Nashville-based Taco Bamba is set to open a new location in the Fair Lakes Promenade shopping center next week, with prizes for the first 100 guests.
The grand opening is slated for Friday, April 5, Taco Bamba chef and founder Victor Albisu announced in a press release.
The doors at 12239 Fair Lakes Promenade Drive will open at 9 a.m., with the first 100 guests receiving a free coffee tumbler and a “golden ticket” that could yield a variety of gifts, such as menu items, mezcal, t-shirts and hats. A select few will win a year’s supply of tacos, per the release.
Occupying a 2,140-square-foot space, the new restaurant will have a similar feel to its sister locations with a full bar and patio, original artwork and a menu of location-unique tacos, quesadillas, nachos, empanadas and cocktails.
With warmer weather on the horizon, the location will welcome guests and their pets to an outdoor “Taco Bamba Houndgarden” patio.
Taco Bamba has 13 locations spread out across the D.C. area, Raleigh, North Carolina, and Nashville, Tennessee. This will be the 10th Taco Bamba in Northern Virginia, including eight locations in Fairfax County and two others in Arlington.
Several more plan to open in areas such as Richmond and Sterling.
“Taco Bamba has been going through a rapid period of growth in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions and while entering markets is exciting for our brand, developing new menus for our hometown neighborhoods is both challenging and rewarding,” Albisu said in the release. “Our super fans hold Taco Bamba to a high standard so we doubled down on creativity for this location.”
Menu highlights include neighborhood-specific tacos such as “Moby’s Hog” with gyro-spiced pork, the “PF Chango” with sweet and sour chicken or cauliflower, and the “Can I See A Manager” with chipotle bourbon brisket.
Beyond tacos, the menu offers ceviche, Mexican street corn, and a mixed fajita empanada, alongside a selection of mezcal-based cocktails curated by Beverage Director Amin Seddiq. Notable drinks include the “Oaxacan Tea Garden” and “In Dew Time,” according to the release.
In 2015, Albisu was named “Chef of the Year” by the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington. In 2020 and 2016, he was nominated for a James Beard Foundation award as “Best Chef Mid-Atlantic.”
Taco Bamba will be open in Fair Lakes from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
The TGI Fridays in Fair Lakes has served its final whiskey-glazed pork ribs.
The American chain restaurant has permanently closed its location at 12249 Fair Lakes Promenade Drive, an employee at the TGI Fridays in Tysons confirmed.
The prospect of the closure had been swirling for months after the Washington Business Journal reported in July that First Watch — a fast-casual cafe that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch — had applied for a permit for that address. TGI Fridays had occupied the standalone restaurant building for about 15 years, according to the WBJ.
The chain still has locations in Fairfax County at Tysons Corner Center, Herndon’s Worldgate Plaza, Springfield Commons and Beacon Center in Groveton.
First Watch is expected to open in Fair Lakes this coming summer.
“For early and late risers alike, the restaurant will offer a chef-inspired menu and rotating seasonal offerings, serve signature juices and cocktails at a dedicated bar, and carry hints of First Watch’s unique ‘Urban Farm’ design, bringing the rustic feel of a farmhouse with the modern elements of an urban loft,” said Carpenter Hunter, a spokesperson for the company.
Items on the menu include avocado toast, lemon ricotta pancakes and million dollar bacon.
Started in Pacific Grove, California, in 1983, First Watch emphasizes its use of fresh ingredients and seasonal dishes that change five times a year based on “the position of the sun,” according to its website.
The company has hundreds of restaurants across the country, including at Fair City Mall in Fairfax, Crossroads Center shopping center in Bailey’s Crossroads and Greenbriar Town Center in Chantilly.
Hunter previously confirmed to FFXnow that a Franconia location in Festival at Manchester Lakes is on track to open this coming spring, and another Falls Church area location — possibly at Idylwood Plaza — is being considered.
Image via Google Maps
First Watch is bringing its avocado toast and million dollar bacon to more spots around Fairfax County.
The fast-casual cafe, which serves made-to-order food and drinks for breakfast, brunch and lunch, will open at least two more locations in the county next year — with a third potentially also in the works.
