Shirlington

Astro Beer Hall to revamp basement following successful Shirlington launch and ‘overwhelming’ community support

By Madisson Weyrich
1/9

Astro Beer Hall’s second location in Shirlington is thriving four months after its opening.

Peter Bayne and Elliot Spaisman, two of the beer hall’s owners, said they receive more patronage in Shirlington than in their downtown D.C. location at this point.

“We opened up and it was like pure madness,” Bayne said. “We had so many people coming through the door. We were just trying to keep our heads on, essentially. It was overwhelming, the amount of support and love we felt from the community. People were even more excited than we were to get open.”

The beer hall’s second location opened Sept. 19 and has seen consistent business. Bayne credits much of the Shirlington location’s success to the mix of ages and professions in the area.

“They all interact and they all are like regulars together,” Bayne said. “It’s nice to see these cross-generational friendships that happen in the neighborhood of Shirlington… I was just really happy because we clearly picked great real estate to be at and something that we know is going to be there for a long time, and just a wonderful community to be a part of.”

Spaisman and former Washington Capital Jeff Halpern were childhood friends. They opened the first Astro Doughnuts — which later became Astro Doughnuts & Fried Chicken — in 2013, inspired by the doughnut shop they visited after hockey practice when they were kids in Bethesda.

The pair quickly expanded the business by offering fried chicken, chicken sandwiches with airy doughnut buns.

Elliot Spaisman (left) and Peter Bayne (courtesy Farah Skeiky)

Spaisman and Halpern later partnered with a hospitality development group, Tin Shop, and conceived the idea for a donut-shop-turned-beer-hall.

The 14,000-square-foot two-story beer hall features a game room, a 140-seat patio and a full-service coffee shop. The restaurant offers brunch, lunch, dinner, a variety of beer and cocktails, and of course coffee and doughnuts.

According to Spaisman, the most popular menu items across the board are the chicken fingers and the asteroid fried chicken sandwich. The most popular drink: the ‘Woke Up Sexy Again’ hazy IPA.

Following the Shirlington location’s successful launch, there are now plans in the works to revamp the basement area with pool tables, music and visiting DJs, giving the space more of a bar feel.

“We’ve been really happy with the level of business we’ve had and we’ve had a problem where we don’t have enough seats for everybody,” Bayne said. “It would be great for the basement to really have a nightlife activity, a spot that feels that it’s going to be a bar as opposed to a restaurant.”

Bayne and Spaisman are excited to add a level of nightlife to the beer hall and are hopeful this addition will open by the spring.

“It’s a busy operation and we’re having fun with it,” Bayne said. “Overall it’s been a great success.”

Two dozen Arlington eateries join D.C. area’s winter Restaurant Week

By James Jarvis
1/6

At least two dozen Arlington eateries are taking part in the semi-annual Metropolitan Washington Restaurant Week that kicked off yesterday.

This week-long culinary event, spanning from January 15 to 21, is organized by the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington. RAMW is a regional trade association dedicated to representing the restaurant and food service industry across the D.C. area, according to its website.

Participating restaurants have advertised three-course lunches and brunches for $25 or $35 and three-course dinners for $40, $55 and $65.

Menus and pricing are specific to the Restaurant Week event, and some menus include cocktail or wine pairings with a meal. Below are the Arlington restaurants listed as participating in the event, so far.

New owner takes over Copperwood Tavern in Shirlington

By Jo DeVoe
1/3

Copperwood Tavern in Shirlington is under new ownership.

Viswanath Vasireddy, of Aldie, Virginia, tells ARLnow he finalized the purchase of the restaurant on Dec. 26, after learning the business was for sale from a broker with whom he had previously worked.

“I looked at it and it seemed like a good business,” he said of the New American restaurant at 4021 Campbell Avenue in the Village at Shirlington shopping center.

For now, just the ownership has changed and he retained the restaurant’s employees during the transition, he said. While the menu is the same, he has asked the chef to see if there are any new dishes to introduce.

