Angela Woolsey | FFXnow

Newly opened Thai restaurant brings owners back to Vienna roots

Published April 7, 2022 at 3:00PM

Burapa Thai & Bar co-owner Bo Boonyaket will run the restaurant's drinks program at Bo's Rhapsody Bar (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

No matter how many times the name and owners change, the ground-floor restaurant in the office building at 226 Maple Avenue West seems destined to serve Thai cuisine.

Following in the steps of Tara Thai and the recently departed Tom Yum Thai, the newly opened Burapa THAI & Bar comes from a face familiar to local diners: co-owner Bo Boonyaket was the owner and chef at I-Thai’s Side Street & Sushi Bar in Tysons until it shuttered last year.

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McLean Community Center moves forward with $100K roof repairs

By Angela Woolsey

Published April 7, 2022 at 11:15AM

The McLean Community Center (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

The McLean Community Center has a water problem, and it will take about $100,000 in repairs to fix it.

The MCC governing board unanimously approved that funding on March 10 for a roof repair project deemed “urgent” by the board’s Capital Facilities Committee.

Countywide

Multiple Fairfax County restaurants named finalists for RAMMY Awards

By Angela Woolsey

Published April 6, 2022 at 3:45PM

Blend 111 in Vienna is a 2022 RAMMY Awards finalist for "Best Brunch of the Year" (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

The finalists for the D.C.-area restaurant industry’s annual RAMMY Awards are out, and a few Fairfax County hotspots made the cut.

Organized by the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington (RAMW), a regional trade and advocacy group, the 40th annual RAMMYs represent a shift toward normalcy after two years of slightly modified proceedings to reflect the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Free ice cream will be up for grabs in Tysons on Thursday and Friday

By Angela Woolsey

Published April 6, 2022 at 3:00PM | Updated May 5, 2022 at 7:05PM

The PARC at Tysons will host an ice cream giveaway this week (via Courtney Cook/Unsplash)

(Updated at 9:20 a.m. on 4/7/2022) Break out the spoons and waffle cones, Tysons.

An ice cream truck is pulling into the PARC at Tysons and doling out free scoops tomorrow (Thursday) and Friday (April 8).

Countywide

Tysons Galleria to add movie theater, Singaporean restaurant this year

By Angela Woolsey

Published April 6, 2022 at 10:30AM

Tysons Galleria has fully leased its newly redeveloped wing, which previously housed Macy's (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

Tysons Galleria’s transformation of its former Macy’s store is nearly complete.

The mall has fully leased the redeveloped, 260,000-square-foot wing with the addition of a new restaurant from Malaysian chef Rashidin Abd Rashid expected to open this fall, Brookfield Properties public relations and marketing manager Rachel Willie says.

Countywide

Overhaul could add housing, relocate Michaels at Merrifield strip mall

By Angela Woolsey

Published April 5, 2022 at 3:45PM

The proposed Pan Am Shopping Center redevelopment would replace the Michael's and Micro Center building with housing (via Google Maps)

Safeway isn’t going anywhere, but change is coming for the rest of Merrifield’s Pan Am Shopping Center.

Citing a need to adapt to evolving retail trends, property owner Federal Realty Investment Trust wants to turn the strip mall at the corner of Route 29 and Nutley Street into a mixed-use development with three residential buildings, townhouses, and a public plaza.

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Small fire put out near Cooper Middle School in McLean

By Angela Woolsey

Published April 5, 2022 at 1:30PM

There was a small fire near Cooper Middle School, which is under construction for a renovation (via Google Maps)

The ongoing renovation of Cooper Middle School is heating up — literally.

Fairfax County Fire and Rescue units put out “a very small, smoldering fire in a construction area” next to the school at 977 Balls Hill Road around noon today (Tuesday).

Countywide

Cunningham Park art teacher and students brighten school sidewalk with rainbow mural

By Angela Woolsey

Published April 4, 2022 at 3:00PM

Cunningham Park kindergarten student Connor Pollak says the replica road is his favorite part of the mural (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

When Cunningham Park Elementary School Principal Katherine Le asked if she would paint a mural for the school, Ellen Singletary responded as any job interviewee would: she said yes.

Singletary landed the job, becoming the art teacher for the Vienna school of roughly 400 students, but thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, it took more than two years for that proposed mural to materialize.

Countywide

COVID-19 cases slightly up in Fairfax County, but hospitalizations decline

By Angela Woolsey

Published April 4, 2022 at 2:15PM | Updated April 4, 2022 at 2:47PM

Based on hospitalization metrics, Fairfax County's COVID-19 community level is considered low (via CDC)

(Updated at 2:45 p.m.) Your perception of the state of the COVID-19 pandemic in Fairfax County might vary depending on which data dashboard you’re looking at.

For instance, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention classifies the county’s COVID-19 community level as “low” based on the hospitalization metrics that the federal agency has used since February.

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Mosaic District wants to bring roller rink back, proposes ice skating too

By Angela Woolsey

Published April 4, 2022 at 10:30AM | Updated December 9, 2022 at 1:52PM

The Mosaic District's roller skating rink from summer 2021 (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

The outdoor roller skating rink that popped up on Strawberry Lane in the Mosaic District last summer could become a seasonal fixture — with a possible ice skating rink also in the works.

EDENS, the owner and developer of the Merrifield mixed-use community, has partnered with operator Rink Management Services Corporation to revive the Mosaic Skateland rink annually, starting this summer, according to a special permit application recently submitted to Fairfax County.