First, a Franconia restaurant is on track to open next spring in Festival at Manchester Lakes (7027B Manchester Blvd), according to First Watch public relations manager Hunter Carpenter. It will occupy 4,500 square feet in a currently vacant corner building that once hosted Lucky’s Sports Theatre & Grill, per a site plan from property manager Regency Centers.
Carpenter also confirmed that First Watch will open at 12249 Fair Lakes Promenade Drive in fall 2024, replacing TGI Friday’s, as the Washington Business Journal reported this summer. The chain restaurant remains open for now, but its days are evidently numbered.
TGI Friday’s didn’t return a request for comment by press time.
“These restaurants will be our fourth and fifth locations in Fairfax County, respectively — and the newest additions to First Watch’s presence locally since its Bailey’s Crossroads opening in 2021,” Carpenter said.
With more than 500 restaurants nationwide, First Watch can also be found at Fair City Mall (9600 Main Street) in Fairfax and at Greenbriar Town Center (13027 Route 50) in Chantilly.
A permit currently under review by Fairfax County indicates that another cafe may be planned at Idylwood Plaza (7501 Leesburg Pike). The commercial alteration permit calls for a new storefront with interior and exterior wall demolition intended in part “to create a new covered patio area.”
Carpenter confirmed that First Watch has been “looking into new sites in the Falls Church area,” but no leases have been finalized yet. A public relations representative for Federal Realty, which manages Idylwood Plaza, said the company can’t provide any details until a lease is executed.
“[We] love the community and hope to grow there, but have not executed any recent leases yet and therefore have no new sites to announce at this time,” Carpenter told FFXnow. “We opened the doors to our first restaurant in Fairfax County nearly two decades ago, and we’re always looking for new ways to bring our take on breakfast, brunch and lunch to more of our neighbors.”
Started in Pacific Grove, California, in 1983, First Watch emphasizes its use of fresh ingredients and seasonal dishes that change five times a year based on “the position of the sun,” according to its website.
“This ever-evolving menu has included items like the Crab Avocado Toast, Barbacoa Quesadilla Benedict, Elote Mexican Street Corn Hash and Watermelon Wake-Up fresh juice, among many others,” Carpenter said.
The menu also includes classic breakfast foods like omelets, eggs benedict and pancakes, along with sandwiches, salads and quinoa bowls. Available drinks include a juice bar, iced coffee and cocktails for brunch.
According to Carpenter, some of the most popular menu items are avocado toast, lemon ricotta pancakes and the aforementioned Million Dollar Bacon, which is hardwood-smoked and baked with brown sugar, black pepper, cayenne and a maple syrup drizzle.
Both Franconia and Fair Lakes restaurants “are still in the construction and design phases,” he said. The dining rooms will have an “urban farm” style that combines “the rustic feel of a farmhouse with the modern elements of an urban loft.”
The Taco Bell in Fair Lakes will be getting a new makeover.
During a public hearing on Wednesday (Oct. 11), the Fairfax County Planning Commission approved an application request to replace the 2,300-square-foot fast food restaurant with a larger, more modern building.
The new design will still be located at 12811 Federal Systems Park Drive, but it will feature a 2,700-square-foot building with two drive-thru lanes and an outdoor dining area.
Matt Roberts, an attorney with Hirschler Fleischer, represented the applicant during the hearing. He said there are three goals driving the application, the first being the desire to construct a new modern Taco Bell restaurant on the premises.
“The second is to add a drive-thru lane to accommodate increase in customer usage, which has been a longer-term trend but as you might imagine, really accelerated during the pandemic, and then lastly to update the sign-in for the site,” he said.
According to Roberts, 79% of peak-hour transactions take place at the drive-thru.
“So, expanding that on-site really relieves any of that pressure that’s starting to build up,” Roberts told the commission.
The application, submitted by Fairfax Commerce LLC in February, also calls for a surface parking area with the required 33 spaces and a pedestrian path from Federal Systems Park Drive to the restaurant’s front entrance.
Damaris Martinez, a planner with the Fairfax County Department of Planning and Development, presented the applicant’s requests during the hearing.
“The applicant also proposes to extend a 5-foot-wide sidewalk along the property frontage of Fair Lakes Parkway from the intersection,” Martinez said.
The modern makeover will include grayscale fiber cement siding and metal panels and it will also provide a level two electric vehicle charging station.
