After a nearly five-month wait, Maryland-based Roggenart Bistro & Café is set to open in Ballston later this month.
Located inside the former Republik Coffee Bar at 4401 Wilson Blvd, the European-inspired coffee shop and bakery chain is planning to hold a soft opening at the end of February, aiming for a grand opening by mid-March.
“Grand openings are always dangerous,” Roggenart owner and Serbian-born businessman Nemanja Popov told ARLnow. “We’re still a small company and we are probably going to do a grand opening, maybe two or three weeks after our soft opening.”
Once open, this will be the fifth Roggenart in the D.C. area and first outside of Maryland. The coffee shop opened its first location in 2017.
In addition to coffee, the café offers a variety of European-style pastries, including croissants, danishes and tarts, along with a selection of scratch-made sandwiches and soups.
“We have things like ham and cheese croissant, pepperoni mozzarella croissant, mushroom medley rolls… various assortments of quiches… cupcakes, cookies, regular muffins, so the entire bake portfolio,” Popov said, adding he recently added a few vegan options.
After undergoing some light renovations, the shop’s interior will also sport a different look than before, Popov says.
“We think we made it more beautiful and cozy,” he said.
Upon opening, Popov noted there will be special offerings for customers, though he is still deciding what those will be.
“It’s going to be very exciting, and we hope that we are going to have a lot of European baking connoisseurs,” he said.
Roggenart joins a growing list of coffee options in the Ballston area, including Korean coffee purveyor Gute Leute, the outdoor stand Ballstonian, and Slipstream, near the intersection of Wilson Blvd and Glebe Road, as well as Compass Coffee and national chain locations.
Two women from D.C. are facing charges after police say they robbed a store in Ballston while pushing a child in a baby stroller.
The alleged crime happened around 11 p.m. Thursday night on the 4200 block of Fairfax Drive, across from the Metro. A 7-Eleven is the only store on that block that appears to keep late night hours.
Police say the women threatened a store employee and threw an item at them before fleeing into the Ballston Metro station. They were subsequently detained in Courthouse.
More, below, from Friday’s Arlington County Police Department crime report.
ROBBERY, 2024-02080255, 4200 block of Fairfax Drive. At approximately 11:06 p.m. on February 8, police were dispatched to the report of a robbery by force. Upon arrival, it was determined the two female suspects entered the business while pushing a child in a baby stroller, allegedly concealed merchandise and exited the store without payment. An employee called police, during which one suspect made threatening statements before throwing an unknown item at them. The suspects then fled on foot into the Ballston Metro. Responding officers canvassed the area for the suspects who were subsequently located in the Courthouse Metro and taken into custody. [Suspect 1], 28, of Washington D.C. was arrested and charged with Petit Larceny and Contributing to the Delinquency of Minor. She was released on a summons. [Suspect 2], 24 of, Washington D.C. was arrested and charged with Robbery and Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor. She was held without bond.
Lee’s Sandwiches, which bills itself as the “World’s Largest Bánh Mì Chain,” has temporarily closed its doors in Ballston but may reopen under new ownership.
The Ballston location at 801 N. Quincy Street appears to have been closed for at least a month and is listed as “temporarily closed” on Google Maps and on a sign posted inside the door.
It first opened on N. Quincy Street in August 2020, replacing a Subway which closed in 2019.
The Ballston spot was the second East Coast location for Lee’s Sandwiches — a California-based franchise — following the first such location opening in 2016 at 3037 Annandale Road in Falls Church.
Tamy Nguyen Duong, who owns the Falls Church franchise location, says she recently purchased the Lee’s Sandwiches store in Ballston. She told ARLnow that the Ballston shop will reopen soon, though she could not give an exact date.
Her nephew will run the shop and is still deciding whether to operate it under the “Lee’s Sandwiches” franchise, she said. Either way, 801 N. Quincy Street will eventually resume selling sandwiches and coffee, according to Nguyen Duong.
The chain has a variety of sandwich options but specializes in bánh mì, a popular Vietnamese sandwich with savory ingredients in a short, toasted baguette. Lee’s is also noted for its Vietnamese iced coffee.
The CVS Pharmacy inside the Target in Ballston is closing.
The pharmacy’s last pick-up date is Friday, Feb. 16, according to signage posted at a checkout desk inside the store at 740 N. Glebe Road. All prescriptions will be automatically moved to a different location.
“We’ll be doing the transferring so if you have an alternative pharmacy you [prefer], let us know,” one sign says.
The CVS at the Ballston Quarter mall (4238 Wilson Blvd), a four-minute walk away, will remain open.
This is one of several CVS closures happening in the D.C. area in February and March.
The company announced last month that it will be shutting down at least three locations inside D.C. Target stores. Pharmacies in Ivy City, Tenleytown and Shepherd Park will all close their doors between Feb. 29 and March 14.
