From the Mayor’s Office:

“Tthe chief executives of the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia held a joint call to discuss the coronavirus (COVID-19) response throughout the region. The call included a push for concerted effort on testing in the region, a regional framework on business impacts, and ongoing coordinated messaging to encourage residents to be good neighbors by staying at home. The Mayor and the Governors agreed to continue to advocate for more resources and leadership from the federal government to meet immediate needs like testing supplies and direct financial assistance to cities, counties and states.

They issued the following statement: Read More

100 M Street, SE

Thanks to Raymond for sending. Looks like Rockville closed March 1st. Did Navy Yard also close March 1st? And I just confirmed over the phone – they closed permanently in Navy Yard on Sunday too. If you go to Gordon Biersch’s website there are no locations listed for D.C. (and the Rockville on is gone too.)

Gordon Biersch opened in Navy Yard back in March 2013. Read More

What a spectacular one! Thanks to Torrence for sending.

If you spot a hawk or any interesting wildlife around town, lunching or otherwise, and get a good photo please send where you spotted it to [email protected] and I’ll add it to the queue. Hawks around Town is made possible by a generous grant from the Ben and Sylvia Gardner foundation.

Thanks to Brian for sending from LeDroit/Bloomingdale.

Beautiful photo but sorry to hear about the loss of Dame Edna. John writes:

“I have three backyard chooks in a coop I built myself in Kensington, MD: Persephone, Dame Edna and Madge. They all have personalities and I regard them as pets. I let them out occasionally for a run around the back yard, but unfortunately Dame Edna got taken by a red tailed hawk. I decided to leave the carcass in the yard for the hawk to feed on as it is winter and it has its right to the kill despite my grieving. This is the hawk coming down the next morning for round two of her/his meal.”

If you spot a hawk or any interesting wildlife around town, lunching or otherwise, and get a good photo please send where you spotted it to [email protected] and I’ll add it to the queue. Hawks around Town is made possible by a generous grant from the Ben and Sylvia Gardner foundation.

via Pepe’s Pizza

On Monday we posted some scuttlebutt saying that Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana could be coming to D.C. We then learned form a source it would be in Montgomery County. Our good friends at WTOP have found out the location – “Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana, of New Haven, Connecticut — plans to open a new location in Maryland at Westfield Montgomery Mall in 2020.”

*I’m only including one exclamation point because it will be in Westfield Montgomery Mall. Happy for folks that live nearby but that’s a bit out of my coverage area.

REOPENING SUMMER 2019

PENN AVE
1750 Pennsylvania Ave NW

DUPONT CIRCLE
1200 19th St NW

PIKE AND ROSE
926 Rose Ave
North Bethesda, MD 20852

Thanks to Jess and Luke for sending word:

Taylor Gourmet closed their shops back in September 2018. In April Washingtonian reported:

“Taylor Gourmet’s assets–including trademarks, customer email lists, social media and domain names, and recipes–were acquired in March by a company called Source Cuisine, headed by Steve Kalifa, who works in real estate development and health care consulting. Kalifa beat out bids from fast-casual chain Cosi and Taylor Gourmet founder Casey Patten in a bankruptcy auction for the brand. Kalifa spent around $260,000 for the assets and says he has raised around $2.5 million to begin resurrecting the business.”

Stay tuned for exact opening dates – and taste tests to see how they match up to the original!

1310 East West Highway. Photo by Dan Lay

From a press release:

“District Taco, a popular fast-casual Mexican restaurant in the D.C. Metro area, is opening its second restaurant in the state of Maryland on July 1, 2019. The restaurant is located in The Blairs Shopping Center, on East West Highway. The restaurant, at 1310 East West Highway, will join Mamma Lucia, Giant Foods, CVS, and Peet’s Coffee among others in the shopping center.

This marks the second restaurant opening in Maryland for restaurateur Osiris Hoil and his rapidly growing restaurant chain. The company, which now employs more than 400 people and operates 13 locations throughout D.C, Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, expects to expand with a restaurant in Abington, PA, and another Philadelphia location adding 100 employees to the company in 2019. From there, the restaurant chain plans to open multiple restaurants in 2020.

The Grand Opening for the Silver Spring location will be on Monday, July 1st at 12pm. Read More

Julie Verratti, Emily Bruno, Jeff Ramirez, and Kevin Ramsey. Photo by Liz Murphy

From a press release:

“Denizens Brewing Co. is excited to announce the opening of its second location at Riverdale Park Station, the transit-oriented living, dining, and shopping core located in the heart of Maryland’s Riverdale Park neighborhood.

4550 Van Buren St
Riverdale Park, MD 20737

The 12,000 square foot Production House & Taproom will greatly increase the availability of Denizens beer throughout its footprint in Maryland, Washington, DC, and Virginia. The 150 seat taproom will open to the public on May 25, 2019.

The 9,000 square foot production space will brew Denizens’ year-round offerings, including its four core beers: Southside Rye IPA, Born Bohemian Pilsner, Third Party Tripel, and Lowest Lord ESB. Read More

Blurbs from the ‘Burbs is written by Arlington resident Jeff Zeeman. After a brief six year sojourn, he’s back! You can see Jeff’s previous columns here.

Ed. Note: Thanks to commenters for clarifying public transit options – “Montgomery County Ride-On Bus 301 stops at Glenstone except on early morning trips before Glenstone is open.”

Glenstone is worth the journey (roughly 30 minutes from downtown D.C.) if you want to experience Smithsonian-level art and architecture, in a spectacular natural setting, at Smithsonian prices (free).  You must plan far in advance (visiting days are Thursday through Sunday, and tickets for July will be released on May 1st at 10:00 A.M. … I recommend logging on shortly thereafter), but it’s well worth it.  The art collection includes recognizable works from many of the most prominent contemporary artists – Warhol, Basquiat, Rothko, Jenny Holzer, Pollack, Jasper Johns, Rauschenberg, LeWitt, Ellsworth Kelly, Duchamp, De Kooning, Oldenburg, Hirst, Kusama, Bourgeois, Calder, Haring, and on and on – but also features some really interesting pieces from relatively obscure artists.  And the art collection is far from the only highlight, as the grounds, the staff, and in particular several dramatic outdoor works of art make any visit memorable and distinguishable from any other art viewing experience. Read More