The food court at Tysons Corner Center has a new dining option for shoppers looking to chow down on some ‘za.
My Own Pizza opened a stall in the mall’s third-floor food court about three weeks ago, filling a vacant space next to California Tortilla. The new location is the first expansion for the business outside of its flagship restaurant at Federal Center Plaza (400 C Street SW) in D.C.
Specializing in New York-style pizza, the restaurant was inspired by the small family pizzerias and Italian cafes that owner Peter Tabibian grew up with, according to My Own Pizza’s website.
When talking about My Own Pizza, Tabibian emphasizes its use of “very high-quality ingredients” and an on-site brick oven, rather than a metal oven with a conveyer belt.
“Business is booming,” Tabibian told FFXnow. “This is as close as you can get to New York pizza. We’ve been getting a really good response.”
The menu includes cheese and pepperoni pizzas, along with specialty options like Hawaiian. Slices can be purchased on their own or in combos with a soft drink.
Tabibian and his business partner, Kevin Ejtemai, also own the Persian restaurant Maman Joon, which opened a Tysons Corner Center location in April.
Still to come for the pair is a Z-Burger in Vienna. The burger and milkshake joint will be located at 541 Maple Avenue West in a former Pizza Hut.
Ejtemai says the team has been “working diligently” to open the new location, which will be Z-Burger’s fourth in Virginia after additions in McLean, Alexandria and Arlington. The permitting process has been a challenge, in part because they need to deal with both Fairfax County and the Town of Vienna, but he estimates the restaurant could be ready to open in about 30 days.
A Restonian is changing how pizza is made with a new Iron Dome Pizza Oven.
Mike Pilon, who has lived in Reston since 2007, has created an oven that he says transforms the way fresh pizza is made.
The dome is a portable pizza oven that uses two independent heat sources — a bottom baking steel and steel plate inside a carbon steel dome.
Pilon says he was inspired to create a product without the cost and hassles linked with traditional pizza ovens.
“My goal was to create a product that makes the art of pizza-making accessible to everyone , and I believe the Iron Dome Pizza does just that,” Pilon said.
According to Pilon, the dome can bake pizzas in under 90 seconds, heating up to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit during that process.
Pilon’s traditional profession is far from the world of pizza-making. He has more than 15 years of experience in the management consulting industry and currently offers consulting services to PasteGroup LLC in support of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Pilon says he has been in and out of entrepreneurship throughout his career. He previously launched MapMuse.com, which provides interactive mapping services to real estate and destination marketing companies. He then created a general mapping website. The venture shut down in 2019.
He says he came up with the idea for the Iron Dome after heating a piece of metal with a high heat capacity to a high temperature and then allowing the heat to be released in a controlled way.
“I love to cook, and one day, while waiting for a pot of water for pasta to boil, I thought about how much energy is wasted through heat loss above the lid. I investigated and prototyped some ‘pot-toppers,'” Pilon said. “But even though there was some time/energy savings, I didn’t think it would interest many people. However, it led me to the idea of the Iron Dome Pizza Oven.”
The device is compatible with gas stoves, electric burners and outdoor cooking set ups.
So far, Pilon has been selling pizzas using the Iron Dome Pizza Oven on Wednesday afternoons at the FreshFarm Market in the St. John Neumann Catholic Church parking lot (11900 Lawyers Road). They’ve been selling out each week.
The patent for the pizza-making oven is pending, Pilon said. It’s available for purchase via Etsy for around $120.
Pupatella, a Neapolitan pizzeria with roots in Arlington, is slated to open another location in Fairfax County later this year.
The pizza restaurant will open at Chantilly Plaza (13619 Lee Jackson Memorial Highway) by the winter of this year, according to a company spokesperson. The opening could come as early as this fall, but an exact date is not yet known.
Pupatella managing partner Michael Berger says he looks forward to bringing a taste of Italy to the company’s new neighbors.
