A new pet urgent care is hoping to open this weekend in Buckingham.

Urgent Animal Care of Arlington at ​​249 N. Glebe Road hopes to start caring for furry best friends by the weekend, per co-owner Kayleen Gloor. The business claims it’s the first “sole dedicated [animal] urgent care in any capacity within Arlington,” though others like Bond Vet in Clarendon bill themselves as combination urgent and primary care for pets.

The veterinarian urgent care is from the team behind Clarendon Animal Care, which has locations in Clarendon and on Columbia Pike.

ARLnow first reported the pet urgent care was making its move to Buckingham back in January. It’s in the space once home to a SunTrust Bank branch, which closed more than four years ago. Following the style of the shopping center, the clinic is topped by art deco neon signage that glows at night.

While initially the opening was planned for the winter, the need to upgrade power led to a push.

“Delays were due to increased power needs due to the equipment we have (new HVAC and X-ray machine), so we were waiting on the power upgrade in order to get final inspections,” co-owner Natasha Ungerer told ARLnow via email.

An urgent care clinic for a pet differs from an emergency room in terms of the severity of the issue and what can be treated. The clinic is intended for “pets in stable condition that cannot wait to see their regular veterinarian,” per the website, with issues “that fall between a primary veterinarian practice visit and an emergency.”

The conditions that can be treated at a veterinarian urgent care include:

• Serious cuts
• Vomiting and diarrhea
• Trouble walking
• Difficulty urinating
• Prolonged low appetite
• Limping
• Mild injuries
• Ear and skin problems

The clinic is appointment-based but walk-ins are often still available. The hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays, and Mondays with weekend hours running from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The hope is to go to seven days a week, so adding Tuesday and Wednesday hours, starting in mid-July, Ungerer said.

The “nation’s only fast casual chicken salad restaurant” is coming to Arlington.

Atlanta-based Chicken Salad Chick is set to open a location in Arlington next spring, a spokesperson tells ARLnow. So far there’s no word on exactly where in the county it would be opening.

“At this moment we don’t have an exact location available to announce,” the spokesperson wrote. “However, a new Chicken Salad Chick is coming to Arling[ton] in spring 2024.”

And that isn’t the only Chicken Salad Chick set to debut locally in the coming years. The chain is bringing eight restaurants in total over the next half-decade to both Arlington and Fairfax Counties, according to a press release.

Then, the plan is to open even more locations further north in Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania.

The chicken salad franchise’s menu consists of a dozen different flavors of chicken salad that be scooped or made into a sandwich, plus a variety of soups and pimento cheese dips.

Chicken Salad Chick first began in 2008 in Auburn, Alabama after founder Stacy Brown was warned by the local health department to stop selling chicken salad out of her house. She opened her first restaurant shortly after. In the 15 years since the company has significantly expanded to include more than 200 restaurants across 17 states.

The closest current location of Chicken Salad Chick is in Glen Allen, Virginia, just north of Richmond.

The franchisees behind the new D.C. area restaurants have local and family ties.

“Behind the development agreement is Devon Chamberlin, her father, Patrick Cavanaugh, and her father-in-law, Barry Chamberlin. All have close ties to the community, born and raised across Arlington and Fairfax Counties,” said the press release. “Patrick and Barry’s relationship dates back well over 20 years when they met through mutual friends. Over the years, their families have spent a lot of time together. Barry’s son, Milton, and Devon began dating a few years ago, which has culminated in their recent wedding on November 5, 2022.”

Famed chef Peter Chang’s newest restaurant NiHao remains “on track” to open late this year or early next in Crystal City.

Earlier this year, it was reported that the 2022 James Beard Award finalist was planning on opening a second Arlington restaurant along Crystal Drive, right alongside Alamo Drafthouse Cinema and close to Amazon’s soon-to-open HQ2.

That remains the case with the restaurant hoping for a debut in the coming months, co-owner and Peter’s daughter Lydia Chang told ARLnow.

“We’re still on track to open NiHao Crystal City. Our team is working on obtaining the building permit. Will share more about the concept when we’re ready,” she wrote in an email.

The initial plan was for NiHao to be a bit different from the chef’s other local Arlington location, in the Lee-Harrison Shopping Center. It would focus on a modern approach to Szechuan cuisine while providing an “introduction” to authentic Chinese food, Chang told DCist in February, much like the Baltimore location with the same name.

