Tenleytown

4237 Wisconsin Ave, NW

Cava Grill opens in the former Ayzen/Chanya Thai restaurant space in Tenleytown. Get a free lunch for the grand opening on Thursday, and donate to Micro Greens DC. I stopped in for photos on Monday and was amazed at how great the place turned out.

From a press release:

To celebrate the opening of its newest location, Cava Grill will offer Tenleytown customers a free pita, bowl, salad, or minis and a fountain drink from 11am – 1:30pm on Thursday, October 4th. Local beverage company, Honest Tea will be on hand with free samples of their organic drinks. Through the Free Lunch Day, voluntary donations will be accepted and go directly to Micro Greens DC. Founded by American University Graduate and Chef Allison Sosna, Micro Greens DC teaches underprivileged kids to cook affordable, healthy meals based on a SNAP budget.

The new grill is conveniently located at 4237 Wisconsin Ave in northwest Washington DC. Cava Grill provides a quick healthy option for residents, area office workers, students of American University and local schools.

Located at 4237 Wisconsin Ave, the 2,400 sq. ft. Tenleytown location includes a large deck for outdoor seating and will serve beer and wine once the existing liquor license transfer is complete. Xenohristos, along with partners Ike Grigoropoulos, Dimitri Moshovitis, and Brett Schulman plan to continue expanding Cava Grill, opening several outlets in the Washington, D.C., metro area, as appropriate locations become available.

The new space looks amazing. I particularly like the open wood beams:

And the outdoor patio looks like it’ll be fantastic:

Thanks to a reader for sending the heads up about a new tenant for the former Ruby Tuesday space, which closed back in May at Van Ness and Wisconsin Ave, NW. I couldn’t find a website for Firelake Grill but when I stopped by yesterday it looked the place was getting completely gutted. More info when it becomes available.

4231 Wisconsin Ave, NW

NBC Washington reports:

“The original location of a longtime D.C. fave, Armand’s Pizzeria, will close its doors June 30, News4’s Shomari Stone first reported.

At this point, the six other locations will stay open, but it would cost $200,000 to keep the historic flagship location running.”

Armand’s Web site says:

Welcome to Lew Newmyer’s original Armand’s Chicago Pizzeria. Back in 1969 Lew Newmyer, inspired by his youth spent in Atlantic City, opened a sub and sandwich shop in Washington DC. In 1975, Lew, after traveling to Chicago experienced deep dish pizza. At that time no one in the DC area offered deep dish Chicago style pizza. Lew and his sons spent months working closely with many people in developing their own dough and sauce recipe.

Today, over twenty five years later, that recipe and Armand’s expanded menu offerings are famous and still growing. A perennial Washingtonian Magazine award winner for “Best Pizza”.

With eleven area locations including full service restaurants, party rooms and Express Delivery stores, Armand’s continues to be a Washington area favorite. Our unique recipes and friendly staff are what truly make the Armand’s experience great!

Any fans of Armand’s?

4200 Wisconsin Avenue, NW

Thanks to a reader for sending the heads up about the Ruby Tuesday abruptly closing at the corner of Van Ness Street and Wisconsin Ave, NW. Of course, not many will shed a tear…but some will.

Stay tuned for an update when a new tenant is signed.

At first I thought the Tenleytown’s Z Burger was launching a new Sandwich shop at 4321 Wisconsin Ave, NW. But trying to find info on line brought up an old post from Chowhound with a reader noting back in 2008:

“there’s also a sandwich place next to that is going to open up, I believe? Sandwish or something?”

I peeked inside and it still looks set up for an expansion:

There is even a menu:

I called the store and they told me that they don’t know if the sandwiches are coming. They might still be focusing on their new SW location and their “coming soon” to Columbia Heights location. But they were told that sandwiches could still be coming.

The menu says the sandwiches are all $4.19. If they ever do launch I wonder if that price will still apply… Do you think they should expand into sandwiches or just stick with burgers?