“Chantilly is a thriving and dynamic community with an amazing group of neighbors and businesses,” Berger said. “In fact, when we started searching for our next location, our research revealed that many of our current fans reside there. The new Chantilly location also partners very well with our existing pizzerias nearby in Leesburg and Reston.”
The restaurant originated as a food truck in 2007 after owners Enzo Algarme and Anastasiya Laufenberg were inspired by a visit to Algarme’s parents in Naples, Italy. It opened its first brick-and-mortar location in Ballston in 2010.
Since then, the company has opened several other locations, including ones in Springfield and the Mosaic District in Merrifield. A Capitol Hill location is coming this summer, along with two other locations in the next two years.
Items on the menu include Napoli street snacks, red pizzas, white pizzas, and salads.
Maman Joon, a Persian restaurant originally based in D.C., is now open at Tysons Corner Center.
Opened during the first week of April, the eatery is located at 8048 Tysons Corner Center on the mall’s second level next to the Pakistani cafe Cha Tea House, replacing the permanently closed Cava.
It joins a growing collection of tenants at the mall catering to the D.C. region’s robust and diverse Arab and Middle Eastern population, including the restaurant Istanbul Kitchen and the Saudi-inspired coffee shop Shotted.
“I think Tysons Corner mall is one of the best malls in the country,” Maman Joon co-owner Peter Tabibian said. “…We know there’s a lot of Persian community and a lot of people from Qatar, Saudi and Middle Eastern countries in that area. We thought there was a void for a Persian [or] Middle Eastern concept, and we thought it would be a great fit to put Maman Joon out there.”
Maman Joon’s expansion to Tysons follows what Tabibian says has been a successful opening in McLean, where the business is co-located with Z-Burger — another concept created by Tabibian and his business partner, McLean resident Kevin Ejtemai.
The paired restaurants opened at 1408 Chain Bridge Road over the summer, becoming the team’s first Virginia locations for both brands. Z-Burger also entered Alexandria’s West End in February.
Both restaurants are distinguished by fresh, quality ingredients and the care put into cooking each meal, Tabibian says. At Maman Joon, all of the meat is certified halal from Lorton-based Washington Lamb, and the chicken kabob, for instance, is marinated for about 38 hours.
“It’s really working out, because some kids come and get a burger and their parents get a kabob, and then vice versa and it’s just been excellent,” he said. “We could not ask for a better combination and a better location. It’s been wonderful.”
At roughly 2,500 square feet, the Tysons Maman Joon is smaller than the one in McLean, which shares about 4,000 square feet with Z-Burger, so the menu has been trimmed down. In addition to kabobs, the restaurant sells soups, salads, wraps and vegetarian rice dishes.
While Tysons Corner Center isn’t getting a Z-Burger, the food court is slated to fill a long-vacant space next to California Tortilla with My Own Pizza, a New York-style pizzeria at Federal Center Plaza in D.C. also run by Tabibian and Ejtemai.
Like at the original location, the pizza will be made on-site in a brick oven. No changes are expected to the menu, which also features calzones and salads.
The stall is about three weeks away from opening, Tabibian estimated, suggesting it could be ready in time for the summer.
“That’s going to be kind of a plus for us, being next to the movie theater,” he said. “It’s going to be in and out basically. Pizzas are really like, if you’re in a rush, you can get it out quickly. I visited most of the places in New York that sell pizzas, and I have talked to the people that have been making pizzas for 30, 40, 50 years, so I got a lot of secrets on how to make the best pizza. So, I think people are going to be out for a treat.”
Marco’s Pizza — a pizza chain that has 1,100 stores across the country and the Bahamas — is expected to add a location in the Reston and Herndon area next year.
In an announcement on Wednesday (Dec. 14), the company said it plans to open nine total stores in Virginia.
First in line was a location at 46515 Harry Byrd Highway in Sterling, which recently opened. In addition to that site, franchisee Michael Ghanem is in the early stages of selecting locations in Herndon, Reston, Leesburg, Arlington, Alexandra and Mount Vernon.
