A new bakery and cafe will open its doors in Reston Town Center next week, just missing Thanksgiving and Black Friday.
Tatte Bakery & Cafe is set to open on Wednesday, Nov. 29 at 11910 Market Street at 7 p.m. The date was first reported by The Burn.
The business, which has 10 locations in the area, sells breakfast items, tartines, quiches, soup, shakshuka, sandwiches and salads.
The company, which was started about 15 years ago by Boston pastry chef Tzurit Or, has a location in Clarendon that opened in 2021. Another location is anticipated in Old Town Alexandria.
When announcing that it had leased 3,750 square feet in Reston Town Center, Or told the Washington Business Journal that Tatte was eager to be in “the true core of Reston.”
The bakery is located near the town center’s renovated Mercury fountain and across the street from the pavilion, where an ice skating rink opened earlier this month. The annual Reston Holiday Parade will pass through Market Street this Friday (Nov. 24).
In December, Reston Town Center will add the wine-focused restaurant Sixty Vines, though an exact opening date hasn’t been announced yet.
The Reston Holiday Parade has been selected as one of the 20 best holiday parades in the U.S. — and it has a chance to join the top 10.
Set to return next Friday, Nov. 24, the annual Reston Town Center tradition is competing against such high-profile events as Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City and the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California, to be named one of the country’s 10 best holiday parades by USA Today’s 10Best, which provides travel and lifestyle advice.
The 2023 Readers’ Choice Award nominees were initially submitted by the expert panel and then narrowed down to 20 choices by the 10Best editors.
Public voting for the top 10 is currently underway. Voters must be at least 18 years old and can cast one vote per day until the poll concludes at noon on Nov. 29. The winners will be announced on Dec. 8.
Now in its 32nd year, the Reston Holiday Parade previously ranked at no. 8 in the USA Today 10Best poll in 2019, and it currently sits in that spot on the leaderboard for this year’s Best Holiday Parades ranking.
Starting at 11 a.m. on Market Street, the hour-long, half-mile parade features Santa and Mrs. Claus in a horse-drawn carriage, antique cars, dances and floats carried by guests. There will also be live entertainment, including the Herndon High School marching band.
The festivities will conclude at 6 p.m. with the Clauses lighting a tree on Market Street.
The parade also came in at no. 60 in a poll conducted in October by Mixbook, a photo book brand, on the country’s most cherished Thanksgiving traditions. Events were ranked based on celebrations that respondents most wanted to experience.
Philadelphia’s 6abc Dunkin’ Parade topped the list, followed by Detroit’s America’s Thanksgiving Parade. Missouri’s Thanks-for-Giving Parade came in third.
“As we embrace these cherished Thanksgiving events, we’re not just celebrating traditions, but also enjoying what makes each community across America so special,” Mixbook Director of Brand Leslie Albertson said.
The Peruvian ceviche gastrobar that arrived in Reston Town Center this summer has a grand opening celebration coming up, just in time for end-of-the-year festivities.
The grand opening for Pisco y Nazca Ceviche Gastrobar is expected to take place on Wednesday, Dec. 13 at 2:30 p.m.
The 6,240-square-foot restaurant features a bar that provides an open view of the kitchen. It is located at 1871 Explorer Street for lunch and dinner, along with brunch on Saturday and Sunday.
“We extend an invitation to the Reston community to savor the flavors of Peruvian cuisine, drawing inspiration from the world’s premier ceviche establishments, offering distinctive dishes and unique cocktails,” Pisco y Nazca Regional Manager Rosa Reyes said.
Here’s a sampler of highlights from the restaurant’s menu:
- CHEF’S SIGNATURE CEVICHE — corvina, shrimp, smoked jalapeño leche de tigre, sweet potato, choclo
- LOMO SALTADO — wok seared tenderloin, soy and oyster sauce, onions, tomato petals, jasmine rice, fries
- PESCADO CROCANTE — fresh whole fried fish, spicy Asian sauce, arroz chaufa blanco
- TACU SECO DE CORDERO — braised lamb shank, cilantro sauce, ají amarillo, salsa criolla
- ARROZ CON POLLO — Peruvian style chicken and rice, huancaina sauce, salsa criolla
- CAUSA SAMPLER — Crocante, tartare, pollo
Also found in D.C. and Florida, the restaurant says its name comes from a Peruvian saying — “Entre Pisco y Nazca” — that translates to “enjoyment of libations in a social setting.” Accordingly, the bar serves signature cocktails, such as a pisco spritz that blends the Peruvian grape brandy with Aperol, lemon juice and sparkling wine.
