restaurant

The Woman Behind Circa’s Beautiful Chalkboard Designs in Clarendon

By Katherine Berko
1/7

It takes a special talent to make strangers pause and smile during the rush of their busy days. Yet Adrienne Ellis does it on a weekly basis.

Ellis is the general manager at the Circa restaurant in Clarendon (3010 Clarendon Blvd), and she also provides the witty, colorful quotes that adorn the chalkboard on the sidewalk outside. In fact, Ellis’s work is so popular, she created an Instagram account to showcase it.

“Nothing is more fun than seeing someone stop out there and take a picture of [my work], or giggle and keep walking,” said Ellis.

Ellis has been drawing and painting since she was a child. She used to want to be an art teacher, until she led an art class in middle school. She began chalkboard painting at her previous job at Chef Geoff’s. She mainly did advertising on those chalkboards, but once she moved to Circa almost two years ago, she gained more creative liberties with her work.

“I free-hand everything,” Ellis said. “I just try to get an idea of what would be entertaining more than anything and catch people’s eye.”

Ellis uses the internet for inspiration and generally makes one new chalkboard painting per week.

“I’ll update funny quotes or do a new picture, a little bit of everything,” she said. “I do a lot of cartoons. If it’s Easter, [I’ll do a] Bugs Bunny, [or] something like that.”

Mainly, Ellis paints the current Clarendon trends, including brunch, kale and summer restaurant week.

“Clarendon, I think, is very particular,” Ellis said. “I mean, they love to brunch out here, they love their Champagne. Wine night is really big here so I pick those [things] to poke a little fun at and make people laugh.”

Ellis uses chalk paint for the illustrations and currently, non-waterproof chalkboard boards. The quote paintings usually take around 30 minutes to make while the more intricate paintings can take two hours.

“That’s just me being meticulous,” she explained.

Ellis said her favorite paintings so far have been a Scooby-Doo and a Bugs Bunny. However, passerby seem to have really enjoyed the food puns, like “Champangry,” a cartoon painting of Doug and the Disney figures.

“Any pop culture [reference], people respond really well to,” Ellis said. “I think, again, it’s the area. It’s a lot younger area and they appreciate that humor.”

McDonald’s on Columbia Pike Adds New Ordering Technology

By Chris Teale
1/4

The McDonald’s on Arlington’s western end of Columbia Pike has reopened after a renovation.

The fast food restaurant at 5005 Columbia Pike closed on June 20 for the refit, and reopened to the public on this past Monday, a spokeswoman said, with updated decor and fixtures and the addition of some new ordering technology.

During the closure, workers added self-service kiosks for customers to place their orders electronically. A spokeswoman said that technology has been rolled out in more than 2,500 McDonald’s restaurants, which includes the recently-opened one at Central Place in Rosslyn.

The restaurant also introduced table service as part of the revamp, which a spokeswoman said “provides a more relaxing and custom dining experience.”

A grand re-opening ceremony is planned from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday (Aug. 5), and will include face painting, games, food and drink and music by local Spanish language radio station El Zol.

Courtesy photos.

Bowl’d in Clarendon Is Closing

By ARLnow.com
1/6

Healthy fast-casual eatery Bowl’d is closing, the restaurant announced via Facebook Friday evening.

Bowl’d opened in March 2015 at 1028 N. Garfield Street, in Clarendon, two blocks off the main Clarendon Blvd drag. It served gluten-free rice and salad bowls, plus fruit juice and smoothies among other options.

More via the Facebook post:

Dear BOWL’D Friends and Family,

Thank you so much for the opportunity to serve this community for the last 2+ years. We had a mission to help serve healthy food made to order to help you eat healthier more of the time. Our intent was to provide delicious and nutritious food for people who wanted that option without breaking the bank.

We thank you for all of your support and generous feedback. We have decided to close and wish all of our countless neighbors and friends all the best on their personal journeys to a healthy lifestyle.

Sincerely,
The BOWL’D Team.

Roti Modern Mediterranean Opens at Pentagon City

By Brooke Giles
1/3

A new Roti Modern Mediterranean opened in Pentagon City today.

Roti is located on the ground floor of the Met Arcadia apartment building, between a Starbucks and an Orangetheory Fitness. It opened at 11 a.m. today (Friday), and will be open 11 a.m.- 9 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 11 a.m.-8 p.m. on Sundays.

Staff marked the occasion with balloons and various other decorations, and before 11 a.m. were doing final cleaning tasks ahead of opening the doors.

The fast casual restaurant serves wraps, rite plates and salads, with a variety of protein, topping and sauce options. It focuses on “Food That Loves You Back,” touting high-quality, healthy ingredients. It also offers an option to “try a little of everything,” allowing diners to pick as many sides as they want.

The restaurant is headquartered in Chicago and has other locations around the country, including in Rosslyn (1501 Wilson Blvd), its only other in Arlington.