“It’s going to be incorporating modern design standards for Taco Bell that you’ve probably seen throughout the county and basically are rolling out nationwide,” Roberts said, adding that the overall impact on traffic will be “negligible both in the current situation and as proposed.”
There were no public comments from the community, and the commissioners showed overwhelming support for the approval of the application.
Photo via Google Maps
A new restaurant specializing in North Indian Mughlai cuisine has landed in Fair Lakes.
Aroma Restaurant Bar and Banquet, operated by husband and wife duo Daljeet and Jyoti Chhatwal, opened its doors at 12821 Fair Lakes Parkway last month on Fourth of July weekend, according to Daljeet.
The restaurant is still in its soft opening period, but the couple aims to celebrate Aroma’s grand opening in mid-September.
“Our menu is so complex, I wanted my staff, especially my kitchen staff, to be very comfortable before we do a grand opening,” Daljeet said.
The menu blends old and new with classic hits — like the butter chicken served since Aroma first opened in D.C. in 1994 — featured alongside recently launched fusion cuisine. Aroma now serves Indo-Chinese and Indo-Mexican dishes, like hakka noodles and seekh kebab taquitos.
Daljeet, a culinary school graduate, created the dishes himself in his mission to bring Indian spices into famous dishes from other cultures.
Daljeet has also introduced other unique delicacies, like shahi batair (quail), scallop balchao curry and coco mussel curry, that he says are well-loved in India but typically not served in the U.S.
To ensure those who don’t eat meat aren’t left out, Aroma has an expanding variety of vegetarian options. Soya chops — vegetarian lamb chop mimics that still retain their “meat texture” despite being made from soya beans — just made their debut, Jyoti says.
Designed as a space to be rented out for gatherings and parties, Aroma’s Fair Lakes restaurant features a banquet hall that seats 200 people and three private rooms, including a men’s cigar lounge for small, official meetings or karaoke. Up to 70 guests can use the back patio, where the couple says they have already hosted wedding ceremonies. There are also two bars with 12 different beers on tap.
The restaurant’s large banquet hall is what initially drew the pair to the Fair Lakes location, which previously housed a sports bar.
In addition to its original D.C. restaurant, Aroma had locations in Arlington and Lorton, but all three shuttered during the COVID-19 pandemic, Daljeet says.
The previous restaurants didn’t have dedicated square footage for private events, so the Chhalwats say having the Fair Lakes site as their first culinary endeavor post-Covid has been particularly exciting. Read More
Taco Bamba Taqueria’s latest location will welcome Fairfax residents through its doors this fall.
While there is no “firm date” for an opening just yet, Taco Bamba fans can expect the storefront at Fair Lakes Promenade (12239 Fair Lakes Promenade Drive) to open “before the end of the year,” award-winning chef and owner Victor Albisu told FFXnow in a statement.
With preparation for the new restaurant still in early stages, Taco Bamba has yet to release concrete details about the new location’s offerings, but Albisu says guests “can expect killer mezcal-based cocktails and a list of tacos that draws inspiration from the diverse surrounding community.”
Located next to Nothing Bundt Cakes, this Taco Bamba will be the seventh in the Fairfax County area and the second near Fairfax City, with another storefront located just five miles away in University Mall (10653 Braddock Road).
“We think there is an opportunity to bring our unique style of taqueria to this neighborhood, and we’re really excited about the space,” Albisu said.
Taco Bamba was initially launched in 2013 by Albisu and his parents as a reflection of Albisu’s “Cuban and Peruvian roots as well as his unique take on Mexican fare.”
Since then, Albisu has grown Taco Bamba into a wildly popular Mexican chain with 12 locations across the D.C. region and Tennessee. It plans to open five new storefronts by the end of 2023 and into 2024.
“Every new opening is exciting because we challenge ourselves to come up with unique food and cocktail menus,” Albisu wrote.
Offices may no longer accompany an existing 10-story office building at Fair Lakes Circle.
Developer Grubb Properties Inc. wants Fairfax County’s permission to build a 400-unit apartment building at 12701 Fair Lakes Circle, currently the site of an office building known as Argon Plaza. The proposal replaces plans calling for a second office building on the parking lot that date back to 2005, according to the Washington Business Journal.
A shared parking garage with 580 spaces is also planned. The site was previously approved for two new office buildings, each up to 10 stories in height.