However, Chang’s recent comments to ARLnow also make it seem like the concept could be tweaked by the time it opens late this year or early next.

Peter Chang first began to amass an American following in the late 2000s. For much of his career up to that point, he was one of the most well-known chefs in China. In 2001, he moved to the United States with his family to work as the head chef for the Chinese ambassador. Two years later, he secretly fled the embassy with his wife (a pastry chef as well) and his young daughter.

He took jobs cooking at modest-looking Northern Virginia restaurants in an effort to keep a low profile, but soon his fame and delicious cooking made him a mysterious sensation. Chang eventually opened his first restaurant in Charlottesville, and it quickly became a hit. He opened others, including his first local location in 2015 in the busy strip mall on N. Harrison Street in Arlington.

Peter Chang Arlington remains popular today, along with the other acclaimed restaurants he’s opened over the last decade.

NiHao Arlington will be restaurant 15 when it starts serving in the months ahead. And there are more restaurant openings ahead. Plans are already in the works for other Chang eateries in McLean and Herndon.

A South American restaurant and a new bookstore appear to preparing to open at the Pentagon City mall.

Maizal Grill is planning to start serving sometime later this month, a spokesperson for Fashion Centre at Pentagon City told ARLnow. It’s opening on the mall’s street level in the former home of Honeygrow, next to Rosa Mexicano, which opened late last year.

Maizal Grill bills itself as serving “South American street food” with a menu that features burritos, arepas, and bowls. This is the restaurant’s second Arlington location, with another eatery inside of Ballston Quarter. That one opened in 2019.

Elsewhere in the mall, a new independently-owned bookstore called Steel Life Booksellers is opening on the first level in between Kay Jewelers and shoe seller Steve Madden. Construction appears to be ongoing, though the mall spokesperson could not provide an exact opening date.

ARLnow reached out to the owner about more information but has yet to hear back as of publication.

In addition, the women’s accessory store New York New York 2 opened this past on the second level next to Savage x Fenty. It’s the sister store to New York New York, also located in the mall.

Last month, Kong Dog opened its first Virginia location at the mall’s food court.

Arlington Independent Media hopes to open its first satellite studio by early fall.

The non-profit video and audio production studio has begun the build-out at 3700 S. Four Mile Run Drive in Green Valley, Arlington Independent Media (AIM) CEO Whytni Kernodle told ARLnow. They are looking to modernize three underused audio-production studios inside Arlington Arts’ Cultural Affairs Division office, with a focus on providing podcasting space.

Construction is expected to take about four months and cost over $200,000. The aim is to be finished and ready to open sometime in September, Kernodle said.

AIM was established about four decades ago and provides programming for two local cable access television stations and operates the radio station WERA 96.7 FM.

In November, the county approved a lease agreement allowing AIM to take over about 1,100 square feet of space at the Arlington Arts location in Green Valley. It follows the county’s vision for an “arts & industry district” along Four Mile Run.

This new studio in Green Valley represents AIM’s commitment to branching out not just in terms of location but also who is using the studios to tell their story.

“After 40 years, we’ve always existed in one space, always in North Arlington,” Kernodle said. “And our membership has primarily been people over the age of 60, mostly retired, mostly white, mostly male, mostly cis-gendered, mostly English speakers, mostly non-military, and mostly non-disabled. We are trying to change that because that’s not reflective of our community.”

And the hope is that this will not be AIM’s only satellite studio, with Kernodle noting that the organization would love to set up studios in Virginia Square, Rosslyn, and Columbia Pike as well.

The aim is to put production facilities in locations that are accessible to communities that maybe didn’t have the ability to make their voices heard in the past.

“Our goal is to prioritize those voices that have been traditionally underserved or miss-served not just nationally but here in Arlington and here at Arlington Independent Media,” Kernodle said.

She also hopes to use the partnership with the county to turn Arlington’s art scene into the envy of the region.

“[Arlington] is not known for arts and industry. The goal of AIM and my goal is to really make Arlington into the Brooklyn of the D.C. area,” Kernodle said. “We have all the diversity and the resources that Brooklyn values and the proximity to the city as Brooklyn does. And we’re just not honing that because it’s not been centralized.”

