As the old saying goes: when one spa closes, another one opens.
While Windsor of Old Town is closing this month after 43 years in Alexandria, a new business called Spa180 Prestige has opened at 2813 Duke Street. The spa also has a large parking area on-site.
The spa owners told ALXnow the business opened last month but are running “grand opening” specials this month on massages and more.
The spa is offering grand opening specials throughout March, including:
- Swedish Massage with Hot Stone: $79 for one hour, $99 for 90 minutes
- Intro Glow Facial: exfoliating, hydrating and lifting facial massage: $89 for one hour
- Eyelash extension: $90
- Microblading/Ombre: $550
The spa also offers waxing, group spa-day bookings, body scrubs and more.
Image via Spa180 Prestige/Instagram
A new outdoor seating area at Union Sandwich Company (101 N. Union Street) could both alleviate overcrowding in the store and give visitors a new place to sit and enjoy Old Town.
The sandwich shop owner filed a special use permit with the City of Alexandria to add three tables with four seats each and some planters and rope to delineate the area.
“The entrance and order station are in close proximity to each other which creates a bottleneck when the store is busy,” the application said. “We think that by providing outside seating, we will relieve that bottleneck by allowing people to sit outside.”
The application also added: “It is also very nice to sit outside in Old Town.”
Photo via Andrew Wolfe/Facebook
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.
“If we get a couple more city approvals, I’m hoping to open in the next two-to-three weeks,” Abdel-Hay said.
La’Baik translated from Arabic means “at your service.”
Abdel-Hay, who lives with his family in Lorton, said that he’d been looking for the perfect location for six months. He signed a five-year lease with two options for extensions, and he said that the menu will include gyros, chicken, falafel, pita pockets, flatbread pizza and wraps.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he said. “Hopefully I’ll be there for 10-to-15 years.”
He also said that customers should be able to get their food within three minutes.
“It’s going to be exactly like an assembly line,” he said. “The lamb, chicken, beef and the falafels are going to be pre-made and it will be ready to serve.”
It will be the first solo restaurant for Abdel-Hay. His family owns the New York Grill in northwest D.C., and he worked in the family business for most of his life. Abdel-Hay took a break from restaurants for the last eight years, and is co-owner of an auto body shop and dealership in Fairfax County.
Abdel-Hay says that diners should expect so spend less than $20 per visit. He also wants the restaurant to be open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week.
He’s not remotely Irish, but Alexandria restaurant owner “Mango” Mike Anderson is the grand marshal of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Saturday.
A local celebrity of sorts, Anderson will lead the parade down King Street and to the reviewing stand on Royal Street in the heart of Old Town.
“I have been devoted to Alexandria for more than 50 years, not only as a homeowner but as a business owner,” Anderson said. “I hear there’s going to be 25,000 people there. It’s just terrific to have this kind of honor. I truly consider Alexandria to be my hometown.”
Turns out that this is the second consecutive parade where Anderson is the grand marshal, since he’s a Living Legend of Alexandria. All of the Living Legends were honorary parade marshals at the George Washington Birthday Parade earlier this month.
“Alexandria is the greatest,” Anderson said. “You’ve got history, proximity to the nation’s capital, and the great variety of people who live in the city. Almost everybody who lives in Alexandria is pretty passionate about it, which you can see at the city council meetings. This stuff creates a great community, and I also happen to be a proud member of this city’s restaurant community.”
Anderson is co-owner of the Homegrown Restaurant Group, which includes Pork Barrel BBQ, Holy Cow Del Ray, Del Ray’s pop-up bar, Whisky & Oyster, Sweet Fire Donna’s and Tequila & Taco. He moved to Alexandria in the early 1970s and opened his first restaurant, Irish-themed Shooter McGee’s in 1979. He later owned and operated the Caribbean-themed Mango Mike’s in the West End for nearly 20 years.
Bill Blackburn is Anderson’s partner, and said that he doesn’t like to do things small, or simply.
“One of Mike’s favorite sayings is, if you’re going to be a bear, be a grizzly,” Blackburn said. “I think he lives by those words. He doesn’t like to do anything small. From 30-foot-tall palm trees at Mango Mike’s to 30-foot tall Christmas trees in Del Ray, he’s always going bigger.”