Hours of operation are 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Monday through Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Sunday. There are daily happy hours, and weekend brunches include build-your-own mimosas and a bottle of sparkling wine.
(Updated at 10:10 a.m. on 11/16/2023) A new ice cream destination will be up and running in Reston just as temperatures begin to climb next spring.
Ice Cream Jubilee is set to open in April, according to the company’s chief marketing officer Laura O’Shaughnessy. That keeps it on track with previous projections of an “early 2024” opening.
The business will be located at 11990 Market Street, Unit D. (A typo in the address has been corrected.)
“We have been searching for potential real estate for additional Ice Cream Jubilee scoop shops and love the community in Reston Town Center,” O’Shaughnessy told FFXnow. “Being right next to the park is a wonderful location too.”
The company, which started in 2014, has two locations in the District and one in Arlington. Its classic flavors include matcha green tea, banana bourbon caramel, cookies and cookie dough, and passionfruit guava sorbet. Other flavors like lemon bar, carrot cake, and extra virgin olive oil, are seasonal.
Permits for the Reston location are currently under review.
The ice cream shop joins Pitango Gelato and Ben & Jerry’s in the town center. Tatte Bakery & Cafe and the wine-centric restaurant Sixty Vines are slated to open soon.
Sixty Vines announced last week that its Reston location will open in December, but an exact date hasn’t been determined yet.
Photo via Ice Cream Jubilee/Facebook
More changes may be on the horizon for Reston’s Tephra Institute of Contemporary Art, following a brand and name change in recent years.
The institute — which was founded in 1974 as the Greater Reston Arts Center by local artists and residents — is actively fundraising for a new home in Reston as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.
“Armed with a clear vision of the type of space we will need to house Tephra ICA for the next 50 years, the funds we raise today will help us begin the design and procurement process when the site for that new home is identified,” Sofia Blom, Tephra’s senior manager of gallery and communications, told FFXnow by email.
The institute has launched a “Tephra ICA at 50” capital campaign to raise $300,000.
According to Blom, Tephra hasn’t determined what it will do with the current space in Reston Town Center once it moves to a new location. The existing facility at 12001 Market Street, Suite 103, is owned by the gallery and was secured 20 years ago through a condition, or proffer, from town center developer Boston Properties.
The current facility requires improvements like exterior signage to prominently identify the space, along with enhanced visibility, accessibility accommodations, and information technology and audio visual upgrades to accommodate digital, film and media artwork, according to Tephra.
“We have been creative in pushing our current facility beyond its limits to present the ambitious exhibitions and programs we have hosted the past several years,” Blom wrote. “But to reach remaining unfulfilled goals, we eventually will need a new and expanded facility that offers capacity/capability we cannot secure in our current space.”
In the long term, Tephra hopes to secure accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums, a national organization that provides resources and serves as an advocacy group for museums and their workers.
To achieve that milestone, Tephra ICA will need to get a centralized, 24-hour temperature and humidity control system, UV-filtered window systems and an automated light level system that Blom says are not possible in the current space.
The timeline of the project depends on the outcome of the fundraising campaign. Discussions are underway with developers on securing a possible new space.
“We are currently planting seeds and preparing for the future but we are several years away from moving into a new facility,” Blom said.
(Updated at noon) The last day of 2023 will be the last day of operations for Mon Ami Gabi in Reston.
The business is set to close on Dec. 31 after 15 years of business at Reston Town Center.
“We’ll be open for dine-in, carryout, and delivery until then,” the company said in a notice on its website. “We hope to make the most of these last few months with you.”
Led by Chef Jason Myle, the restaurant serves French bistro classics, including lunch dinner and weekend brunch.
