A new Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant is coming to Ballston, according to building permits filed with Arlington County.
The restaurant will be located in the office building at 950 N. Glebe Road, at the corner of Glebe Road and Fairfax Drive. That’s just one block away from the recently-opened Greene Turtle, another large format sports-and-beer eatery.
Red Parrot Asian Bistro, which has locations in Baltimore and Hanover, Md., just applied for a liquor license for a restaurant on the ground floor of the office building at 1110 N. Glebe Road.
An employee at one of the Maryland restaurants said the Ballston open was probably about six months away.
Senor Pan opened its doors yesterday at 922 S. Walter Reed Drive. The South American bakery/cafe serves specialty baked goods and coffee, as well as a variety of other dishes for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
The menu includes breakfast sandwiches, empanadas, pupusas, and quesadillas. There are sides like fried yucca and fried plantain. And there’s a hot bar where you choose a meat and various toppings and place it either in an arepa, tostada, tortilla, pita, salad bowl or rice bowl.
The restaurant, under the leadership of chef/owner Scot Harlan, is seeking to provide a selection of meat-centric comfort food that is at once familiar and challenging to suburban palates. Harlan, who used to work under celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, says his biggest investment will be hiring good people in the kitchen — while other details like glassware will be relegated to commodity status.
“I’d rather pay for labor and technique than pay for ingredients and glassware. I’m literally buying used plates from places,” Harlan told the Washington Post in November.
When Chipotle opens for business — no word yet on an expected opening date — it will open directly next to a Taco Bell.
It will also face competition from the currently under-construction Lime Fresh Mexican Grill, which is opening in nearby Pentagon Row, and from the sit-down Chevys Fresh Mex, located across the street at the Pentagon Centre shopping center.
The residential space above the restaurant was supposed to be sold as condos, but multiple issues prompted the developer to convert the units to rentals over the summer.
Subway will be the first retail tenant in the building. The space, including the residential portion, sat empty for years due to problems with the building’s structural soundness, multiple lawsuits and a faltering economy.
Ray’s the Steaks in Courthouse (2300 Wilson Blvd) has added an adjacent bistro dining area called “Retro Ray’s.” While sharing a kitchen with the larger Ray’s, the new bistro will be operated as a separate entity. It will not take phone reservations — opting instead to only serve walk-in patrons — and will only be open for dinner Tuesday through Saturday.
The menu for Retro Ray’s looks very much like that of Ray’s the Steaks. In fact, it is the Ray’s the Steaks menu — from 2005. The offerings and the prices match that of the old 1725 Wilson Boulevard Ray’s the Steaks, circa 2005, we’re told. That means your average steak will be about $3 cheaper than the same steak next door.
Hope Proposes Cigarette Tax Hike — Arlington’s Del. Patrick Hope (D) is planning to introduce a bill that would increase Virginia’s relatively low cigarette tax. Unlike past years when Hope has proposed a cigarette tax hike only to have it promptly killed by Republicans, Hope is now proposing that revenue from the tax go directly to car tax relief, rather than to anti-smoking programs or Medicaid funding. [WTVR]
Record Profit for Virginia ABC — Virginia’s state-owned ABC liquor stores and restaurant wholesale business saw record sales and a record profit in fiscal year 2011. The Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control says it recorded an all-time high profit of $121 million last fiscal year, amid record demand for wine, liquor and mixers at stores and from restaurants. The state’s top-selling liquor, meanwhile, is Jack Daniels. [Associated Press]
The 2,200 square foot restaurant, which replaced Mr. Lee’s coffee shop and two other small businesses in the building’s lobby, will serve breakfast and lunch for hungry Rosslyn office workers.
A search for a website, Facebook page or phone number associated with the restaurant yielded no results.
More than 50 televisions hang on the walls and certain booths have individual TVs that patrons can control. TVs along the windows allow fans to keep one eye on game action while keeping the other on action outside.
General Manager Scott Smith says patrons can expect the same service and sports environment people enjoy at The Greene Turtle’s other locations. He wants people in the area to stop by and give the newest one a try.
Hee Been’s nearly 80-foot-long dinner buffet features some 85 different items representing three different types of cuisine: Korean, Japanese and Thai. The buffet offerings include soups and salads, a wide selection of freshly-prepared sushi and sashimi, hot and cold noodle dishes, grilled-to-order steaks, various types of seafood and Korean specialties, plus fresh fruit and desserts (tip: try the cold cinnamon tea).
The family-owned restaurant has been off to a relatively slow start since its Christmas Day soft opening, thanks in part to its inconspicuous location. Hee Been is located at the back of the off-street cluster of eateries and shops on the ground floor of the relatively new Eclipse condominium building in the far southeast corner of Arlington County. Though in close proximity to busy Jefferson Davis Highway (Route 1), the restaurant’s existence is hardly noticeable to anybody who doesn’t live in the Eclipse.
The restaurant, at 1501 Wilson Boulevard, will open at some point tomorrow, according to a PR rep. The opening will be followed with a “free lunch day” on Tuesday, Jan. 17; customers who line up between 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. will be given a free lunch in exchange for a suggested donation to the charity Adoptions Together.
Roti, a Chicago-based chain, serves “healthy Mediterranean cuisine” in a fast casual environment.
