Power is out in parts of Ballston this afternoon.
Ballston Common Mall is currently without power and several traffic lights in the area are dark. Police are directing traffic at some of the intersections.
Ballston
Are our tastes getting a bit more downscale during times of continued economic uncertainty?
In Ballston, Upper Crust Gourmet Cafe is being replaced by a ‘Daily Deli’ at 1000 N. Randolph Street. Upper Crust, which served a variety of food and was generally well-reviewed, closed in March.
The Goodyear tire store and service center in Ballston will likely be torn down at some point next year to make way for a new apartment building.
Arlington County’s Site Plan Review Committee is expected to discuss the building proposal in November. The developer hopes to start construction on the building next year, with construction wrapping up by mid-2013, according to the Washington Business Journal.
The Smoothie King in Ballston has given up its throne in an effort to conquer Adams Morgan.
The eatery, at 850 Randolph Street, across from Ballston Common Mall, is now closed. A sign in the window says the store is moving to 18th Street in Adams Morgan.
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The six-year-old restaurant has launched two new dining/food concepts inside the existing restaurant. The two eateries-inside-an-eatery– called Nosh… A Willowesque Bistro and Kate at Willow bakery — began serving customers last night.
Nosh introduces bistro-style dining as a half-way point between Willow’s white tablecloth main dining room and its less formal and less extensive bar menu. Nosh is located near the restaurant entrance, in a space that was previously “underutilized” as a lounge-y waiting area.
Interior construction has happened at an impressively rapid rate since the restaurant first announced an ambitious mid-September opening date earlier this month — but the opening is still at least two days before schedule.
The Alabama-based, Greek-inspired restaurant chain offers soups, salads, sandwiches, pitas and lunch/dinner entrees. The menu includes chicken kabobs, Greek salad, tuna salad, freshly-made hummus, a “club pita,” chicken pita pizza, spinach roll-ups and a turkey Reuben sandwich.
The charity game, which benefits Inova Blood Donor Services, will pit the Booz Allen Hamilton Minutemen corporate hockey team against the returning champion Virginia Coaching Cardinals, a squad of local youth hockey coaches. John “Cakes” Auville and Eric “E.B.” Bickel — of the Sports Junkies morning show on 106.7 The Fan — will serve as guest coaches, along with Capitals teammates Matt Hendricks and Jeff Schultz.
The event, which is being held from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, will also feature a silent auction, appearances by local celebrities, ‘Mites on Ice’ youth hockey exhibitions and “the ever-popular ‘chuck-a-duck’ contest,” according to a press release. Tickets are $10 for adults and free for kids. Organizers hope to raise $40,000 to purchase a blood testing machine for Inova.
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General Manager Dave Cottrell said the Ballston location may open as soon as Sept. 15, if everything goes well. We suspect that it may take a little while longer for Zoë’s to obtain all the necessary permits after construction wraps up.
Founded in 1995, Alabama-based Zoë’s is a rapidly-growing chain with restaurants from Arizona to Florida. Its menu includes kabobs, sandwiches, pitas and a variety of soups and salads.
Perennial Taste of Arlington favorite Sangam Restaurant is moving from Ballston to Columbia Pike.
According to an employee, the restaurant will close its current location — on the ground floor of the Comfort Inn hotel on Glebe Road in Ballston — after Wednesday. Then, on Thursday, Sept. 1, Sangam will hold its grand opening at 3205 Columbia Pike, in the space formerly occupied by the Kabobs Inn restaurant.
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(Updated at 1:25 p.m.) Arlington County firefighters and paramedics helped to rescue an injured construction worker from one of the top floors of an unfinished office building in Ballston.
A large piece of glass reportedly fell on a worker on the 9th floor of the construction site at 800 N. Glebe Road around 12:30 p.m. Rescuers were apparently able to get the man down several flights of narrow stairs before loading him on to the basket of a ladder truck five floors below. The ladder was then lowered down to ground level as bystanders watched from across the street.
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A fully-loaded dump truck came to a grinding halt at the intersection of N. Glebe Road and Randolph Street this morning after its left front wheel detached from the axle.
Nobody was hurt, but the accident did block Randolph Street for at least a half hour, as a heavy wrecker truck was brought in to move the disabled dump truck. A large gash was visible in the pavement, showing where the truck started grinding into the street after the wheel fell off.
Election Day in Virginia — Voters are going to the polls in Virginia today to vote in a rare mid-August primary. In addition to the date, which was pushed back thanks to this year’s redistricting process, this year’s election is unique because it features “more Latino candidates on the ballot than ever before in General Assembly races… running for both Democratic and Republican nominations.” Arlington’s 51 polling places will be open from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. today. [NBC Washington, Arlington County]
O’Leary Predicts High Turnout — Arlington County Treasurer and amateur election prognosticator Frank O’Leary believes that about 11,850 votes will be cast today, seven times the turnout of the 2007 primary. O’Leary based his projection on the number of absentee votes cast this year, which is higher than usual. [Sun Gazette]