Along with production studios, AIM also has access to the county’s “Theater on the Run” to screen films.

This past weekend, AIM hosted a showing of the documentary “The R-Word” as an introduction to the new space for the community. The movie depicts the experiences of persons with intellectual disabilities and how representation matters in telling the story of that community.

Kernodle hopes to have more screenings at the theater of this nature, prioritizing “films of marginalized people.”

With the plan to open AIM Green Valley in a few months, Kernodle believes that this is just the beginning of expanding Arlington’s artistic reputation.

“Our goal is to act as an anchor organization for art transformation and social justice,” she said.

Foxtrot in Rosslyn can now lawfully deliver you a magical charm crispy cake, thanks to County Board approval.

The Arlington County Board approved a use permit this past Saturday (May 13) to allow the upscale market, cafe, and convenience store to operate a delivery service from its 1771 N. Pierce Street location.

While it appears the market has already been offering deliveries since it opened earlier this year, it was being done under Covid-era rules that suspended enforcement of delivery-related ordinances.

The approved permit will essentially allow Foxtrot to continue to deliver anything from non-alcoholic sparkling wine to a tuna wrap beyond the expiration of the county’s Continuity of Government Operations (COGO) Ordinance on August 15.

“During the Covid-19 pandemic, Arlington County enacted a Continuity of Government Operations (COGO) Ordinance, which among other things put a stay on Zoning enforcement actions for food delivery services that are allowed primarily by use permit approval in most zoning districts,” reads the staff report. “This application, if approved, would permit Foxtrot Café to operate food delivery services legally following the expiration of the COGO.”

The report also notes that, with food delivery services growing in popularity during the pandemic, the county is in the midst of a study that explores “how food delivery services may be permitted in a manner different than what is currently provided for in the Zoning Ordinance.”

However, since that effort is ongoing and it’s not known when the study will be completed, the County Board went ahead and approved Foxtrot’s permit now.

The approval does come with a notable caveat, however.

Foxtrot initially proposed using a number of parking spots along N. Pierce Street as temporary parking for delivery drivers. The county was not too keen on this, with the report noting that staff observed delivery drivers and their vehicles blocking traffic a number of times.

“This presented issues with vehicles illegally standing and blocking traffic lanes along North Pierce Street… as on-street parking is limited to five (5) two-hour limited parking spaces,” said the report.

Foxtrot has since been able to come to an agreement with the owner and operator of a nearby underground parking garage to allow drivers to park in any available retail space for 15 minutes with validation.

With county staff agreeing that this arrangement will help “mitigate against further congestion and potential traffic violations on North Pierce Street,” the Board approved the permit with a review set for six months from now — which is November.

At that time, the Board will review the “effectiveness of the parking validation mitigation measures as well as the status of the Zoning Ordinance Amendment.”

Foxtrot provides delivery from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. most days, with the service being extended an extra hour or two on weekends. The company estimates that about 8% of its business comes from delivery.

Sports bar Thirsty Bernie is closing this weekend.

The 15-year-old local watering hole, at the corner of N. Glebe Road and Langston Blvd, will serve its last pints on Sunday (May 21), co-owner Gobind Ghai confirmed to ARLnow. Sales have slowed since the pandemic, which led ownership to decide not to renew its lease at the Glebe Lee Shopping Center.

“I wish we could continue, but we had a great run. It’s just our time,” Ghai said. “Sales were not high enough to continue but weren’t low enough… where we had to close right away. We could wait out the lease.”

He says there are no plans to open elsewhere and does not know what will come next to 2163 N. Glebe Road.

Last summer, rumors began circulating that the sports bar might be closing come mid-2023. Those in charge denied it at the time, but it ended up being true.

Thirsty Bernie opened in 2008, with its signature Saint Bernard mascot, as a sports-centric hangout. The current ownership took over in early 2017 after whispers of a format change.

Ghai said what made Thirsty Bernie special is the diverse mix of customers.

“We had customers and patrons from all walks of life… different cultures, different communities, different races. Everyone just sitting together,” he said. “It was such a special place. A melting pot.”

Ghai called Thirsty Bernie a “family-friendly” sports bar, a rarity in Arlington, with plenty of parking. He said his staff and regular customers were “family.”