Vasireddy says he is currently on-site 3-4 hours a day, applying for licenses — a liquor license application filed last week is currently pending, Virginia ABC records show — and transferring account ownership for various vendors.

The restaurant was formerly owned by Reese Gardner, whose Wooden Nickel Bar Company also owns Dudley’s Sport and Ale in Shirlington, Quinn’s on the Corner in Rosslyn and Brass Rabbit Pub in Clarendon. He has plans to open a new restaurant in Tysons while continuing to expand outposts of Greenheart Juice Shop.

“After 10 successful years with Copperwood, it was time to sell and move on,” says Gardner. “The industry has completely changed and the days of having two concepts within steps apart just isn’t realistic anymore. Cost of goods, staffing plus the annual rent increases make it tough enough with just one in each area.”

Wooden Nickel Bar also owned the now-closed Pinemoor in Clarendon, which opened not far from Brass Rabbit just a few months into the pandemic.

Gardner says he had also hoped for success with The Pinemoor and Brass Rabbit close together but the Pinemoor ultimately closed. He attributed this to a concept that did not quite connect with customers, the restaurant and landlord not coming to better terms, and being unable to sell.

This winter, Gardner aims to get his Tysons restaurant — Ox & Rye, next to the Capital One Hall — open soon and aims to open the Courthouse location of Greenheart Juice Shop in February.

Amid those new openings, he is also focused on his existing restaurants “and most importantly, being a dad.”

As for Copperwood Tavern’s new owner, Vasireddy, he already owns a trio of restaurants in Northern Virginia: New American spot Clarity in Vienna, pan-Asian place Inchin’s Bamboo Garden in Herndon and an Indian restaurant Bawarchi Biryanis in Ashburn.

He says he had experience in the restaurant business back in India, before immigrating in 2008 to the U.S., where he has since worked in information technology.

“I thought about pursuing my dreams a little bit,” Vasireddy said, starting at Bawarchi Biryanis in February 2022 and taking over Inchin’s Bamboo Garden and Clarity last year.

Around the time he was working to close the purchase of Copperwood Tavern, he quit his job at Capital One to focus on restaurant operations full time.

“Business is good,” he said. “I have some expansion plans for 2024 and 2025.”

Additional apartments, townhomes mulled for Shirlington multifamily building

By Jo DeVoe
1/4

New apartments might one day be built on open space surrounding the Shirlington House apartments.

Arlington-based Snell Properties, which owns the property at 4201 31st Street S., filed conceptual plans with Arlington County last month, seeking staff feedback on a variety of topics.

This is an early step applicants can take before filing an official site plan application to pursue development. It does not guarantee the project — as currently envisioned — will move forward. Rather, it is a way developers can consult county staff and evaluate options.

Since January, Snell Properties has separately had informal discussions and communications with Dept. of Community Planning, Housing and Development staff, per its application.

The applicant proposes to build one 64-unit apartment building with a mix of studio, 1- and 2-bedroom units on a hilly open space between the existing 436-unit apartment building and the Citizen at Shirlington Village complex.

Open space near the Shirlington House and how Snell Properties envisions adding an apartment building there (via Google Maps and Arlington County)

It also proposes seven “street liner” buildings along 31st Street S. — between Shirlington village and the Fairlington neighborhood — which would create 14 2-story, 3-bedroom units, the application says. One purpose of the conceptual site plan is to ask county staff whether adding these “street liner” buildings is feasible.

Three-bedroom units are in high demand and Planning Commission members have frequently requested or discussed these “family-sized” dwellings during recent reviews of development proposals.

31st Street S., where ‘street liner’ buildings could go and how they would fit into the sloping on the site (via Google Maps and Arlington County)

The new units would be served by excess parking available in the Shirlington House surface lot and below-grade parking garage. The existing apartment building will remain as-is, according to the application.

Arlington County granted permission to build 437 units on the site in the 1980s. To get more units, Snell has to make the case it can mitigate the potential effects of adding density through community improvements.

