Good Friday morning, Alexandria!
☀️ Today’s weather: Expect mostly sunny skies and a high of 54 degrees, accompanied by west winds at 7 to 17 mph and gusts up to 24 mph. As the evening approaches, the sky will remain mostly clear with temperatures dropping to around 37 degrees and a northwest wind of about 11 mph.
After nearly a year of extensive renovation and expansion, Piece Out Del Ray is reopening next month, it’s owner tells ALXnow.
The expansion from 2,700 to 4,600 square feet includes a large, center-focused bar area, a brand new dining room in what was previously a neighboring yoga studio, booths, dart boards and 21-and-up-only shuffleboard. A small area for outdoor seating is still being leveled and rails need to be put in place, but otherwise the restaurant was ready enough to open for a March Madness pop-up event on Wednesday night.
Warwick Village, a neighborhood at the northern end of Del Ray, is bringing back the Warwick Village Mega Yard Sale next month.
The sale is set to return on Saturday, April 13, from 8 a.m. to noon across the neighborhood’s 12 streets.
(Updated 9:20 p.m.) After a prolonged battle between a Del Ray homeowner and his neighbors over a proposed accessory dwelling unit (ADU) and a single-family home, Alexandria’s City Council struck the plans down in a meeting earlier this week.
The plan (docket item 11) was to create a two-story, single-unit ADU to 404 E. Alexandria Avenue along with a single-family home. The unit would be set off the main street on a vacant lot and accessible by a public alley.
A two-story, single-unit accessory dwelling unit (ADU) on a Del Ray alley is heading to the City Council with a mixed reception from the community and the Planning Commission.
The project is located on a vacant lot at 404 East Alexandria Avenue, surrounded by single-unit, semi-detached, townhouse and multi-unit residential properties.
The Del Ray House and Garden Tour is returning this May for the first time since the Covid pandemic hit.
The tour returns on Saturday, May 11, from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. and offers visitors an inside look at everything from lavish homes to accessory dwelling units.
Mediterranean restaurant La’Baik should open in the next several weeks in the former Rubia’s Tacos at 2309 Mount Vernon Avenue in Del Ray, its owner tells ALXnow.
Rubia’s, which was previously Stomping Ground for eight years, closed in January, and new restaurant owner Mohammad Abdel-Hay is keeping the interior and equipment and tables and chairs as-is, only changing the menu, staff and signage.
There’s a new hair salon in Del Ray and it’s named after a Taylor Swift song. Enchant Hair Co. opened at 2202 Mount Vernon Avenue in January, and it’s named after Swift’s song Enchanted.
“I love Taylor Swift,” owner Monica Frias told ALXnow. “She’s like a reflection of my personality.”
The Alexandria Police Department (APD) is investigating a sexual assault that occurred last night (Tuesday) in Del Ray.
Police said a woman was walking after midnight around Mount Vernon and Commonwealth Avenues when she was attacked and assaulted by a stranger.
After getting after-the-fact permission from City Council to use their outdoor smoker, Del Ray’s Hi/Fi Tex Mex BBQ is now asking after-the-fact for approval of their electric sign.
The restaurant opened in the backyard of Evening Star Cafe (2000 Mount Vernon Avenue) in 2022, and got after-the-fact permission from the City Council to operate their outdoor smoker grills, despite complaints from neighbors. Last December, Washington Post food critic Tim Carman labeled the restaurant as one of the top ten best casual restaurants in the region.
There’s nothing like numbing your aching body with a hot toddy after a long day on the slopes.
That’s the vibe that the owners of the Aspen on the Avenue popup (2312 Mount Vernon Avenue) have in mind. There’s a two-seat gondola parked outside the restaurant and bar greeting customers as they walk into a warm environment with a fake fireplace, a fake brick wall, lots of skis and two giant backlit photos of idyllic snowy scenes.