Last week, the company said a standalone CVS in Columbia Heights will be closing, as well.
A CVS spokesperson told the Washington Business Journal on Monday that she had “nothing to share at this time” concerning possible closures at Target stores in Northern Virginia and suburban Maryland.
The region’s thinning ranks of pharmacies are part of a nationwide strategy shift, CVS told another local news outlet.
“The closures are part of our plan to realign our national retail footprint and reduce store and pharmacy density and are based on our evaluation of changes in population, consumer buying patterns and future health needs to ensure we have the right pharmacy format in the right locations for patients,” the company said in a statement.
The Target in Ballston opened in 2020 and is one of three Targets in Arlington, including another smaller-format store in Rosslyn and a store in Pentagon City that opened in 2022.
A man was carjacked in Ballston last night, leading to a police chase — but no arrests yet.
The carjacking happened around 10:30 p.m. on the 4000 block of Wilson Blvd, when two male suspects forced the victim out of his parked car and drove off.
Virginia State Police spotted the vehicle — on I-66 in Fairfax County, according to public safety watcher Dave Statter — and gave chase. The chase entered Arlington and was called off as the suspects sped into D.C.
The Fairfax County police helicopter was overhead during the pursuit and followed the carjacked vehicle into the District, observing the suspects bail out, according to Statter. Arlington County police say the vehicle was recovered.
“The investigation is ongoing,” police said.
More, below, from today’s ACPD crime report.
CARJACKING, 2024-01310253, 4000 block of Wilson Boulevard. At approximately 10:33 p.m. on January 31, police were dispatched to the report of a stolen vehicle. Upon arrival, it was determined the male victim was inside his parked vehicle when the two male suspects approached and engaged him in conversation, during which the suspect’s opened his vehicle’s doors, forced the suspect out, and stole the vehicle. A lookout was broadcast and Virginia State Police located the stolen vehicle outside Arlington County and initiated a vehicle pursuit. When the vehicle pursuit entered Arlington County on I-395, Arlington officers joined the pursuit which was subsequently terminated after the stolen vehicle exited the Commonwealth of Virginia. No injuries were reported. During the course of the investigation, the victim’s stolen vehicle was located unoccupied in Washington D.C. The suspects were not located.
This is the first successful carjacking reported in Arlington so far in 2024. Last year at least 18 carjackings were reported.
More from Statter:
NEW: @ArlingtonVaPD handling a reported carjacking that occurred a short time ago near Wilson Boulevard and N. Randolph Street in Ballston. @ARLnowDOTcom @matthewyoung31 @HCBright10 #safety #crime #carjacking #arlington pic.twitter.com/Bh8zvf2Yy8
— Dave Statter (@STATter911) February 1, 2024
NOTE: My educated guess is DC did not get involved in this chase because it was not considered an armed carjacking. That's a decision other jurisdictions have made many times based on local pursuit policies. It's also why ACPD officers, who were part of the chase through…
— Dave Statter (@STATter911) February 1, 2024
Arlington’s first halal barbecue restaurant is up and running in Ballston.
Hal & Al’s BBQ in Quarter Market, the food hall in Ballston Quarter, opened in December. It is best known at this point for its beef brisket, though it also serves beef ribs and turkey sausage and sides such as chili and mac and cheese.
All of the meats follow Islamic food preparation laws — meaning customers will not find pork on the menu.
Owner Mohsin Rehman was born and raised in Baltimore and his parents immigrated to the U.S. from Pakistan. Rehman incorporates his upbringing in his dishes by merging Baltimore and Pakistani flavors to create Hal & Al’s popular brisket.
“Deep down, I have my love for Old Bay,” Rehman said. “So we use kind of a hybrid of Pakistani spices and Maryland crab seasoning mixed together to create our brisket. It creates this kind of ‘Bay-B-Q’ vibe, a Chesapeake Bay barbecue vibe.”
Rehman believes it’s important to highlight flavors from different regions as part of the varied Northern Virginia food scene.
“We live in a world — such a diverse world with such a diverse palette — and just black pepper and salt really keeps you from showcasing what you could do with brisket,” Rehman said. “You’re not going to go to a fancy restaurant where they’re like, ‘We only use black pepper.’ They’re going to use a multitude of spices from all over the world. I try staying to my roots.”
Rehman started his venture into the culinary world in college where he was lovingly titled the “Italian grandmother” by his friends due to his love of cooking.
“I get a lot of joy from feeding people,” he said. “I’ve always really gotten a lot of pleasure from seeing people nourished and happy from what I put my time into. The nice thing about barbecue is it’s a very family-oriented community, it sparks a lot of memories for folks.”
In 2010, Rehman started a food blog and, he says, was the only halal food blogger who traveled nationwide as part of his writing. He was inspired to open Hal & Al’s BBQ in Quarter Market (4328 Wilson Blvd) after noticing a lack of halal barbecue spots on the East Coast.
