Around Town

Pizza Autentica Adds Ballston LocationCrystal City isn’t the only Arlington neighborhood on the radar for fast-growing local chain Pizza Autentica. WBJ’s Missy Frederick reports that Pizza Autentica has signed a lease at 850 North Randolph Street in Ballston.

Arlington Food Blogger Profiled — The Fairfax Times takes a look at Arlington mom Colleen Levine and her natural food and cooking blog, Foodie Tots. A government affairs consultant by trade, Levine has amassed 2,500 Twitter followers by focusing her blog on kid-friendly, healthy cooking. The recipe for spaghetti caprese — part of Levine’s effort to promote “meatless Mondays” — looks especially appetizing.


Around Town

As we first reported in February, AOL has been planning on launching dozens of its Patch local news sites in the DC area. Then in May, we noted that the company was hiring editors for two different Patches in Arlington. A “Rosslyn-Court House-Clarendon” Patch may still be in the works, but so far it’s not listed as “coming soon” on the Patch web site.

Over here at ARLnow.com, we’re taking the competition for neighborhood news in stride. So we want to know: what sort of stories in the Ballston-Virginia Square area should we cover that we’re not already covering? What events should we be adding to the events calendar? Please let us know in the comments section.


Around Town

According to the permit, the new Sweetgreen will be located in 4075 Wilson Boulevard, a stone’s throw away from Ballston Common Mall and the same building in which Rustico will be opening soon.

We also learn from the permit that Sweetgreen has so far paid the county $10,187.84 in fees. Ouch — that’s a lot of $4 frozen yogurts.


News

The Ballston Beaver Pond, as it’s called, was initially designed to collect stormwater runoff from I-66. But that started to change in the 1990s when beavers moved in and dammed up the drainage system, creating a pond and wetlands to form. The Beaver Pond is now a habitat frequented by muskrat, geese, ducks, heron, egrets, redwing blackbirds, fish, turtles and the occasional beaver.

The Beaver Pond is located next to a bike trail that connects Ballston and the Custis Trail, just north of the ramp from Fairfax Drive to I-66.


News

(Updated on 12/23/21 at 11:35 am.) An Arlington man was arrested outside the Wachovia Bank in Ballston Saturday morning after police say he passed a note demanding money.

[Name redacted], 54, was arrested outside the bank at Fairfax Drive and North Stafford, across from the IHOP. Police say he passed the note to a bank employee around 10:20 a.m.


Around Town

Korean Burger Joint Looks To Arlington — Kraze Burger is coming to the D.C. area, and the Korean company has its sights set on Arlington. So far, though, no leases have been signed in the county. More from the Washington Business Journal.

BBC Visits Ray’s Hell Burger — President Obama’s burger summit with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev continues to pay publicity dividends for Ray’s Hell Burger. BBC News recently came calling and got a tour of the über-busy burger joint from owner Michael Landrum.


News

Police and WMATA are investigating an apparent hit and run accident that happened in Ballston this afternoon.

The three occupants of the car that was hit and another witness told police that a Metrobus rear-ended a car at the intersection of Fairfax Drive and Glebe Road, then fled the scene by making an illegal right turn from the main travel lanes of Fairfax onto Glebe.


News

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.


Around Town

Owners Danna Andrews and Camille Dierksheide are trained chefs who share an interest in the environment, local food and good nutrition. That interest is apparent with the cart’s focus on sustainable, and locally-grown organic food. Many of the ingredients come from Lancaster Farm Fresh, a cooperative of growers in Pennsylvania.

Danna and Camille started to turn the vision of the cart into reality last September. They already owned their own catering and personal chef businesses and thus had a head-start on the culinary component of the cart. Danna’s French grandmother-in-law even helped out, supplying a family recipe for the cart’s popular chicken crepe.


Around Town

The crew interviewed several of Rebel Heroes’ lunchtime customers, as well as a local food blogger. They also traveled to Falls Church’s Open Kitchen, where the Heroes’ Cuban-Vietnamese ingredients are prepared.

The segment is expected to air on a TV program that will profile “the best food trucks in North America.”


Events

The event will kick off at 8:00 a.m. with a free open skate, followed by a development camp scrimmage at 10:00. There will also be airbrush artists, face painters, moon bounce, obstacle course, street hockey and an equipment sale. Brooks Laich and “select draft picks” will be signing autographs after the scrimmage.

If hockey isn’t your thing, but eating and dancing is, you may want to check out the 22nd Colombia National Day Celebration.The event will feature Colombian folkloric dance and musical groups as well as a variety of Colombian food. Some of the performers will be flown in from Bogota and Miami for the occasion.


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