pass the tab to guests and update it later with order changes. Guests can then close out their tab on their phones with a credit card or mobile payment platform.
“Servers can be proactive and anticipate guests’ needs,” the release said.
And after the guests leave, GoTab’s cloud-based system remembers guests’ preferences, meaning restaurants can repurpose that information. The traditional system, meanwhile, only captures the information of the person paying, CEO Tim McLaughlin said.
“In a traditional restaurant — let’s say you have a table of four — a restaurant is lucky if they can capture a single diner’s data for loyalty, spending insights and marketing purposes,” he said. “With GoTab, operators have access to all four diners’ ordering details. So we provide an operator with exponentially more first-party data.”
With that information, he said, restaurants and bars can create loyalty programs and foster repeat customers.
Arlington Restaurant Week returns (via Arlington Chamber of Commerce)
For the third year in a row, the Arlington Chamber of Commerce is hosting Arlington Restaurant Week. All participating restaurants, bakeries and bars will offer discounts from Monday, Oct. 18 through Monday, Oct. 25.
Discounts will vary based on the restaurant, and some may offer discounts for both dine-in and carry-out options. Restaurant Week menus will be available on the chamber’s website.
“The Chamber is excited to have more than 40 of Arlington’s best restaurants already signed up and ready to showcase the diverse cuisine of Arlington,” said chamber CEO Kate Bates.
The current list of participating restaurants includes:
15 & Eads
Ambar
Ballston Local
Bayou Bakery
Bell20 Restaurant
Celtic House
Colony Grill
Colony House Bar + Kitchen
Copa Kitchen & Bar
Delhi Dhaba
Domino’s
Fire Works Arlington
Freddie’s Beach Bar & Restaurant
Good Company Doughnuts
Heidelberg Pastry Shoppe
La Bettola Italiano
La Côte d’Or Café
La Moo Creamery
Lebanese Taverna
Los Tios Grill
Mah-Ze-Dahr Bakery
Mala Tang
Mussel Bar & Grill
Nothing Bundt Cakes
Olive Lebanese Eatery
Potomac Social Tavern
ROCKLANDS Barbeque and Grilling Company
SER
Sidekick Bakery
Slapfish
Smokecraft Modern Barbecue
Spice Kraft Indian Bistro
Superette
Sushi-Zen
Sweet Science Coffee
Tacos and Pina
Ted’s Bulletin
Thai Select
The Freshman
Top Thai Restaurant and Sushi
TTT Clarendon
Union Kitchen
WHINO
As it did last year, Amazon is sponsoring the event.
Bates says the chamber is eager to connect hungry locals to unique eateries across the county, especially as we emerge from the pandemic.
“Now, more than ever, it is important to support and highlight the local restaurant community and its importance in Arlington,” she said.
Fundraiser for Former Restaurant Employee — “My name is Dante. I’m the general manager at the Green Pig Bistro in Arlington. Recently we had a tragedy in our green pig family. One of our former employees, Myra died in child birth. Her husband, Rolando, is also a former employee. We are… [raising] money to help this single father out.” [GoFundMe]
First for Tomb of the Unknown Soldier — “A historic first happened at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Friday. The Tomb at Arlington National Cemetery has been guarded continuously for the past 84 years… On October 1, for the first time ever, there was an all-woman shift change.” [WUSA 9]
Designers Weigh in on New County Logo — “I think if you think of it as a logo, it has some pretty obvious shortcomings in that it doesn’t say much about Arlington except as part of the larger region. It’s more of a reasonable mark for the DMV than it is for Arlington itself. It would be nice if they could’ve had something about Arlington to feature there. On the other hand, Arlington being part of the DMV might be what’s most interesting about it.” [Washingtonian]
Rent Keeps Rising in Arlington — “Median apartment-rental rates across Arlington continue their post-COVID rebound and are the highest in the Washington region, but the rate of growth over the past month was slightly below the national average. With a median cost of $2,061 for a one-bedroom apartment and $2,495 for a two-bedroom unit, the median price for Arlington rentals over the preceding month was up 1.9 percent.” [Sun Gazette]
Arlington Jobless Rate Dropping — “Arlington’s jobless rate in August dropped to 3 percent, according to new data, as the county and region continue to wriggle free of the economic grip of COVID… The August data… showed 145,095 Arlington residents employed in the civilian workforce and 4,549 looking for jobs. The resulting 3-percent rate was down from 3.4 percent in July, and a healthy drop from the 5.2-percent rate recorded in August 2020.” [Sun Gazette]
Seeking Police Oversight Board Members — “The Arlington County Board is now seeking applications from residents interested in serving as part of the County’s new Community Oversight Board (COB) that will have independent oversight and help to increase transparency and collaboration with the Arlington County Police Department. This volunteer COB will work directly with an accompanying Independent Policing Auditor, who will be hired at a later date.” [Arlington County]