Snell suggested “possible onsite affordable dwelling units.” Developers can also make transportation upgrades — such as adding bicycle lanes — to offset a potential uptick in car trips from the new development, or make cash contributions to affordable housing and public art funds.

Shirlington kicks off holiday season with tree lighting event next week

By James Jarvis

Shirlington will once again be illuminated for the holidays, starting next week.

The Village at Shirlington is set to host its annual “Light Up the Village” event on Thursday, Nov. 30, from 6-8:30 p.m.

The 20+ year annual yuletide celebration offers a variety of family-friendly activities, including horse-drawn carriage rides, face painting, balloon twisting, photo opportunities with Santa, a tree-lighting ceremony and musical performances by Signature Theatre and Bishop O’Connell High School.

Attendees can also enter a raffle to win a $150 gift card, usable at any business in Shirlington Village.

The event lineup up:

  • 6 p.m. — Holiday musical performance by Signature Theatre
  • 6:30 p.m. — Tree lighting celebration
  • 6:40 p.m. — Horse and carriage rides
  • 6:45 p.m. — Photos with Santa 

The event is free to attend, but guests are encouraged to donate non-perishable food items to the Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC).

The neighborhood’s “sip and stroll” feature, introduced in 2020, allows attendees to wander the Village grounds with alcoholic beverages.

Santa photos begin right after the tree lighting in front of Hardwood Artisans on Campbell Avenue, wrapping up at 8:30 p.m.

Cheesetique in Shirlington will become a new Italian restaurant next month

By James Jarvis
1/2

Cheesetique in Shirlington is set to reinvent itself as an Italian-inspired restaurant and market.

Situated at 4024 Campbell Avenue, the wine and cheese bar’s official last day will be next Wednesday, Nov. 22, according to the company’s Instagram page.

The new restaurant, Corso Italian, is scheduled to start serving dinner in early December, per a press release. Despite the name change, the venue will remain under the stewardship of Cheesetique’s current owner, Jill Erber. Prominent local chef Cathal Armstrong, who is behind Mattie and Eddie’s in Pentagon City, will oversee the restaurant’s menu.

“Italian food is broadly appealing and incredibly diverse, and The Village at Shirlington is the perfect location for Corso Italian,” Erber said in a press release.

“The Shirlington crowd is worldly and hip but unpretentious. They want to eat out multiple times a week,” Erber added. “On Monday, it’s a glass of Barolo and a seasonal, house-made pasta. Over the weekend, they want to celebrate with a Negroni, plate-filling bone-in veal parmesan, indulgent cannoli cheesecake, and after-dinner Amaro.”

The Shirlington location of Cheesetique, which first opened its doors in 2011 at 4056 Campbell Avenue before relocating down the street, is the only branch undergoing the transformation. The original Cheesetique in Del Ray, which opened in 2004, will remain unchanged.

Armstrong — who also was the owner and chef of Restaurant Eve, a fine-dining spot in Old Town Alexandria that closed in 2015 — will oversee the culinary direction of Corso Italian. He met Erber more than two decades ago.

The duo say they started the restaurant because of their shared history and passion for Italian specialty cheeses, per the release.

Corso Italian’s menu includes a range of Italian-American classics, such as chicken Vesuvio with red chili and sage, and carbonara with handmade pasta and housemade guanciale.

Having started his culinary career in an Italian kitchen in Dublin, Armstrong said the experience of crafting new Italian dishes “feels like coming home.”

“The canvas we have here is incredibly inspiring. I love waking up in the middle of the night needing to write down menu ideas,” he said.

In addition to an all-Italian wine list, the restaurant will offer a cocktail menu with negronis, spritzes and a bar dedicated to bitter Italian aperitifs and digestifs known as amaro. A gourmet retail market at the front of the restaurant will sell fresh pastas and sauces as well as Italian cheeses, salumi and wine.

Large water main break closes busy road near Shirlington

By ARLnow.com
Water main repairs underway on Shirlington Road

Repairs are underway along Shirlington Road after a large water main break early this morning.