The website says the Reston location at 11950 Democracy Drive will close because its lease is “expiring.” A company spokesperson declined to provide additional information on why the restaurant did not renew its lease.
“The French bistro has been a part of the Reston, VA community for 15 years and it has been a pleasure to serve all of our loyal guests,” the spokesperson wrote in a statement.
Mon Ami Gabi still has its original restaurant in Bethesda, Maryland, along with Chicago and Las Vegas locations. The business is part of Lettuce Entertain You Restaurants, whose other D.C. area brands include Wildfire in Tysons and Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak and Stone Crab in the District.
Boston Properties, which owns Reston Town Center, confirmed that Mon Ami Gabi’s lease is expiring and said it has “enjoyed our long-term partnership” with Lettuce Entertain You.
“An exciting new partnership and restaurant concept will be announced soon,” a Boston Properties spokesperson said.
Hat tip to @torpedostsunami. Photo via Mon Ami Gabi/Facebook
A restaurant with five dozen wines on tap is on track to fill the void left by Clyde’s of Reston before the end of this year.
Sixty Vines, a Texas-based concept that pitches itself as a “wine lover’s restaurant,” will open its first Virginia location in 11905 Market Street at Reston Town Center this December, though an exact launch date remains to be determined.
“We’re looking forward to opening our first location in Reston, especially so close to Virginia’s own wine country,” Sixty Vines CEO Jeff Carcara said in a press release. “With Sixty Vines’ pinkies down approach to wine culture, our new Reston location offers a wine country adventure nestled next to the Town Center pavilion.”
The 12,857-square-foot restaurant will feature indoor and outdoor seating with a full bar and a private events space. The space has been vacant since Clyde’s shuttered in May 2022 after 31 years at the town center.
The restaurant group behind Clyde’s is sticking around Reston with a new concept called Ebbitt House — a spin-off of D.C.’s seafood-focused Old Ebbitt Grill — coming to Reston Row near the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station.
Part of the restaurant group FB Society, Sixty Vines opened its first location in 2016 in Plano, Texas, according to the Washington Business Journal, which originally reported the Reston Town Center lease last summer.
The restaurant now has eight locations in Texas, Florida, Tennessee and North Carolina, but the Reston opening will kick off plans for a nationwide expansion, with four more sites anticipated next year, per the press release.
In addition to wine, Sixty Vines serves cocktails and beer. Its menu includes sandwiches, pasta, pizza, salads, and main courses of seafood and meat.
Here’s more on what to expect in Reston:
The inventive global menu celebrates seasonal flavors made with local, fresh ingredients. When stepping through the doors of Sixty Vines, guests can expect to be transported to wine country through a selection of reds, rosés, sparklings, and whites as sourced exclusively from iconic winemakers, along with a variety of cocktails and mocktails.
Sixty Vines prides itself on its innovative and sustainable approach to serving wine. Each keg holds 26 bottles and can be reused around 1,500 times over its refillable lifetime. This eco-friendly tap system not only reduces waste and protects the planet, but also offers the closest ‘from the barrel’ tasting experience for guests to discover the finest pours…
…Open for brunch, lunch, and dinner, the restaurant brings fresh, shared plates that perfectly pair with each glass. Featuring communal style dining, the experience is designed to take guests on a journey through food and drink as they taste and sip their way through seasonally sourced offerings. Highlights include custom charcuterie boards, fresh salads, wood-fired pizzas such as Fig and Prosciutto, Spicy Sausage, and Mushroom and Kale, homemade pasta dishes, and vibrant seafood entrées like Atlantic Salmon and Grilled Swordfish.
The restaurant will be open for lunch, dinner and Saturday and Sunday brunch.
(Updated at 1:45 p.m. on 11/3/2023) The Blue Ridge mountains are the focus of the latest exhibit at the Tephra Institute of Contemporary Art in Reston.
The exhibit “Metopic Ridge” by Eleanor Mahin Thorp, an artist and educator, features paintings of the mountains that explore stability and change.
