A new cafe is on its way to RTC West in Reston.

Kook Dogg Cafe, a new concept, will sell delicatessen sandwiches, toasted hot subs, salads and fresh pizzas, along with a selection of craft beers. It’s slated to take over space at 12100 Sunset Hills Road that was vacated last year by Little Beast Cafe and Bistro.

The incoming tenant was first reported by The Burn, which noted that a “coming soon” banner has been draped on the storefront.

The restaurant was established in 2021 by chef Paul Huckler, a Northern Virginia native, for the “sole purpose” of opening and operating a “neighborhood” specialty sandwich and pizza restaurant, according to company business materials.

After exploring restaurant sites, Kuchler settled on the Reston Town Center area for a flagship restaurant. 

The business has four partners: Kuchler and his wife Noel, along with Walter Hodges and his wife Karen.

“We are currently renovating the space and plan to open in early April of 2024,” Hodges told FFXnow.

Hodges said the decision to sign a lease at RTC West was an easy one. 

“The location has high visibility, easy access, free parking and pleasant surroundings.  The location is well sited to serve the Reston residential community as well as a thriving business community which we hope to feed regularly either through our catering business or for a relaxing after-work beer or cocktail,” he said.

Little Beast Cafe and Bistro and Red Velvet Cupcakery closed their RTC West locations at the end of 2023. They can still be found in D.C.’s Chevy Chase neighborhood at 5600 Connecticut Avenue NW.

Nash & Smash is bringing its brand of fried chicken, smash burgers, and Nashville-style sandwiches to the Herndon area.

Spice Village, a food hall in Village Center at Dulles (2501 Centreville Road), is now selling items from Nash & Smash. The hall also has food from restaurants like Peri Peri Original and Kallisto Steakhouse, according to company representative Zayan Abbasi.

The Ashburn location of Peri Peri Original — a partner restaurant of Nash & Smash — will also sell items from the company.

As first reported by The Burn, more rapid expansion is on the horizon for Nash & Smash.

“We are opening around eight to 10 locations this year,” Abbasi said.

The company’s flagship stores will be located in Manassas, Silver Spring, Baltimore City and Richmond. Those locations are expected to open sometime this year, he said.

Customers can order from Nash & Smash online through the Herndon location.

Image via Google Maps

A new Korean barbecue eatery is now cooking at Halstead Square near the Dunn Loring Metro station.

Meat Project opened the doors to its new location on the ground floor of The Lofts apartment building at 2727-G Merrilee Drive in mid-January, marking its first expansion beyond its original site in Centreville.

For the soft opening, which was announced on Instagram on Jan. 12, the restaurant is operating from 5-11 p.m. on Sunday through Thursday and from 5 p.m. to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. Its website suggests the start time will eventually move up to 2:30 p.m.

Meat Project was started at 5825 Trinity Parkway in July 2020 by owner Sam Kim and his mother, Grace, who also own Rainbow Food Catering and Manoa Bakery Cafe in Annandale.

Both locations offer all-you-can-eat meats and seafood for $30 per person, or $20 for kids who are under 4 feet tall. Kids under 3 feet tall can eat for free, per Meat Project’s website. There is also a bar that serves beer, wine, sake and soju.

Kim previously told FFXnow that the Merrifield restaurant would have some additional menu and bar items, including cocktails.

Meat Project joins a rush of recent restaurant openings around the Dunn Loring Metro station. In the past few months, nearby Avenir Place has added The Casual Pint, the taiyaki shop Rice Culture and the American-style barbecue joint Myron Mixon Pitmaster BBQ.

A Japan-based ramen chain is gearing up to open a new location in Lincolnia this summer.

Founded in Nagoya, Japan, in 2010, Kajiken is expanding its footprint with an outlet in Pinecrest Plaza at 6550K Little River Turnpike. The restaurant is scheduled to open within the next six months, according to the franchise owner, Maryland-based IVEA Restaurant Group.

The 3,100-square-foot space was filled for the past two decades by Foxfire Grill, a popular establishment that closed its doors on Oct. 31, 2023. Owner Terri Fox told Annandale Today that Edens, which owns Pinecrest Plaza, doubled the rent.

Foxfire Grill’s suite has been cleared out, but Kajiken doesn’t appear to have started its buildout yet. As of last week, no signs had been posted to announce its impending arrival.

Known for its abura soba, a “soupless ramen” dish featuring buckwheat noodles served with oil instead of traditional broth, Kajiken has locations all over the world, including 37 in Japan, 20 in China, five in Singapore, five in New Zealand, and now three in the U.S.