“When we began our search for viable franchise opportunities, we were looking for one key factor in particular — the potential for growth,” Ghanem said. “Marco’s growth journey has been nothing short of remarkable and seeing the untapped potential in Northern Virginia, we knew it was an opportune time to join the brand and grow our portfolio.”
The company did not respond to a request for comment on the exact location of the Reston store by press time. It’s expected to open in the first quarter of 2023.
Headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, the business was founded by Italian-born Pasquale Giammarco in 1978. Items on the menu include pizzas, pizza bowls, subs, and salads.
(Updated at 10:40 a.m.) Pupatella Neopolitan Pizza is officially serving up its signature Neopolitan pizza in Springfield.
The Arlington-based business opened at the Old Keene Mill Shopping Center at 8434 Old Keene Mill Road yesterday (Tuesday), according to Pupatella Chief Operating Officer and partner Michael Berger. (Correction: This article previously said the business was in Springfield Plaza.)
“We will open with limited hours for the first few days,” Berger told FFXnow.
This week’s hours run from noon to 3 p.m. and between 5 and 9 p.m. through tomorrow (Thursday). After that, the restaurant will have regular hours from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
With a full round of funding, the business has been rapidly expanding in the area, most recently with a location at the Mosaic District in Merrifield. The pizza eatery has other locations in Richmond, Dupont Circle, and Arlington. A location in D.C. is planned at 301 Massachusetts Avenue and in Leesburg at 50 East Market Street.
Reston welcomed a new Pupatella in 2020, replacing an iconic Pizza Hut in the area.
In what used to be storage space for Aslin Beer and Co.’s, a new scratch kitchen concept developed by Aslin’s co-founders is brewing.
IZZI — a restaurant that offers coffee, baked goods and pizza — is an extension of Aslin in the Town of Herndon. It’s officially a rebrand of the concept that first launched in Alexandria.
“All of the spots around town are chain, or are missing the thing that would make them a die-hard spot for people to go to,” said Lisa D’Aromando, Aslin’s marketing director.
Located at 771 Elden Street, the business takes its name from a small bar that co-founder Kai Leszkowics’ parents grew up going to in Boyertown, Pennsylvania. The concept is now called Iezzi’s on 3rd.
“We love being a part of the community, especially in Herndon. It’s where we started, so it’s in our DNA. IZZI is that family joint we gravitate towards. We want everyone to come hang out and enjoy the day here,” D’Aromando told FFXnow.
Customers can order items from IZZI’s menu to enjoy in the taproom or the restaurant space. The menu includes specialty pizzas, sandwiches, salads, and shareable appetizers.
Customers can also enjoy the Aslin Coffee bar in the same space, which launched this year.
The concept officially opened over the summer, and the space can fit 120 people. It’s managed by Chef Taylor Gates, who is known for his fermented pizza dough.
(Updated on 8/17/2022) Pupatella Neopolitan Pizza is preparing to bring its signature Neopolitan pizza to Springfield.
The Arlington-based business plans to open up shop at Old Keene Mill Shopping Center, at 8434 Old Keene Mill Road, according to county permits.
The Springfield location is one of several that Pupatella has in the works. A Mosaic District site is gearing up for a grand opening in the coming days, and two other locations are also planned in the region, with one deal close to being sealed in Chantilly, a company spokesperson tells FFXnow.
Reston welcomed a new Pupatella in 2020, replacing an iconic Pizza Hut in the area.
So far, the Mosaic location at 2980 District Avenue has temporary hours of noon to 3 p.m. and 5-9 p.m. every day. Cleaning is conducted between 3:30 and 4 p.m., according to the company’s website.
The pizza eatery has other locations in Richmond, one in Dupont Circle, and two in Arlington. A location in D.C. is planned at 301 Massachusetts Avenue and in Leesburg at 50 East Market Street.
