A little more than a month after closing up shop, popular Clarendon pizzeria Goody’s is back open, with some big changes on the way.
New owner Glenda Alvarez says the shop reopened its doors for the first time last Monday (May 15) and is ready for customers once more. Nick and Vanessa Reisis ran the pizzeria since 2006, but decided to retire and sell the store to Alvarez in early April.
Ballston Quarter mall is unveiling 12 new restaurants with plans to open in the development, bringing the shopping center’s total to 22 confirmed eateries ahead of its scheduled re-opening this fall.
Forest City, the company that owns and manages the under-construction former Ballston Common Mall, announced the line-up of eateries today (Thursday). Some of the restaurants will be located in the development’s 25,000-square-foot “food hall,” while others will be spread throughout the mall or even located in the apartment building attached to the project.
Crystal City’s McDonald’s is closed for renovations.
Signs posted at the restaurant located at 2620 Jefferson Davis Highway say only that the location is closed during construction, urging visitors to head to the McDonald’s locations along Columbia Pike instead. Construction materials litter the restaurant’s parking lot.
Police say the incident started after 2 a.m. when a customer “became irate over the quality of service provided by the business,” then went behind a service counter and struck an employee in the head. A second suspect struck an employee who came to the aid of the first, according to police.
Officers on the Clarendon bar detail responded on foot to the scene after observing “a large crowd and loud noise inside a business.”
Fedorchaks on Why They Love Arlington — Mark and Stephen Fedorchak — the brothers behind Northside Social, Lyon Hall and Liberty Tavern — reveal in a Q&A why they built their lives and restaurant empire in Arlington, and whether they’ll stay. [Washingtonian]
Hula Girl Makes Best Restaurants List — Shirlington’s Hawaiian-influenced restaurant, Hula Girl, made the list of the 30 best restaurants in America, according to Yelp reviewers. The restaurant, whose owner competed on the cooking show “Chopped” last year, came in at #27. [The Daily Meal]
Courthouse’s Bayou Bakery (1515 N. Courthouse Road) will host its annual crawfish boil on Saturday (April 28) from 4-6 p.m.
The crawfish boil coincides with the beginning of New Orleans’ Jazz Fest and will feature live music along with traditional Louisiana nibbles. New Orleans native and Bayou Bakery owner and chef David Guas will host the event.
Nino Pino wants you to know that after three years of being slightly off the beaten path on the outskirts of the Village at Shirlington, his Osteria da Nino is doing very well.
“People are finding us, people have welcomed us to the neighborhood,” he said.
Petition in Support of Affordable Housing Project — The website Greater Greater Washington is helping to promote a petition that intends to counter resident complaints about a proposed affordable housing project on the former Red Cross site along Route 50. Neighbors are concerned that the project might “defile” the Buckingham neighborhood, with increased traffic and school overcrowding and a loss of green space. [GGW, GGW]
‘A Friend’ Writes Thank You Note to ACPD — From the Arlington County Police Department Twitter account: “To the citizen who left this unexpected note on one of our cruisers, thank you. ACPD is grateful for the support we receive from the community and small gestures like this mean a lot to our officers.” [Twitter]
Ambar in Clarendon opened for lunch today (Monday), a day after a rooftop air handler caught fire and prompted a large fire department response.
“Ambar Clarendon passed inspection this morning and was able to re-open for lunch service today, two days sooner than expected,” a spokeswoman tells ARLnow.com. In a statement, the restaurant’s owners said that “we appreciate everyone’s support, and are grateful that we were able to reopen quickly.”
The Sunday brunch scene at Ambar in Clarendon (2901 Wilson Blvd) was a bit too hot this afternoon.
A fire broke out at the popular restaurant today around 12:30 p.m. Initial reports suggest that a rooftop air handler caught fire; smoke and flames could be seen coming from the roof.
Cafe Italia has been evicted from its Crystal City location, according to notices affixed to the restaurant’s front door and signed by an Arlington County deputy sheriff.
The restaurant opened in 1976, according to its Facebook page.
Six D.C. United soccer players will be taking over the grills in the Rosslyn new Nando’s Peri-Peri on Thursday (April 12) to benefit the team’s charity partner, D.C. Scores.
All of the proceeds earned that day at Nando’s will go towards D.C. Scores, a non-profit that offers free after school soccer and literacy programs to at-risk D.C. youth.