“I found halal Italian places, halal Chinese spots, but not once did I find a halal barbecue place,” he said. “When I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do, what theme I wanted to go with for the restaurant, there’s nothing more quintessential to being American than barbecue. But there’s also nothing more quintessential to being human than barbecue.”
Rehman’s big goal? To put his “Bay-B-Q” spin on the map.
“You have Texas barbecue, you have Kansas City barbecue, there’s Memphis barbecue, you go to Carolina and they have that vinegar barbecue, and you go down to Alabama and they have the Alabama white sauce barbecue,” he said.
“I’m hoping 20 years from now we’re going to have Bay-B-Q, which is going to be barbecue using Chesapeake Bay seasonings or Old Bay,” Rehman continued. “And it’ll be barbecue all based here in the DMV, up and down the mid-Atlantic.”
The cost to park in many of Arlington’s busiest neighborhoods could change March 1.
The most popular places to park along the Rosslyn-Ballston and Route 1 corridors could ultimately cost up to $5 per hour, according to a county report. Less popular spots, meanwhile, could become less expensive than the current rate.
These changes are part of a state-funded “performance parking” pilot project that seeks to make it easier to find a parking spot in Arlington by incentivizing drivers to park in underused areas.
Arlington County kicked off the project earlier this year, installing sensors to collect data on parking behavior and determine what streets and neighborhoods should see higher and lower prices.
“These goals relate to improving the experience with parking at the curb, as well as reducing the negative impacts associated with inefficient or unsuccessful search for parking,” the report says.
On Saturday, the Arlington County Board voted to hold a public hearing about a proposed ordinance on Feb. 24. If it is approved next month, the pilot program would last until March 2026.
Parking rates could change up to once every three months but large, sudden changes are unlikely, according to the report.
Although costs could vary based on the time of day and length of stay, the project would not involve surge pricing or an across-the-board rate hike. Instead, each rate change would probably bring a roughly $1 increase to parking rates at some spots and a $0.25 decrease to other spots.
Arlington’s parking rates are currently capped at $1.75 per hour at short-term meters and $1.50 per hour at long-term meters.
While county staff would set the rates, they could never charge more than $5 per hour without the County Board’s approval, per the proposed ordinance.
The pilot program would follow in the footsteps of similar initiatives in major cities including D.C., Boston and San Francisco.
“These pilots have generally shown measurable changes in drivers’ parking behavior, reductions in negative impacts, and more efficient use of available space,” the report notes.
County staff would track this project’s effectiveness using some 4,500 sensors installed in parking spaces in the Rosslyn-Ballston and Route 1 corridors. The county has already begun investigating where and when parking is most readily available in these areas — along with how often drivers pay for parking.
A recent analysis found that on average, only a third of vehicles parked at meters in these areas had actually paid to be there, which will inform how the county uses its limited cadre of parking meter enforcers.
Although similar programs have tended to increase revenue, the report says this project is primarily designed to improve parking conditions for drivers — not to extract more money from them.
“Intentionally, there is no project goal regarding revenue impact,” the report says. “This is because the project goals are about curb space performance from the community and customer perspective.”
The Macy’s store in Ballston is slated to close this spring, as soon as March, ARLnow has learned.
The department store at the Ballston Quarter mall was one of five locations the company identified last week as set to close in 2024. Macy’s is also planning to cut some 2,350 jobs this year.
Signs are now up outside and inside the store, advertising a storewide 30% off sales. All sales are final as of Monday, Jan. 22, according to the signage.
A Macy’s spokesperson tells ARLnow that the clearance sale “will run for approximately 8-12 weeks.” The store is expected to close after that.
The Arlington County Board approved a redevelopment plan for the Macy’s site in December 2022. The plan calls for a 16-story, 555-unit apartment complex atop a grocery store and another 1,400-square-foot retail space.
There is a new twist in the stand-off between Arlington County and neighbors over bus parking on a county site in North Arlington.
Arlington County recently dropped litigation against three neighbors and the Ballston-Virginia Square Civic Association, who tried to use the Board of Zoning Appeals process to block the county from parking 29 Arlington Transit (ART) buses on a county lot near Washington-Liberty High School.
The parking is a temporary arrangement while a new ART bus facility is built in Green Valley. The Arlington County Board allowed this when it approved a special exception use permit in the spring of 2022.
Nearly two years ago, the county zoning administrator determined the Dept. of Environmental Services could park the buses on the site — a requisite step for obtaining a use permit. One resident appealed the decision but a county staff member rejected it. A week later, the county sued him, his wife, a third resident and the Ballston-Virginia Square Civic Association, alleging he used the BZA process improperly to block the parking use.
The defendants say the county sued them preemptively and that the bus activity would seriously undercut their property values and quality of life.