If the change is approved, the developer plans to break ground in 2025 and complete the project in 2026.
“Office space in the post-pandemic time period has been severely challenged, and this approved but unbuilt square footage is likely to remain unbuilt for some time,” the application says. “By converting approved but unbuilt office square footage to residential, this application adds new market-affordable and workforce housing to Fairfax County’s housing inventory and helps address the region and the County’s challenging housing shortage.”
The application also argues that the development would support restaurants and retailers in the vicinity.
Although the development would be exempt from the county’s Affordable Dwelling Units program, at least 30 units will be designated as Workforce Dwelling Units for individuals and families within 60 to 80% of the area median income.
The application was recently flagged for some deficiencies and is in the early stages of the review process.
One of Fair Lakes’ first office buildings — Parkway Woods — could flip into a residential development.
TPC Hornbaker LC is seeking the county’s permission to redevelop the three-story office building and parking lot spread across nearly 4.4 acres into an apartment building.
The development application, which targets 12801 Fair Lakes Parkway, argues that higher office vacancies and lower office and retail demand justify the need for redevelopment.
The existing office building was first built in 1987 and is roughly 64,000 square feet in size.
“Many of Fair Lakes’ first generation office buildings, including Parkway Woods, must now compete with newer buildings in transit-served mixed-use submarkets in Northern Virginia which have a strong brand identity, modern infrastructure, floor plates, and amenities, and closer proximity to Metrorail,” the March 17 application says.
The plan lays out two options for redevelopment.
The first option would include two phases with two residential buildings totaling 317 units. The first phase would include a nine-story, 204-unit building, including 16 workforce dwelling units (WDU), and the second phase would include 113 units with nine WDUs across seven stories.
The proposed building heights are around 110 feet and 80 feet, respectively.
The second option stipulates a single 289-unit residential building with 23 WDUs. That building would be roughly 75 feet tall.
Both options will include a fitness center, meeting rooms, outdoor recreation areas and seating areas.
“The proposed residential development has been designed to be cohesive with adjacent parcels and does not increase the overall intensity of Fair Lakes as a whole,” the application says.
Approval of the project would require rezoning. The application is in the early stages of the county’s redevelopment process and has not yet been accepted for review.
Crumbl Cookies officially lands in Fair Lakes Shopping Center on Friday (Feb. 10).
The cookie chain will open at 8 a.m. at 13075 Fair Lakes Shopping Centers. Store owners Natalie and Dovy Paukstys, and Maureen Wolthuis are behind the latest location in Fairfax County.
“As local business owners, we are looking forward to sharing delicious cookies with our neighbors,” the company wrote in a statement.
The store, which offers a weekly rotating menu of freshly baked cookies, will be open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays and 8-12 a.m. on Friday and Saturdays.
Only in-person purchases will be available for the first five business days after the grand opening. Curbside pickup, catering, delivery and nationwide shipping will be available beginning Wednesday, Feb. 15.
The cookie company stated in 2017 in Utah. Since then, it has expanded to more than 500 locations across the country. The business has been rapidly expanding in Fairfax County as well, with locations that recently opened in Reston, Leesburg, Falls Church and Chantilly.
The Taco Bell in the Fair Lakes area could be slated for demolition.
The owner of the restaurant at 12811 Federal Systems Park Drive is seeking Fairfax County’s permission to rebuild the restaurant and drive-thru with a larger and more modern facility, in line with the company’s efforts to modernize franchises across the country.
The application requests permission to add another drive-thru lane as part of the redevelopment effort.
“This redevelopment will bring a modern Taco Bell restaurant to the site, where the application will continue to serve its neighbors and the residents of Fair Lakes,” the Jan. 30 application says.
The building would stand in roughly the same orientation as the current restaurant, but with a slightly larger footprint of 2,710 square feet. Thirty-three parking spaces are also planned as part of the project.
Taco Bell’s modern branding includes gray scale fiber cement siding and metal panels with colored accents. The company also plans to scale back interior seating.
“Due to decreased customer usage of interior seating, the applicant only intends to include 52 interior seats for customers,” the application says.
The application is in the preliminary phases of the county’s planning and approvals process.
Taco Bell has another Fairfax location on Lee Jackson Memorial Highway.