“We are sad to go but happy for the time we had at Thirsty Bernie,” Ghai said.

The Quarterfest Crawl is coming back to Ballston early next month.

The now-annual free event is set for Saturday, June 3 this year with a full lineup of music, food, drinks, street performers and family-friendly activities. This will mark the event’s fourth year, which replaced “Taste of Arlington” in 2019. It’s organized by the Ballston Business Improvement District (Ballston BID).

The Quarterfest will follow the same crawl format that’s been the case the previous two years. Organizers told ARLnow that this was originally a “pandemic solution,” but it’s been deemed so successful that they are sticking with the format “for the foreseeable future.”

The event will again be centered along Wilson Blvd, though a number of businesses off the main drag will also be participating. The line-up includes:

• Noon-7 p.m. –DJ Ricky at Ballston Quarter
• Noon-2 p.m. — Family Activations at Ballston Quarter
• 1-2:30 p.m. — Scott Kurt at the Filling Station
• 1:30-3 p.m. — Melissa Quinn at Bronson Bierhall
• 2-3:30 p.m. — David Thong Band at Ballston Local
• 2:15-3:30 p.m. — Rook Richards at Ballston Quarter
• 3-4:30 p.m. — The Crista Trio at SER
• 5:15-6:45 p.m — Keeton at Ballston Quarter
• 7-11 p.m. — Quarterfest Afterparty at WHINO

Several other bands and performances will be announced closer to the event date. A full list of participating restaurants will also be released as the event creeps closer.

As was the case last year, there are no planned Quarterfest-related road closures. Some 7,500 people attended the event in 2022 and organizers told ARLnow they expect similar attendance again this year.

Quarterfest debuted in 2019 as a replacement for the “Taste of Arlington” festival, which organizers said at the time didn’t adequately spotlight the then-new Ballston Quarter development.

It appears the tap has run dry for New District Brewing, with the local brewery planning to close for good at the end of the month.

On Saturday, the Arlington County Board approved the purchase of two buildings on S. Four Mile Run Drive in Green Valley. The land will be used to expand nearby Jennie Dean Park.

New District Brewing had also bid to purchase the buildings, so that it could relocate, but the seller went with the county’s offer of $2 million. With that, New District Brewing co-owner Mike Katrivanos tells ARLnow that he has run out of options.

“This was my last shot,” he said, confirming that New District will permanently shut down operations at the end of May.

ARLnow first reported late last year an indoor dog park had come to terms to lease the building that New District Brewery was in. In January, New District confirmed that they had been unable to come to terms with its landlord to stay at 2709 S. Oakland Street. The brewery has been there since 2016, but a rent hike and other related disagreements had led to the indoor dog park getting the lease.

While Katrivanos was disappointed, he also expressed hope that the brewery would be able to purchase a 4,000 to 6,000-square-foot commercial property in Arlington.

More recently, Katrivanos said he has tried to buy three separate properties in the county over the last decade but none of them panned out.

The last shot were the buildings at 3520 and 3522 S. Four Mile Run Drive, located only a few blocks from New District’s current location. With the county purchasing those buildings, Katrivanos said he’s done looking and is making the final decision to close for good.

“We thought we had this other property lined up for purchase and that we’d be able to make a smooth transition, but that is now not the case. I just don’t know if I can go through another Arlington lease, to be honest with you. They are not favorable for long-term business,” he said.

The plan is to hold a going-away party on Saturday (May 20) with the last day of operations set for Sunday, May 28.

“We are going to be serving to the very end,” Katrivanos said.

New District also plans to honor its commitments to serve beer at the Columbia Pike Blues Festival in June and at the Arlington County Fair in August.

As an Arlington native, Katrivanos said it disappoints him greatly that he was “willingness to invest” in the community but it feels like that willingness was not reciprocated.

“It’s a mixture of emotion,” he said. “Being priced out of the area and not being able to find a permanent home for the business, it’s a very, very sad day.”

He has been thinking about what comes next but also needs more time to come to grips with the fact that this is the end for New District.

“It’s just too soon to think on all of that,” he said. “Just shutting down, getting all of this [brewery] gear out of here, and turning [the space] over… it’s just been a lot.”

(Updated at 1:15 p.m.) A new restaurant is finally planning to open next month in the former P. Brennan’s space on Columbia Pike.