IVEA CEO Edward Yo told FFXnow the company launched its first U.S. franchise in Baltimore, Maryland, before moving into markets in Chicago, Illinois, and San Mateo, California.

Per its website, the company is planning to expand to five additional locations in Rockville, Maryland; Manhattan and Flushing, New York; Bellevue, Washington; and Richfield, Minnesota.

While this will be the first Kajiken location in Virginia, IVEA is no stranger to the region.

In addition to Kajiken, the restaurant group operates dozens of other Asian-inspired eateries throughout the D.C. area, including Genki Izakaya, Urban Hot Pot and Southeast Impression.

A new pizza restaurant has opened its doors in Herndon.

Wiseguy Pizza, a concept by Reston-based Thompson Hospitality, announced yesterday (Thursday) that it is now open at 1142 Elden Street, taking over the company’s former Big Buns Damn Good Burgers location, which closed less than a year after opening.

Thompson Hospitality decided to swap the concepts “for several reasons,” Chief Operating Officer Alex Berentzen said in a statement.

“Our proximity to another Big Buns within just 5 miles led us to consider the opportunity to embrace the Herndon community even more fervently,” Berentzen said. “This strategic move aligns with our commitment to expanding our dynamic portfolio throughout the DMV region. We look forward to sharing Wiseguy’s incredible offerings with the Herndon area.”

This is Wiseguy Pizza’s first location in the Fairfax County area. Started in 2012 by a Turkish immigrant, the business can currently be found in D.C., Arlington and Wheaton, Maryland. An expansion to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is in the works, according to the company’s website.

The space on Elden Street is designed to serve mostly carry-out customers. Its operating hours are:

• Monday through Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
• Thursday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
• Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to midnight
• Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

The pizza features sauce from California, cheese from Wisconsin, olive oil and Parmiagiano-Reggiano from Italy. The menu offers rotating specials, like Korean chicken and paneer tikka, as well as a cauliflower, gluten-free 10-inch pizza crust. Vegan and vegetarian options include mushroom truffle, buffalo and backyard pie.

Big Buns closed its Elden Street location on Sept. 4, 2023 after opening in late 2022. The burger joint can still be found at Reston Station.

(Updated at 8:30 p.m. on 2/6/2024) Idylwood Plaza is shaking up its retail mix to start 2024.

The shopping center on Leesburg Pike in Idylwood will usher in its newest tenant, MIYU Beauty & Wellbeing, with a grand opening celebration at 4:30 p.m. tomorrow (Friday). Falls Church City Vice Mayor Letty Hardi and Councilmember Marybeth Connelly are expected to attend.

Miyu occupies a 2,545 square-foot space next to Whole Foods Market at 7505-P Leesburg Pike, where Honest Soul Yoga used to be. The salon offers non-toxic, vegan-friendly and cruelty-free manicures and pedicures, along with yoga and pilates classes.

The business comes from neighbors Zeina Chouman El Eid and Karen Abouzeid, who both have experience in the beauty industry and decided to combine their skills to “help individuals tap into their inner essence, promote well-being, and bring beauty into everyday chaos,” according to Miyu’s website.

“We offer a tranquil haven and safe space to empower everyone,” Abouzeid, now a managing partner at Miyu, said. “MIYU’s skilled and experienced staff will guide our clients towards self-realization and unmatched confidence, while connecting them with like-minded individuals who share a passion for holistic living.”

Later this year, Miyu will be joined at Idylwood Plaza by First Watch, the daytime cafe, and Fairfax County’s first Chicken Salad Chick.

First Watch aims for summer opening

First Watch confirmed to FFXnow in November that it was looking for a new site in the Falls Church area, but the lease hadn’t been finalized at that time. The 4,000-square-foot restaurant at 7501 Leesburg Pike was officially announced last week.

Known for its seasonally rotating breakfast, brunch and lunch menus, which include items like avocado toast and lemon ricotta pancakes, First Watch is expected to open its Idylwood location in late summer 2024, according to public relations manager Hunter Carpenter.

The cafe will be open seven days a week from 7 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. for pickup, delivery and dine-in service. It will employ approximately 30 people.

First Watch can currently be found in Fairfax City, Chantilly and Bailey’s Crossroads, where it opened in 2021. Additional locations are slated to open this spring in Franconia’s Festival at Manchester Lakes and this summer in the former TGI Friday’s in Fair Lakes.

After finding success in Bailey’s Crossroads (5880 Crossroads Center Way), First Watch decided “it was about time to bring our experience closer to home for our neighbors further north,” Carpenter said.

