Shake Shack opens at Montgomery Mall

Shake Shack opened yesterday at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda. The burger chain continues to favor the I-270 corridor over downtown Bethesda or Rockville Town Center. A third Shake Shack is planned for the Kentlands in 2022; an existing location is open now at Cabin John Village in Potomac. Look for Shake Shack in the Dining Terrace food court near Cinnabon.

Galito's Flame Grilled Chicken opening in Rockville (Photos)

Galito's Flame Grilled Chicken is coming to 15918 Shady Grove Road in early 2022. "Coming soon" signage has been posted on the storefront. Galito's will serve piri-piri-style chicken, a famous flavor of Portugal, Brazil and South Africa. The restaurant will be located next to Argos Optical in the Shady Grove Center, on the border of Rockville and Gaithersburg.

Photo: Robert Dyer/ Rendering at top courtesy Galito's Flame Grilled Chicken

Armed robbery at Rockville gas station

Montgomery County police responded to a report of an armed robbery at a Rockville gas station on Saturday night, December 18, 2021. The robbery was reported at a gas station in the 12600 block of Twinbrook Parkway at 10:32 PM, according to crime data. A knife was the weapon used in the robbery.

Finnegan's Wake temporarily closes at Rockville Town Square "for the safety and well-being of our staff and patrons"

Rockville Irish pub Finnegan's Wake abruptly announced on Instagram this afternoon that it would be closing "until further notice...for the safety and well-being of our staff and patrons." The announcement made no mention of the reason, nor of coronavirus. 

Omicron-variant coronavirus has caused cases and hospitalizations to spike in many parts of the country, and has resulted in restaurant closures in other cities. Public awareness of any increased risk in Montgomery County may have been lessened, as the Maryland Department of Health has failed to provide Covid-19 case numbers for nearly two weeks. State officials have blamed the failure on a hack of MDDOH's computer system.

Finnegan's Wake is located at 100 Gibbs Street at Rockville Town Square.

Rockville, Shady Grove Metro stations to reopen in January

WMATA announced that the extended closure of two Metro stations that has extremely inconvenienced commuters in Rockville, Gaithersburg, Germantown, Clarksburg and Damascus for months will end in January. The Shady Grove and Rockville Metro Red Line stations are now scheduled to reopen for service on January 16, 2022. Free parking and free shuttle bus service will continue to be offered at both stations until the reopening date.

Rockville Burger King update (Photos)

There's still no reopening date for the Burger King at 16004 Shady Grove Road, on the border of Rockville and Gaithersburg. A few minor signs of progress since my last report: They've painted the formerly red southwestern corner wall. A final layer of material was applied to the fake tower atop the front of the building. And resurfacing and striping of the parking lot has been completed.

Those weird 1000-lunch-bags window coverings are still up. It looks like canopies over the drive-thru windows may yet have to be installed. This is the best-rated Burger King of those that remain in Montgomery County. I hope they reopen soon, because I've missed about 15 limited-time Burger King menu items during the renovation, between the pandemic and the closure.

Rockville Amazon Fresh construction update (Photos)

If you're just looking from the outside, nothing much appears to have been done at the future Amazon Fresh at the 270 Center on Shady Grove Road in recent weeks. The most visible change is fresh asphalt and line striping on the parking lot in front of the store. But inside, installation of complex wiring, cameras and sensor equipment is being performed, a process that is quite time-consuming for an Amazon grocery store with automatic checkout functions. It can't even be ruled out that they might employ Just Walk Out technology at this store, as they mean for that checkout system to replace the Dash Cart across all Amazon Fresh locations eventually. In addition to the Friendship Heights store, another Montgomery County Amazon Fresh has been confirmed for the Chevy Chase Lake development.