The family-owned eatery is set to be called 2910 Kitchen & Bar, taking its name from its Columbia Pike address. It was initially going to be named Stella, but the owners decided to change the name recently.

The plan is to open sometime in June, executive chef Rob Szydlowski told ARLnow, as construction continues on the expansive space.

The restaurant will serve “American fusion” cuisine, Szydlowski said, meaning the menu will consist of classics like steak and pasta as well as some “fun” dishes.

“This is going to be a scratch kitchen, so everything’s going to be made in-house,” he said. “We’ll have a seasonal menu… and rotating desserts.”

It will be open for lunch, dinner, and weekend brunch with a full menu debuting closer to opening.

P. Brennan’s closed back in 2017 and the storefront has remained vacant since, with the former Irish bar’s signage still up to this day.

From the outside, the new restaurant will look similar to the old one. Szydlowski said, however, that the interior is being completely gutted and redone.

“We’ve really made some fairly dramatic changes inside,” he said, including revamping the staircase, redoing the bar, and adding chandeliers.

It will all provide some “really cool photo opportunities for guests,” Szydlowski said.

There’s going to be an upstairs VIP area, contrasted by a “more casual” feel downstairs, we’re told.

“We wanted to do a fast-casual concept there where people can come in and have both sides of it,” Szydlowski said. “You don’t need to worry about a dress code, but if you want to get a little fancy you can. We just want to provide some really good food in a great environment.”

There will also be live music and patio seating, provided that the proper permits can be obtained

ARLnow reported in April 2022 that a “mysterious new restaurant” was moving into the long-vacant storefront next door to Rebellion on the Pike and across the street from the Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse.

In September 2022, we reported that the wife-husband team of Griselda Giselle Fernandez and Raheel “Ray” Khan was behind the new restaurant. They also own two other restaurants in the region, including Heat Lounge on Lee Highway in Fairfax.

Earlier this year, they brought on Szydlowski as their executive chef. He has helped with more than 50 restaurant openings over his career, including several Well-Hung Vineyard restaurants in southern Virginia.

Despite some name changes and an initially over-aggressive opening timeline, the new restaurant at 2910 Columbia Pike is finally taking shape as it nears an opening.

“It is always a challenge when people see a [well-known] space and want to know what’s going in there. I think the bar is set pretty high for us, but I like that. I think we are more than capable,” Szydlowski said.

Essy’s Carriage House in Cherrydale appears to have been sold, but it remains a mystery to whom.

The long-time, well-known restaurant on Langston Blvd closed in March and went on the market shortly thereafter for two million dollars.

Now, an “under contract” sign has appeared next to the building. The listing webpage also notes that an offer is “contingent.”

“Rare offering of the Essys Carriage House restaurant and parking lot located behind Essys that totals 17,269 Sq Ft,” reads the listing. “The restaurant is sited on a 2,099 Sq Ft lot that is zoned C-2 and is approximately 1,800 Sq Ft with two basements for storage and utilities. The parking lot is comprised of two parcels totaling approximately 15,170 Sq Ft that is zoned R-6. The property is vacant, conveys as-is & a majority of the restaurant equipment & personal property has been removed.”

ARLnow contacted real estate firm Yeonas & Shafran and they did confirm the former location of Essy’s is currently under contract, but could not disclose any more information than that. We have also reached out to a prominent local restaurant group that has been rumored to be behind the purchase but have yet to hear back as of publication.

The steak and crab cake Cherrydale eatery closed a couple of months ago after serving the community for nearly fifty years. The married couple who had run it, Essy and Janet Saedi, decided to retire.

That portion of Cherrydale has seen a good deal of turnover in recent years with the shuttering of several long-time restaurants.

In September 2021, Portabellos closed but was replaced only a few months later by Pines of Florence itself making a comeback after stints in Virginia Square and Columbia Pike. Tuna Restaurant serving Laotian and Japanese cuisine opened in October 2022, replacing Maneki Neko Express. But that restaurant was quickly sold to new owners who re-opened last month with a more Thai-focused menu.

Well-regarded Gaijin Ramen Shop at 3800 Langston Blvd also shuttered in September 2022, citing “irrecoverable business losses” due to the pandemic. It had been there since 2015.