A Verizon Premium retail outlet is moving into the space vacated by The Countertop Store at 11431 Rockville Pike.
The White Flint-area strip mall location is just north of Fitzgerald Auto Mall.
Store hours are already posted on the door, and Verizon decor has already made over the interior.
Here's the latest progress at the Chick-fil-A Rockville construction site in the Montrose Crossing shopping center on Rockville Pike.
The restaurant is scheduled to open August 22.
It's pretty clear at this point that the restaurant will not have a drive-thru, which seems strange for 2013, and given its automobile-convenient location off of the exit from the Montrose Parkway.
Paladar Latin Kitchen and Rum Bar has announced it will open its new White Flint/Rockville location on Thursday, August 15.
The opening will begin at 6:00 PM that evening with a ribbon cutting. A dinner featuring some of Paladar's most-popular dishes will follow. The cost of dinner will be $40 per person, not including gratuity. 100% of the dinner's proceeds will go to the Manna Food Center right here in Montgomery County.
Paladar co-president Andy Himmel says this is just the first example of how the restaurant will actively engage with the local community. "Manna Food Center, committed to providing food, food education and advocacy for residents of Montgomery County, is the right match for Paladar," he says.
The 180-seat restaurant will be located in JBG's North Bethesda Market development on Rockville Pike in White Flint. Free parking will be available after 5 PM weekdays, and all day on weekends, in the restaurant lot off of Woodglen Drive.
Inspired by the cuisines of Cuba and Central and South America, Paladar's menu will feature favorites like Grilled Skirt Steak and Fish Tacos. Its Rum Bar will stock over 50 flavored, spiced, white and gold, dark and aged runs. Best of all, you can order rum flights and tasting size pours.
Appetizers will include a chip platter featuring plantain, yucca, malanga and tortilla chips, and 3 kinds of guacamole for dipping purposes.
There will be 2 patios for outdoor dining.
Paladar's hours will be:
Sunday-Thursday: 11 AM - 11 PM
Friday-Saturday: 11 AM - 1 AM
Brunch Sat./Sun.: 11 AM - 3 PM
Happy Hour: 4-7 PM every day
Late Night Happy Hour Sun.-Thurs.: 9-11 PM
To make reservations for opening night on August 15, call 301-816-1100 weekdays between 9 AM and 6 PM. Hurry!
Bethesda Restaurant Week is here again! Bethesda-Chevy Chase Summer Restaurant Week is Monday, July 29 to Sunday, August 4, 2013. The official website has the full list of participating restaurants.
Yesterday, Lebanese Taverna hosted a restaurant week kickoff event at Bethesda Row. I always say that the patio outside of Lebanese Taverna is the best-smelling corner in downtown Bethesda. The wonderful aromas drifting out of the restaurant certainly entice you to go in, even if you are a tourist not familiar with the local Lebanese Taverna chain.
As you will see (or just saw) in the video, Chef Jeff Heineman of Grapeseed on Cordell Avenue is the chair of this year's BCC Restaurant Week Committee. And that's been a Herculean task, as the entity behind previous years' events has stepped down.
Fortunately, the Restaurant Association of Maryland has stepped in to produce this year's restaurant week. And reliable local sponsors like EagleBank, Grapeseed and Bethesda Magazine have joined Friends of Restaurant Week BCC Chamber of Commerce, Bethesda Urban Partnership, the NIH and NOAA Recreation and Welfare Association, Metromedia Energy and Congressional Seafood Company to ensure a successful event.
2-course lunches will be $12 or $16, and 3-course dinners $33.
Best of all, a portion of the proceeds will go to wounded service members and their families, through the Yellow Ribbon Fund.
Speaking of ribbons, there was a ribbon cutting yesterday to mark the one-week countdown to BCC Restaurant Week. Delegate Bill Frick (D-District 16), a 2014 candidate for Maryland Attorney General, was on hand to assist, as was Ginanne Italiano, president of the BCC Chamber of Commerce.
Participants around Bethesda Row include Assaggi, Jaleo, Lebanese Taverna, Mon Ami Gabi, Nest Cafe (on the EuroMotorcars block of Bethesda Avenue), Newton's Table, Raku, and Redwood.
Further afield additions include the new-and-already-award-winning Quench in the Traville Gateway area of Rockville, and the fabulous Brio Tuscan Grille in White Flint.
Start planning now, as this is a chance to try many top Bethesda restaurants for far less than the usual prices. Stay tuned here and on Twitter at @RockvilleNights, as additional restaurants join the Restaurant Week list.
Quite a few residents of the Rockshire neighborhood of Rockville turned out at Monday night's Mayor and Council Meeting.
They voiced concerns during the Citizens Forum segment of the meeting about the fate of the former Karma Academy property on Watts Branch Parkway.
The property is owned by Montgomery County, and the county has not yet specified what it intends to do with it. Rockshire residents who spoke at the meeting urged the city to obtain the property, and merge it with the adjacent Wooton's Mill Park, owned by the city.
Councilmember Mark Pierzchala said that, realistically, the county will not simply hand over the expensive real estate for little or no money. Mayor Phyllis Marcuccio suggested it could be a good site for the Rockville Science Center she has long advocated for.
Residents have good reason to be concerned. The county could sell the property to a developer for a massive, dense townhome development. Or it could choose to keep it, building a school, soccer fields, or a shelter/clinic facility, as residents of Twinbrook Forest had to deal with until recently. The county council once tried to build a homeless shelter on property it obtained in an expensive Bethesda neighborhood of single-family homes, until outraged residents raised a ruckus.
Likewise, the county should not underestimate the Rockshire Association, which sued Rockville's Mayor and Council and Planning Commission over a development dispute during the 1970s.
Councilmember Tom Moore lauded the large turnout. He said the Karma Academy was "already on our radar," but that the appearance of so many residents would surely move the issue up on the council's list of priorities.
Hostess Twinkies returned to the shelves 2 days early at Walmart. Because the Montgomery County Council has blocked Walmart from opening any additional stores in the county, I was forced to drive up to one of my favorite shopping centers, Milestone, in Germantown.
Sure enough, they had Twinkies.
My understanding is that Walmart is not going to carry Twinkies that have been frozen. That means Walmart Twinkies give us the best opportunity to evaluate the true flavor and texture of this new Twinkie.
Here is my review of this first batch of new Twinkies.
If you haven't subscribed to the Robert Dyer Channel on YouTube yet, now is a good time: I have just passed 1000 subscribers on there.
The classic architecture of Rockville's venerable town center Giant grocery store is gone forever.
A store design familiar to longtime area residents, one could find contemporaries at one time in DC and in Bethesda. The latter was located where Upstairs at Bethesda Row stands today.
It's sad to see it go. Many of the classic postwar Safeway stores are now gone as well. I managed to get the Damascus Safeway on tape for posterity, just before the wrecking ball arrived.
No such luck with this Giant, but here is the aftermath.
The Giant will be replaced by a low-rise retail development, to be delivered by developer JBG early next year.