“Though we may be relative newcomers to Fall Church, that doesn’t mean we’re strangers to Fairfax County,” Carpenter told FFXnow by email. “As we quickly approach two decades in the region, we look forward to expanding our presence not only in Falls Church but also in Fair Lakes and Franconia and inspiring a new morning routine for our customers with each new opening.”

Chicken Salad Chick makes way to D.C. area

Started in 2008 by Stacy Brown, a stay-at-home mother in Auburn, Alabama, Chicken Salad Chick announced last May that it had signed a development agreement with Devon Chamberlin and her family, who will open eight franchises in Fairfax and Arlington counties over the next five years.

The first franchise is slated to open at Idylwood Plaza this spring, according to Chicken Salad Chick Chief Marketing Officer Tom Carr.

An Arlington location is also planned. FFXnow’s sister site ARLnow previously reported that that site would open this spring, but Chick Salad Chick now says the Idylwood Plaza restaurant will be the first to open.

The 2,717-square-foot restaurant will be located at 7505 Leesburg Pike, Suite 120A, replacing Loyal Companion after the pet wellness chain shuttered all of its local shops last year, according to Federal Realty, the property manager for Idylwood Plaza.

Chicken Salad Chick sells Southern-style chicken salads made from scratch, sandwiches and pimento cheese. The company has 258 locations right now, including six in central and southern Virginia, but it has wanted to expand into new regions of the U.S., according to Carr.

“The demographics of Northern Virginia, generally, and Falls Church and adjacent areas specifically, make it well-suited for Chicken Salad Chick and its healthy menu options,” Carr said.

Noodles & Company has closed its doors in the Town of Vienna.

The fast-casual noodle chain had anchored the Vienna Marketplace shopping center at the corner of Maple Avenue and Park Street for nearly 20 years. Now, the windows at 201 Maple Avenue East have gone dark, the linguine-ladling storefront sign stripped down.

“We’re sorry to say, this Noodles location is permanently closed,” a flyer posted to the eatery’s door says. “We’ve thoroughly enjoyed serving you and appreciate all your support.”

The notice encourages customers to visit the company’s closest remaining location, which is in Idylwood Plaza at 7501 Leesburg Pike.

An employee at that location confirmed to FFXnow that the Vienna restaurant closed Wednesday, Jan. 24 due to the high rent. Press contacts for Noodles & Company and KLNB, the retail broker for Vienna Marketplace, didn’t immediately return requests for comment.

Noodles & Company had been in Vienna since at least 2007, the days of its earliest Yelp reviews, though one reviewer said they’d previously ordered from that location “years ago.” That makes the Vienna restaurant one of the brand’s first sites in the D.C. region after it arrived in Fairfax City in 2002 and began more rapidly expanding a decade later, according to the Washington Post.

In addition to Idylwood and Fairfax City, Noodles can still be found in Kingstowne, Mount Vernon, Chantilly, Fair Lakes, Herndon, Reston and Springfield. It has 26 Virginia locations.

Though it’s not clear yet what will replace Noodles & Company, The Burn reports that the vacated Cold Stone Creamery two doors down will be filled by the D.C. deli Call Your Mother — not Taïm Mediterranean Kitchen as previously confirmed.

According to The Burn, the deli “swooped in” to take over the 1,300-square-foot space after Taim’s deal “fell through.” FFXnow has reached out to both Taim and KLNB for confirmation.

Known for its bagels, Call Your Mother entered Northern Virginia last May when it launched a “Lil Deli” at Chesterbrook Shopping Center in McLean. The business is expected to move out of the mobile truck and into a permanent, brick-and-mortar location later this year.

Taim, a fast-casual Mediterranean eatery that originated in New York City, opened restaurants in Pimmit Hills last July and at Plaza America in Reston on Dec. 5.

Remaining tenants in Vienna Marketplace include Crumbl Cookies, South Block, Chipotle, AT&T and Lacrosse Unlimited.

Old Keene Mill Shopping Center is marshaling a new grocery store, multiple restaurants and other retailers to fill the void left behind by Whole Foods.

The space filled by the grocer until it opened a bigger store last October just down the road in Springfield Plaza is being subdivided into six different suites, and at least four of them have been leased, according to a site plan from property owner Federal Realty.

The confirmed newcomers will be McAlister’s Deli, Crimson Coward Chicken, Zips Dry Cleaner and European Wax Center, all opening in early 2025, a Federal Realty spokesperson says.