More from Roti’s press release:

Rōti Modern Mediterranean is excited to announce the opening its newest location in the DC area, in Pentagon City, which opens today. This past January, Roti updated their menu to include a “try a little of everything” approach to entrees, giving customers the option to add as many sides and toppings as they’d like. This past Spring, Spicy Lamb Meatballs were added to the menu at all locations. Packed with flavor and spice, the meatballs are prepared using red quinoa, Sriracha sauce, mint, parsley, red chili, and other spices. This new offering is gluten-free and a great source of protein.

To reinforce their mission of Food That Loves You Back, Roti’s space includes enhanced food presentation, new interior design features, and a hand drawn food story mural scaling the length of the dining room. There is also additional communal seating to accommodate larger lunch and dinner groups.

Honeygrow Using Virtual Reality to Train Employees

By Katherine Berko
1/12

Honeygrow, a healthy fast-casual eatery that serves custom salads and stir-fry dishes, has started to incorporate virtual reality when training its new employees in Arlington.

“The company is expanding so much but we still want to keep our core values,” said a spokeswoman for Honeygrow, which opened its Pentagon City mall location in 2016.

Honeygrow uses virtual reality for training to ensure that each new employee learns the company’s core values, which can be left in the dust once businesses undergo rapid expansion. Honeygrow’s first location opened in 2012 in Philadelphia but the company has grown so quickly that by the end of 2017, Honeygrow will have expanded to approximately 25 stores, spanning from Boston to Chicago and as far south as Pentagon City, which is one of two locations in the D.C. area

“This [virtual reality] has enabled us to be able to consistently train everybody,” said Brennagh Tourigney, a district manager for Honeygrow.

The virtual reality program was launched in May 2017. Honeygrow’s founder and CEO, Justin Rosenberg, was inspired to use virtual reality at his company when he received a cardboard virtual reality with his Sunday New York Times.

“It engages the team members,” said Tourigney. “This kind of keeps people excited, it sets us apart from our competitors.”

The virtual reality training does not replace hands-on training, but is an additional component. On orientation day, new workers are given the goggles and taken on a tour of a typical Honeygrow restaurant.

The video teaches trainees what the different roles of the workers are: they watch somebody make a salad, they observe a “noodler” carefully prepare noodles so they are a Goldilocks-approved “just right” — not too hard or too soft — and they see how cashiers ensure each order was correctly made. The video even has an interactive part when the goggles take trainees into the Honeygrow refrigerator.

Trainees are taught how to place food in the refrigerator, as foods served raw always go on the top. They must then use a clicker to place the different meats in correct order on the shelves and cannot go on to the next part of the video until they put fish on the top shelf, then beef, then pork and finally, chicken on the bottom shelf.

“I’ve never been in a working kitchen before, but I understand it is a very tough environment so this is a great way to assimilate new hires into a fast-paced kitchen environment, where a million things are going on at once,” said the spokeswoman.

The video was filmed in Honeygrow’s Cherry Hill location in New Jersey. Not a single person featured in the video was an actor, but were employees. Rosenberg introduces the video and gives closing remarks at the end.

“Because it’s led by our CEO and founder, it’s a great way to bring people into the community. You really feel like you’re part of the Honeygrow family from the minute you start,” said the spokeswoman.

Nam-Viet Restaurant Closing for Renovations

By ARLnow.com
1/2

Long-time Clarendon restaurant Nam-Viet will be closing for several weeks of renovations starting next week.

The restaurant announced the renovations this morning, saying that the time has come to “revitalize” the restaurant, the first such project since the eatery first opened its doors 34 years ago.

Nam-Viet is the only remaining Vietnamese restaurant in Clarendon from the time when the neighborhood was known as “Little Saigon,” home to bustling Vietnamese-owned businesses after thousands of refugees from the Vietnam War were settled here in the 1970s.

The renovation announcement comes a month after Nam-Viet closed its second location, in D.C.’s Cleveland Park neighborhood.

More from a letter to Nam-Viet customers, below.

Dear Nam-Viet Patrons,

This year marks our 34th year in business in Arlington, Virginia. We are humbled to be one of the longest standing restaurants in Arlington surrounded by a wonderful community of patrons that have traveled far and wide to support Nam-Viet.

2017 has been a big year for Nam-Viet; we bid farewell to Cleveland Park after 20 years, and we have regrouped in Arlington. Beginning July 31, 2017, we have decided to take on a big project that will revitalizes Nam-Viet for the first time since we opened our doors. We will be undergoing renovations during the month of August that we anticipate should be completed within a three week time frame. We invite you to come in this week for lunch or dinner before we undergo our renovations.

Please visit our website www.namviet1.com for more information on our updates and our reopening date. Thank you for your support over the years and we can’t wait to unveil to you our new renovations.

Regards,

Nam-Viet Restaurant

Tara Temple Thai Restaurant Closed in Ballston

By Chris Teale
1/3

A Thai restaurant in Ballston shuttered late last week.