A 12-inch main broke overnight in front of the Weenie Beenie restaurant, near the border of the Shirlington and Green Valley neighborhoods.

Arlington’s Dept. of Environmental Services says repairs are expected to take until 5 p.m. today and “some 150 customers could be affected” by the break.

Shirlington Road is closed in both directions between S. Arlington Mill Drive and S. Four Mile Run Drive.

Clarendon Day, Celtic Festival and Oktoberfest to prompt road closures this weekend

By James Jarvis
Clarendon Day (file photo)

Several events are scheduled to take place across Arlington on Saturday, bringing both festivities and road closures.

The events celebrate everything from the neighborhood of Clarendon to Bavarian and Irish culture.

Clarendon Day

Kicking off at 11 a.m., Clarendon Day will offer live music, food, craft beer, Virginia wines, art and inflatable obstacle courses. The event, which is one of Arlington’s largest street festivals, ends at 6 p.m.

Metro riders can take the Orange Line to the Clarendon station, the entrance to which is in the middle of the multiblock festival area.

Stretches of Wilson Blvd and Clarendon Blvd will be closed from 3 a.m. to 10 p.m. to accommodate the event, according to Arlington County police.

The complete list of street closures for the event is below.

  • Wilson Blvd, from Washington Blvd to N. Highland Street
  • Clarendon Blvd, from Washington Blvd to N. Garfield Street
  • N. Highland Street, from 11th Street N. to Wilson Blvd
  • N. Herndon Street, from Wilson Blvd to the alleyway behind CVS
  • N. Hudson Street, from Wilson Blvd to the alleyway behind CVS

Samuel Beckett’s Celtic Festival

Samuel Beckett’s Irish Pub in Shirlington is hosting its annual Celtic Festival this Saturday from 12-7 p.m.

The event will highlight traditional Irish music and dance and feature a pop-up market, food and beverages.

Campbell Avenue, from S. Randolph Street to the parking garage entrance in front of Harris Teeter, will be closed from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

National Landing Oktoberfest

Additionally, the National Landing Business Improvement District is holding an Oktoberfest event from 1-5 p.m. this Saturday at the corner of 22nd Street S. and S. Fern Street, behind what is dubbed “Restaurant Row” in Crystal City.

The beer-centric, Bavarian-ish event includes live music from the Alte Kumpel Band and The Pilgrims of Deep Run. Food and drinks, including offerings from Crystal City Sports Pub, will be available for purchase.

Activities include a stein-holding competition, a best-dressed contest, lawn games and crafting stations for kids featuring hat-making and clove decor. Attendees can register online ahead of time.

Police will close 22nd Street S. between S. Eads Street and S. Fern Street from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Cookie purveyor Chip City could open next month in Clarendon

By James Jarvis
1/2

(Updated on 12/4/23) Chip City appears to be on track to open its first Arlington location in Clarendon as early as next month.

The New York City-based cookie shop announced earlier this year it planned to open two new locations in the county: at The Crossing Clarendon, at 2700 Clarendon Blvd, and the Village at Shirlington, at 4014 Campbell Avenue.

The Clarendon location is currently undergoing renovations and an electrician was on-site installing hardware when ARLnow stopped by last week to take a peek.

While an exact opening date has still yet to be confirmed, Theodore Gailas, the company’s co-founder and chief brand officer, told ARLnow that the Clarendon location is likely to open between “late October” and “early November.” Gailas noted Shirlington location is still slated for “early January.”

“That is of course you know, assuming no surprises,” he said.

Known for its large, gooey 5.5-ounce cookies, Chip City has a rotating weekly menu of 40 different flavors, including the classics, chocolate chip and triple chocolate, and more unique flavors, from cannoli to horchata.

If the Clarendon location opens this fall, as projected, patrons may get to squeeze in a seasonal pumpkin spice latte cookie.

The weekly cookie rotation at Chip City (via Instagram)

Chip City’s move into Arlington is part of a 40-store expansion in the D.C. area and across the country. This includes a Bethesda location Gailas also says could open in “early October.”