An opening reception and artist talk is slated for Friday (Nov. 3) from 6-8 p.m. at Tephra ICA at Signature (11850 Freedom Drive). The exhibit ends on Feb. 4.
Here’s more from Tephra on the scope of the exhibit:
Through her discerning gaze rocks are more than geological entities; Instead, they metamorphose into vessels of history and human connection. Drawing inspiration from the fascinating transformations depicted in Persian miniatures, Thorp traces the hidden figures and forms in the rocks. Her paintings reveal the duality of rocks’ existence as both a firm witness to time and a medium for that which is intangible.
Thorp, who works in Richmond, approaches her work through the lense of Persian animism and constructs images of stone faces by searching for figures in rock. She received master’s degree in fine arts from Virginia Commonwealth University and is a 2023-2025 visual arts fellow with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
“It is often said that the world is built by the way you see things around you. Thorp’s painting asks us to contemplate the layers of reality that exist beyond the surface – the palpable, the invisible, and the divine,” said Sandy Cheng, 2023 ArtTable curatorial fellow at Tephra ICA and the exhibit’s curator.
The exhibit is being presented in partnership with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Visual Arts Fellowship program.
(Correction: There was no members-only preview for “Metopic Ridge” as initially stated in this article. The exhibit is free and open to the general public.)
The exhibit is located at Tephra’s satellite gallery in the Signature apartment building. Visitors are welcome Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
A new dine-in movie theater option debuts tomorrow (Thursday) in Reston Town Center.
LOOK Dine-In Cinema’s grand opening is slated for tomorrow at 11940 Market Street — the previous home of Bow Tie Cinemas, which shuttered more than a year ago.
James Meredith, LOOK’s CMO, told FFXnow that the theater’s dining experience sets it apart from other moviegoing options in the area.
“The new LOOK Dine-In Cinema in Reston offers an elevated dining experience where our made-to-order, chef inspired menu items and craft cocktails are delivered directly to your seat,” Meredith said. “Additionally, every auditorium offers luxury reclining chairs and crystal clear presentation.”
The 11-screen cinema is the company’s first in Virginia. It features luxury seating and dine-in mobile technology that allows guests to order from menus and craft beverages. Items are then delivered to the guest’s seat.
Items on the menu include chicken tenders, crispy wings, loaded mac and cheese, burgers, quesadillas and a honey sriracha salmon bowl.
Those features will help the theater maintain its competitiveness, Meredith said.
“Our guests are looking for a full-service experience that includes great food, their favorite cocktails, state-of-the-art presentation, comfort and variety. At LOOK, we are part of the community and offer favorite content for all of our guests,” he said.
Customers can order more items up to 30 minutes before the show ends.
“I couldn’t be more excited to bring LOOK Dine-In Cinemas to Reston Town Center,” CEO Brian Schultz said. “Our theater is a place for this great community to enjoy, laugh, cry, be inspired, and most importantly, come together. It’s not just about movies; it’s about creating memorable moments and a shared experience that unites us all.”
Tomorrow’s grand opening features only evening showtimes from 5-9 p.m. Movies will include Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla,” the horror flick “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” “PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie” and Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour concert film.
Clark Construction has officially topped out on the construction of Skymark Reston Town Center, which the company describes as the tallest mixed-use residential tower in the D.C. region.
Located at the corner of Town Center Parkway and Inspiration Street, the 40-story building will have 464 units when completed. It’s built on a podium with ground-floor retail, 44 loft-style residential units and 80,000 square feet of office space spread over four stories.
“Clark thrives on delivering the largest and most complex projects that push the boundaries of engineering and construction,” Terry Simon, Clark Construction Group division president, said. “We look forward to the completion of another successful collaboration with long-time partner BXP to deliver this superstructure.”
The company has completed construction of 1950 and 2000 Opportunity Way — the first two office buildings in the expansion of Reston Town Center.
“BXP is thrilled with the progress of this iconic landmark project in Reston,” said David Miller, senior vice president of construction at BXP.” This achievement is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the talented men and women who have worked tirelessly to get us to where we are today.”
SCB is the project architect. Construction on the apartment building is expected to wrap up in 2025, according to Clark Construction’s website.