Tara Temple at 4001 Fairfax Drive closed Friday, July 21. It offered a variety of Thai foods including noodles and curries, as well as what it called a “sizable menu” of Japanese options. The restaurant offered a carry-out option, as well as delivery after 5 p.m. on weekends.

It was located on the ground floor of the Quincy Street Station office building, next door to fellow tenant Cafe Tirolo.

As of Monday, tables and chairs had been removed from the restaurant while materials from inside the kitchen were being brought out for removal. The eatery’s patio was still intact, but with items from inside starting to pile up nearby.

Calls to the restaurant’s main phone number went unanswered.

Hat tip to Brent Murray

Zaika Restaurant in Clarendon Has Closed

By Katherine Berko
1/6

Zaika, an Indian restaurant in Clarendon, has closed.

Located on the second level of the Market Common Clarendon shopping center, Zaika described its menu as modern Indian food, with eastern flavors and a western twist. Dishes included classic Indian entrees, such as Chicken Tikka Masala, as well as Indo-Chinese options, like the Manchurian: “A classic Chinese dish with authentic Indian spices.”

Zaika’s phone number has been disconnected and OpenTable no longer allows people to make reservations to eat there. Yesterday the restaurant was empty and dark, with no explanation for the closing posted in the windows or on the business’s Facebook page.

Zaika’s Twitter account, meanwhile, has been converted to an account for Angeethi, an Indian restaurant in Herndon.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Tens of Thousands of Bees Found in Nauck Building — An elaborate series of bee hives were found in a now-county owned building set for demolition in Nauck, prompting the county to call a husband-and-wife beekeeping team that lives in the area. The couple helped “rescue” the hive — estimated to contain 70,000 bees and 100 pounds of inedible honey — and transport it to the community park at 10th Street and N. Barton Street near Courthouse. [Arlington County, Washington Post]

‘Oz’ Owners Splitting Up — “Real Housewives of Potomac” cast members and Oz restaurant owners Ashley Darby and her husband, Michael Darby, have reportedly split. Ashley Darby said she moved out of the luxury Courthouse condo she shares with Michael, but also “dangled the possibility of reconciliation” on a “reunion” show for the series. Despite the drama, the pair were all smiles when they jointly hosted a tasting dinner at Oz in Clarendon on June 27. [Washington Post]

County Wants CSX to Consider Fewer Train Horn Blasts — Arlington County has been working with CSX to try to encourage the railroad to cut down on trains blowing their horn while traveling through densely populated Crystal City. CSX has rules in place that require a horn blast on certain sections of track at certain times for safety reasons. [InsideNova]

Crashes on GW Parkway — Multiple crashes on the GW Parkway north of the Key Bridge are causing significant delays during this morning’s rush hour. [Washington Post, Twitter]

Morning Poll: Dining Out Less Often?

By ARLnow.com

Following a long period of growth, the restaurant industry is hurting nationwide, with an overabundance of restaurant options and competition from grocery stores and delivery services like BlueApron.

There is local evidence of the industry’s woes: a steady stream of closings, a slower pace of openings.

On the other hand, turnover in the restaurant business is normal and to be expected, and a walk through neighborhoods like Clarendon and Shirlington reveals plenty of crowded eateries on most nights.

One factor influencing how local restaurants fare is how often local residents go out to eat. So today we’re asking: are you going out to eat more or less often than you were two years ago?

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Police to Hold Anti-DUI Event During Bar Crawl — The All American Bar Crawl will be taking place in Clarendon from 1-9 p.m. Saturday, and the Arlington County Police Department is planning some complementary programming. ACPD and the Washington Regional Alcohol Program are holding a “free interactive anti-drunk driving event” from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday on N. Highland Street, in the heart of Clarendon. [Arlington County]

Local ‘Big Brother’ Houseguest Getting Attention — Matthew Clines, a 33-year-old renovation consultant and fitness buff from Arlington, is being mentioned as a frontrunner on the new season of CBS’ Big Brother. “Many ladies swooned over” him, US Weekly writes. Clines has suggested he “would rather have America love him… than actually win the game and the $500,000.” [Us Weekly, Reality TV World]

Texas Jack’s Ranks High on BBQ List — Texas Jack’s in Lyon Park has ranked No. 2 on food critic Tim Carman’s list of the best barbecue joints in the D.C. area. [Washington Post]

Woman Wanted for Hit and Run Near Columbia Pike — Arlington County Police are looking for a woman who struck a pedestrian on the 3400 block of 7th Street S., in the Arlington Heights neighborhood, Wednesday night. The suspect, described as a “white female in her mid-twenties to early thirties, approximately 5’6″ tall… wearing a white sweater,” fled the scene after the collision, which sent the victim to a local trauma center with significant but non-life-threatening injuries. [Arlington County]

Photo courtesy Bradley Teague

View More Stories