A chain started in 1989 by a dentist in Oxford, Mississippi, McAlister’s will open a 2,925-square-foot restaurant near the Rolling Road entrance to the West Springfield shopping center (8424 Old Keene Mill Road).

The deli serves sandwiches, salads, soups, giant spuds (i.e. baked potatoes) and a specialty sweet tea. Its 500-plus locations include ones at University Mall near Fairfax City, Worldgate Centre in Herndon and Mount Vernon Plaza in Hybla Valley.

McKaye Darling, owner of the upcoming Old Keene Mill franchise, says the company is “thrilled” to expand to West Springfield.

“Our location choice was strategic, factoring in demographics, foot traffic, and neighboring restaurants in order to elevate the West Springfield food scene,” Darling said. “Our goal is to deliver the same top-notch quality and service found across all of our locations while seamlessly integrating with the West Springfield community.”

For Crimson Coward, a growing Nashville-style hot chicken chain that started in Los Angeles, California, this will be its first location in Fairfax County. The business landed on the East Coast on Jan. 9, 2023 with an opening in Woodbridge, and Stafford and Maryland restaurants are also apparently in the works, per its website.

It will occupy 1,449 square feet in a row facing Rolling Road with European Wax Center, a national hair removal company that will open a 1,200-square-foot suite, and Zips Dry Cleaner, which will have 1,397 square feet.

The bulk of the former Whole Foods space will be turned into a new, 17,186-square-foot store for “a national grocer,” Federal Realty says, but that grocer’s identity remains a bit of a mystery.

The Washington Business Journal reported in March 2023 that Trader Joe’s had executed a lease for the space, which was previously about 24,000 square feet in size. A Trader Joe’s employee told FFXnow last July that the grocer will relocate from its current location in Springfield Plaza to Old Keene Mill Shopping Center in another “year or so.”

However, when asked if the “national grocer” is Trader Joe’s, the Federal Realty spokesperson said only that details will be shared when they’re available.

On the western end of the shopping center, a Japanese restaurant called Kanji Sushi has leased 4,843 square feet adjacent to Planet Fitness. The eatery is projected to open in mid to late 2024.

“We welcome these merchants to the Springfield community,” Federal Realty Senior Vice President of Asset Management Deirdre Johnson said in a statement. “These new, innovative dining and service providers further cement Old Keene Mill Shopping Center as a popular shopping and dining destination for the Springfield and greater Fairfax County community.”

Panera Bread, a national bakery-cafe, is reportedly opening up a new location in Reston.

According to a report by The Burn, the restaurant has signed a lease for space in Halley Rise, the mixed-use development at the intersection of Reston Parkway and Sunrise Valley Drive near the Reston Town Center Metro station.

Panera Bread will take up a 3,500-square-foot corner spot near Wegmans, which opened last year at 11950 Hopper Street.

The company did not immediately return a comment request on when it plans to open up shop.

Panera Bread closed in Reston Town Center in 2019 at 1825 Discovery Street. At the time, the business announced it planned to reopen in Reston at a later point, but right now, its closest locations are in Herndon on Elden Street and at Worldgate Centre.

The cafe sells sandwiches, bakery items, pasta, soups, pizzas and other items.

Developed by Brookfield Properties, Halley Rise took over a 36-acre office park near the Metro station with plans for 3.5 million square feet of housing, retail, offices and open spaces. In addition to Wegman’s, completed elements include The Edmund apartments and an urban farm.

A pair of apartment towers called The Arbor at Halley Rise has been under construction since July 2022 and is expected to open in 2025. Panera will be on the ground floor of that complex, according to The Burn.

A new sushi experience is coming soon to Reston Town Center.

Kusshi Sushi will take up roughly 3,000 square feet of space at 11909 Democracy Drive. The news was first reported by The Burn.

The Reston location is set to open sometime in November, owner Wesley Yao told FFXnow.

“We were looking in the Sterling, Ashburn, Reston area and decided on Reston Town Center,” Yao said, adding that he looks forward to serving many sushi boats in Reston.

Another location is also slated to open in Rockville Town Center in Maryland.

The first Kusshi Ko opened at Pike 7 Plaza in Tysons in late 2022 as a smaller version of Kusshi, a sushi bar that launched in 2018 in North Bethesda. The larger, full-service restaurants can also be found in Arlington and downtown Silver Spring, and the team also owns Hanaro Sushi in Bethesda.

Kusshi Ko’s menu includes sushi rolls, sashimi, donburi and curry rice bowls, noodle dishes and tempura.