Fire Works Pizza Sets Opening Date
Update on 8/16 — The opening date has been pushed back to August 23, TBD reports.
Fire Works Pizza, the massive new wood-fired pizza restaurant in Courthouse, has set next Wednesday, August 18, as a tentative opening date.
Fire Works Courthouse now has its own web presence and Facebook page, complete with photos of the nearly-completed interior.
“[The] build-out had gone well,” says general manager Jon Hoffmeyer. “[We] need to make some minor adjustments here and there, but that’s to be expected.”
Hoffmeyer says he’s expecting an initial crunch of curious first-time customers when the restaurant opens.
The Arlington location is the company’s first attempt to expand beyond its original Leesburg restaurant. It should surpass the Leesburg location in scope — with more beer (30+ on tap, 100+ in bottles), more seating (276 inside, 112 outside, pending County approval) and an expanded menu.
Not everyone is thrilled about the restaurant’s arrival, however.
“Have you seen the tacky, cheap red gate they put up around the location?” one anonymous design critic asked in an email. “All it needs is some kindergartners running around within the fence… If they’re going to ruin a beautifully done courtyard and fountain area with their cheap tacky red fence, I won’t be eating there!”
The fence is required by law in order to serve alcoholic beverages outside on the patio.
One unanswered question: To what degree will Fire Works’ big outdoor patio eat into struggling, patio-less American Flatbread’s business during the warm weather months?
Photos via Facebook.
To Do Tonight: Local Musicians Play at Iota
Their sounds are eclectic, but a trio of local musicians playing at Clarendon’s Iota Club and Cafe (2832 Wilson Blvd) tonight bring with them a loyal following and a certain down-home, accessible charm.
Garland of Hours, led by Arlington-based composer Amy Domingues, will headline the show. The group plays cello-driven folk rock, with influences from dark Appalachian/English ballads.
Singer-songwriters Anna Connolly and Dennis Kane will open the show. Kane — best known as the sound engineer at the Black Cat — is expected to take the stage first, around 8:00 p.m. Connolly will follow with her emotionally-charged, down-tempo compositions.
Tickets are $10 at the door.
Crystal City Hyatt Closes for Renovations
It’s not very often that a hotel completely closes its doors, especially during the summer tourist season, but the Hyatt in Crystal City has done just that to allow for major renovations to the front of the hotel.
A reconstruction of the front entrance, the hotel lobby, and the parking garage entrance is underway. For major construction, it’s taking place at a speedy pace — the hotel is scheduled to reopen on Friday, we’re told.
Work is also being done to the front of an office building across the street. For a while, the sidewalks on either side of the road were closed to allow for the simultaneous construction projects. That created a dangerous situation for pedestrians at the time, but the sidewalk in front of the office building has since reopened.
Thanks to Doug Wendt for the tip and the photos.
School Bus Damaged By Crane in Ballston
An Arlington County school bus somehow made contact with a crane in Ballston around noon today. No children were aboard the bus at the time and the damage was minor.
After the accident, southbound Glebe Road was shut down until the crane, which was on the ground preparing to be lifted, was hoisted in the air. One southbound lane remains closed.
The crane was working at the construction site of Virginia Tech’s new seven-story research center.
Malfunctioning Traffic Light Causes Backups Near Fort Myer
The traffic light at South Courthouse Road and 2nd Street is malfunctioning, causing backups near Fort Myer.
The light is only staying green for a few seconds for motorists traveling north or south on Courthouse Road. Police have checked out the intersection and requested that Arlington’s traffic engineering department reset the light.
The intersection was flooded by a water main break one month ago.
Goat’s Head Among Weird Things Found in Barcroft Park
A group of 20 volunteers conducted one of the more eventful clean-ups of Four Mile Run over the weekend.
The group, which cleaned up the portion of the stream that runs through Barcroft Park, filled 28 trash bags with items found in or around the water. Among the items they found were a bicycle, a computer, a 70 pound metal beam and — most amazingly — the severed head of a goat, horns and all.
“I have no clue what it was doing down there amongst the plastic bottles, pens, styrofoam cups, baseballs, etc… but it smelled quite foul and we bagged it with all the other garbage,” Dan Bronson of Arlington’s Community Volunteer Network wrote in an email. “It still had the skin on it so it hadn’t been there too long.”
Bronson said “everyone was mystified” as to how the goat’s head got here in the first place. One theory was that it washed downstream during Thursday’s storm.
“Who knows!” Bronson wrote. “In my experience Four Mile Run stream clean-ups tend to have at least one quite unusual object.”
To say the least.
Saturday’s stream clean-up was a joint effort of several volunteer organizations. There were six wounded warriors on hand from the veteran groups Team River Runner and The Mission Continues. Arlingtonians for a Clean Environment and the Community Volunteer Network sent volunteers and helped to organize the event. A couple of Lockheed Martin employees also joined the clean-up.
In addition to the stream clean-up, volunteers also pulled and threw away a number of invasive plants found around the park.
Morning Notes
NWS: No Sign of Tornado in South Arlington — Despite photos of car windows blown out and mass tree devastation, a team from the National Weather Service found no evidence that a tornado caused the worst of the damage in South Arlington. More from Fox 5.
Arlington FBI Impersonator Sentenced — Arlington resident Brenna Marie Reilly, 29, who told people she was the director of the FBI’s Forensic Division and later convinced a neighbor to quit his job and serve as her assistant, was sentenced on Friday. She will serve 30 days in prison, four months of house arrest and three years of probation. More from the Washington Examiner.
Cat Fight Breaks Out Over Roaming Pets — In June, the Sun Gazette ran a opinion piece from someone who wasn’t too happy with his neighbor’s cat roaming in his yard. “Do I need my neighbors’ cat in my backyard when my wife and daughter are allergic?” he asked. Now, courtesy of the Huffington Post, we get a counterpoint. Blogger Tamar Abrams is apparently the owner of the offending feline. She shoots back: “For the record, his dog has peed on my yard. His dog has barked many times. But I can’t imagine complaining about that.”
Flickr pool photo by Amberture