But Chip City will have some competition as cookie stores continue to gain popularity locally.

Captain Cookie and the Milkman opened in Courthouse earlier this year. Crumbl Cookies has plans to open this fall at the Lee-Harrison Shopping Center. And delivery-only local cookie purveyor MOLTN Cookies also operates a ghost kitchen in the Dominion Hills neighborhood.

NEW: At long last, Astro Beer Hall to open in Shirlington next Tuesday

By Jo DeVoe
1/6

(Updated at 3:10 p.m. on 9/15/23) The long-anticipated Astro Beer Hall will open next week in Shirlington, serving decadent donuts by day and “astronomic” sandwiches and apps late into the night.

Ahead of the Tuesday opening, owners Elliot Spaisman and Peter Bayne are running around, making finishing touches on the 14,000-square-foot, galactic-themed space, while the team trains and awaits deliveries.

“We’ve got a lot going on over here,” Spaisman tells ARLnow.

The Village at Shirlington location is the second for the hall, which debuted in D.C. in 2019. The owners are bringing over some famed foods — including fried chicken sandwiches made with savory doughnuts — and debuting new bites. There will also be arcade games and, eventually, billiards.

The beer hall, with a sprawling 140-seat patio and adjacent coffee shop, took over the old Capitol City Brewing Co. space at 4001 Campbell Avenue, which closed five years ago. The Tuesday opening caps off two years of work in the midst of Covid and supply chain and permitting issues, the co-owners say.

The owners say they’re more than ready to open their doors.

“There’s a million pounds off my shoulders. It’s been such a whirlwind and a beast to get this thing open,” Bayne said. “It was so frustrating along the way, so to get to this moment where we can have a beautiful spot we can open up, feels so good.”

He and Spaisman opened the first Astro Beer Hall location all of four months before Covid lockdowns. While the location is faring well now, Bayne said the downtown D.C. scene is still stifled post-pandemic and he is excited to come to Arlington, which he says is “where it’s at.”

“This is nice because it’s a dense residential area in Shirlington with commercial and offices, a nightlife strip, and a ton of great options around us,” Bayne said. “It’s a hub people want to go to on a Friday or Saturday. It’s a little bit of something for everyone.”

That seems to be the plan with Astro Beer Hall, too.

There will be a coffee shop open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., serving baked goods, compliments of a doughnut-frying robot, and Compass Coffee beverages.

Over in the beer hall, patrons can watch sports from what Spaisman says is “a massive amount of TVs.” They can play classic arcade games such as skee ball and Ms. Pacman and, in the coming months, billiards in the basement.

Once it is beer o’clock — as early as 11 a.m. on the weekends but 4 p.m. on Mondays — the hall will start serving snacks, sandwiches and salads for lunch, happy hour and dinner.

(more…)

Man flashes gun during 7-Eleven robbery near Shirlington

By ARLnow.com
File photo

A 7-Eleven store near Shirlington was robbed early this morning by a pair of suspects, one of whom was armed.

The robbery happened shortly after 2:30 a.m. at the convenience store on the 2800 block of S. Wakefield Street, just down the hill from the Fairlington neighborhood.

A man and a woman allegedly each stole items from the store, and the man displayed a gun when a store employee tried to stop the woman from leaving, according to an Arlington County police crime report.

More from ACPD:

ROBBERY, 2023-08300027, 2800 block of S. Wakefield Street. At approximately 2:43 a.m. on August 30, police were dispatched to the report of a larceny just occurred. Upon arrival, it was determined Suspect One entered the business, collected merchandise and exited the store without payment. Suspect Two then entered the business and collected merchandise during which a store employee attempted to prevent her from leaving without payment. Suspect One, who was outside the glass door entrance, lifted his shirt, exposing a firearm and made threatening statements towards the employee. Suspect Two then exited the business with the stolen merchandise and fled the scene on foot with Suspect One. Officers canvassed the area for the suspects yielding negative results.

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