“This could and should become a case study in how not to run a county government and then considering your role you and not considering your unique role as owners of the site and how your actions may affect neighbors,” said Maurya Meiers during public comment on Saturday, when the Arlington County Board reviewed the special exception permit for the site.
A BZA appeal had been filed on Meiers’ behalf two years ago and she is named in the lawsuit, per meeting materials and court documents.
Some residents came to the defense of their neighbors and their legal plight.
“It’s a SLAPP [Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation] suit: a use of superior resources to haul citizens into court wear them down and demoralize them, perhaps even beggar them lest they become too vociferous and their concerns about pollution, noise and other avoidable nuisances, such as those which this permit enables,” said neighbor Thomas Viles. “So far your lawsuit has accomplished nothing expensive as it was it proved insufficient to shut these voters up.”
Indeed, Arlington County says it dropped its suit because the BZA is now set to hear the appeal case built by neighbors who live in homes overlooking the parking lot. The hearing will determine whether the county zoning administrator acted properly or if her decision runs afoul of zoning ordinances, a site plan and a 1985 deed of covenant.
Viles says the BZA agreed to take up the appeal after hearing about the suit in ARLnow.
“When they did learn, however, the BZA repudiated [county government] for having kept them in the dark,” he said.
This fracas is obliquely referenced in a resolution the BZA passed last September, directing the zoning administrator to avoid this situation again by sharing all appeals with members regardless of their merit.
“The BZA has never authorized any person to decline to accept an appeal on the BZA’s behalf,” the resolution says. “County staff did not consult the entire membership of the BZA before declining to accept any appeals of a zoning administrator determination, nor did County staff inform the BZA of its communications and actions in regards to any appeals filed between March 7, 2022 and the date of the adoption of this resolution.”
The Macy’s store at Ballston Quarter will close later this year, the company announced Thursday.
The Ballston location is one of five Macy’s stores set to close in 2024, as the department store chain aims to cut 2,350 jobs, or 3.5% of its workforce, including 13% of corporate staff.
The closure of the Ballston Macy’s is not exactly a surprise. The Arlington County Board approved a redevelopment plan for the site in December 2022. From our previous reporting:
Insight Property Group proposes to demolish the longtime department store and vacant office building at 685 N. Glebe Road and replace it with a 16-story, 555-unit apartment complex atop a grocery store. In response to online engagement, it is adding a second, 1,400-square-foot retail space on the ground floor.
The units would be spread across two 14-story towers joined at the penthouse level. Residents would have 250 underground parking spaces while grocery store patrons would have 148 spots on the building’s second story.
There’s no immediate word of an updated timeline for the development, which was the subject of scrutiny from local residents and transportation planners.
Photo (top) via Google Maps
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.
- Ambar Clarendon, Eastern European, $25 lunch and $35 dinner
- Buena Vida Clarendon, Mexican, $40 dinner
- Circa at Clarendon, American, $35 lunch, $55 and $65 dinner
- Corso Italian, Italian, $35 lunch, $55 dinner
- Epic Smokehouse, barbeque/seafood/steakhouse, $25 brunch, $25, lunch, $55 dinner (paired wine or cocktail included)
- La Cote D’or Cafe, French/Mediterranean, $25 and $35 brunch, $25 and $35 lunch, $40, $55 and $65 dinner
- Lyon Hall, American, $55 dinner
- Makers Union Arlington, American, $25 lunch, $40 dinner (paired wine or cocktail included)
- Matchbox Pentagon, American, $40 dinner
- Morton’s, steakhouse, $55 dinner
- Mussel Bar and Grill Arlington, Belgian, $25 lunch, $40, $55 and $65 dinner
- O’Malley’s Pub, $40 (paired wine or cocktail included)
- Osteria Da Nino, Italian, $40 dinner
- Potomac Social Tavern, American, $40 dinner (paired wine or cocktail included)
- Rustico-Ballston, Pizzeria, $40 dinner
- Ruthie’s All-Day, American/Southern, $25 lunch, $40 and $55 dinner (paired wine or cocktail included)
- Sabores Tapas Bar, Latin/Spanish, $25 lunch, $35 brunch and $40 dinner (paired wine or cocktail included)
- Sfoglina Rosslyn, Italian, $25 lunch, $55 dinner (paired wine or cocktail included)
- Spice Kraft Indian Bistro, Indian, $65 dinner (paired wine or cocktail included)
- The Liberty Tavern, American, $35 lunch and $55 dinner
- The Melting Pot Arlington, Fondue, $55 dinner (paired wine or cocktail included)
- The Salt Line-Ballston, seafood, $25 lunch, $55 dinner (paired wine or cocktail included)
- Whino, international, $40 and $50 dinner
- Yume Sushi, Japanese, $35 brunch, $35 lunch, $40, $55 and $65 dinner (paired wine or cocktail included)