After enduring several months of delays and setbacks, Samuel Beckett’s Irish Gastro Pub in Shirlington (2800 S. Randolph Street) is preparing to open its doors on Saturday.
“The day has arrived!!! We will open at 3 p.m. this Saturday, January 8th,” owner Mark Kirwan announced on the pub’s Facebook page. “We will only have a restricted food menu. Please be patient with us as we smooth out the bumps for the first week. We look forward to providing you with a memorable experience.”
Westover Beer Garden Saga Continues — Several months into the battle between the county zoning office and the Westover Market beer garden, a final resolution still has not been reached. Tens of thousands of dollars have been allocated to building new code-compliant restrooms, but more must now be spent constructing a restaurant separate from the grocery section. County regulators “are doing their best to make me a Republican,” market manager Devin Hicks told the Falls Church News-Press.
Fun and Games at the Library — The Westover Library will host a game-playing get-together for all ages this afternoon. From 2:30 to 5:00 p.m., players will face off in board games, card games and Nintendo Wii. More from the Arlington Public Library blog.
Artisphere Gets Latin Flavor — Arlington’s Guajillo restaurant and the District’s Casa Oaxaca restaurant have been chosen to jointly run a full-service restaurant and bar in Artisphere, the county’s new cultural center. The county board is expected to formally approve a lease at its Jan. 22 meeting. More from TBD.
Le Village Marche Merging with Verbena — Two Shirlington Village stores are becoming one. Le Village Marche, a French housewares store, is moving into the larger retail space of Verbena, a stationary store under the same ownership. The mew store, which will inherit the Le Village Marche name, will continue to offer many of the same products and services as Verbena. More from Shirlington Village Blog.
The restaurant, on the ground floor of the Clarendon Center development, will be the first Virginia location for the District-based pizza eatery. The company released a few photos of the construction over the weekend.
We believe the new Pete’s will open at some point this spring.
Upscale Greek restaurant Cava is eying a spring opening for its new Clarendon location, and work is now getting underway at the eatery’s 4,000 square foot interior.
Cava currently operates restaurants in Rockville and on Capitol Hill.
Mad Rose Tavern (3100 Clarendon Blvd ) is hoping for a mid-January opening, according to the establishment’s Facebook page.
Mad Rose is now describing itself as a “Gastro Pub… with about 150 indoor seats, two bars, great food, and great times.” It also promises to have “one of the largest patios in all of Arlington.”
Bayou Bakery (1515 N. Courthouse Road) has just the thing for the Creole on your Christmas list. The new Courthouse eatery has a number of “bite-sized gifts and stocking stuffers” on sale through Dec. 24.
Among them:
The beer-wings-and-sports joint, with its large expanse of flat screen TVs, is sure to attract a nights and weekends crowd. Today we’ll get our first taste of what the buttoned-up Crystal City workday set thinks of it as a lunch destination. The restaurant will open at 10:00 a.m.
While today is the official opening, some lucky customers were able to sneak in for a free meal this week. The restaurant quietly opened its doors for two hours at a time for employee training. Anyone who happened to wander by got their food for free.
With Circa in Clarendon “just weeks away from opening,” according to its Facebook page, the restaurant has started hiring the bulk of its staff.
Circa is seeking servers, bartenders, barbacks, hosts and food runners for its first Virginia location. Interested parties can apply via this Craigslist posting.
The new Buffalo Wild Wings in Crystal City (at 23rd Street and Crystal Drive) held an employee orientation session for a couple dozen new hires last night.
During the orientation, the glow from the galaxy of overhead flat screen TVs illuminated a relatively wide open, comfortable-looking space. The decor looked a bit more sleek than your standard, suburban Buffalo Wild Wings location. The huge floor-to-ceiling windows facing the street also helped to add a more urban feel.
Paisano’s “offers true gourmet pizza, using the finest, most expensive ingredients available,” says the chain’s web site. “Taste the difference for yourself, and find out why Paisano’s has become the top choice of selective pizza-cravers across the Northern Virginia area!”
In addition to pizza, Paisano’s offers pasta, subs, strombolis, wings and desserts.
This seems to meet the definition of a “soft opening.” So far, there’s nothing that would indicate to passersby that the unmarked door near the Subway on Wilson Boulevard leads to a swank new restaurant with a dozen employees waiting to applaud their first official customer. (Yesterday’s “friends and family” preview doesn’t count.)
The restaurant features two-story high ceilings and huge windows overlooking an inconspicuous part of Courthouse. The menu features American-style favorites and some surprises, prepared under the leadership of Aldrin Asencio, a chef who counts a number of bold-faced local fine dining restaurants — including 2941 in Falls Church and Roberto Donna’s former Galileo restaurant in the District — among his resume.