Anderson, who is married to Donna (of Sweet Fire Donna’s), is known for creating outlandish spectacles, including scouting for the Del Ray Christmas tree by air (he’s a pilot and owns two small planes) and paying for it to get cut down, delivered and erected every year. His itch to open new restaurants is tempered, he says, by the seasonal transformations at the Del Ray pop-up bar. Right now it’s an Aspen-themed ski lodge with a gondola parked out front.
Few city events, however, are as spectacular as a parade, and Anderson said that he was always jealous of Pat Troy, the founder of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and owner of the now-closed Ireland’s Own bar in Old Town.
“I was always pretty jealous of Pat,” Anderson said. “He was able to put together this terrific parade that’s transcended him and has lasted 41 years. I’m just so pleased to be a part of it this year.”
The Ballyshaners announced Anderson as parade marshal in January.
Updated 2/27: Justin Marino, owner of Mason and Greens, reached out to ALXnow. Marino said:
We would like to thank the community, the City and all who have supported our small business over the years. We had a good run, and hope we introduced you to new items that are good for you and the planet, and different ways to live a cleaner and better life. We will miss our customers the most, the Mason & Greens family wishes you the best, and much success in your journey to a more sustainable future!
Zero waste boutique Mason and Greens (913 King Street) seemingly closed in Old Town earlier this month.
The store closed earlier this month with no public notice. Calls to the store went unanswered and the doors were locked at the store, with all the interior shelves emptied.
The shop opened in Old Town in 2020 with a focus on sustainable, zero-waste products, offering an eco-friendly alternative to other grocery stores.
The other Mason and Greens location in D.C. closed last October.
A picture of the sign in front of the store just before the closing was sent to ALXnow with notes attached to the board:
We’re abruptly closing and displacing all our employees just like the DC Store! Going out of business. Goodbye. Come and get what’s left! And let the employees know about current job openings! Thanks!
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.
In October, City Council approved additional outdoor dining at the restaurant. While evaluating that proposal, however, city staff discovered that a 21-square-foot internally illuminated sign had been erected in the alleyway between Evening Star and Planet Wine (2004 Mount Vernon Avenue).
“While evaluating SUP #2023-00060, staff noticed that the subject sign had been erected without permit approval,” city staff wrote in their report. “The applicant responded and submitted a building permit application.”
Evening Star and Planet Wine are owned by Neighborhood Restaurant Group, which also owns Vermilion (1120 King Street), Rustico (827 Slaters Lane), Josephine (109 S. St. Asaph Street), Buzz Bakeshop (901 Slaters Lane), and B Side in Fairfax.
City staff are recommending approval to Council. According to a staff report:
The existing sign does not negatively impact the nearby neighborhood. The location of the sign is adjacent to several commercial establishments and harmonizes in design and size with the existing signs on the block. Given that the sign is set back 36 feet from the property line, the minimal lighting would not cause driver distraction. Additionally, the sign is not detrimental to residential uses as the lighting faces only Mount Vernon Avenue and staff has received no complaints associated with the sign. Noise impacts are not relevant as the signage does not include sound.
City Council will conduct a public hearing on the matter on Feb. 24.
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.
“Our gondola doesn’t go to Arlington,” joked popup owner Bill Blackburn of the Homegrown Restaurant Group. “It doesn’t go anywhere, but it’s great for selfies.”
“Mango” Mike Anderson, who owns the popup with Blackburn, found the gondola for sale at HomeGoods in Potomac Yard.
The popup is located between HRG’s other Del Ray restaurants, Pork Barrel BBQ and Holy Cow. It was previously The Sushi Bar for eight years before closing at the end of 2021. Since then, the space has changed concepts as a popup every few months.
“We get to create new concepts and decorate new restaurants and brands without having to deal with the back-of-the-house regulatory, mundane stuff that comes with opening a new restaurant,” Blackburn said. “I think it keeps us fresh.”
The bar menu includes craft cocktails, like the ski lemon meringuetini, a concoction made from Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Meyer lemon, Grand Marnier, lemon curd, Simple and brulee meringue, which is toasted at the bar with a torch. There are 11 appetizers on food menu, the most filling of which is the chicken chili bread bowl — Pork Barrel BBQ’s white chicken chili served in a bread bowl.
The seasonal popup will be open until late March and will reopen as a new concept in early April, Blackburn said.
Aspen on the Avenue is open Sunday to Wednesday from 4 to 10 p.m. and Thursday to Saturday from 4 p.m. to midnight.
New pizza restaurant Benny Diforza’s (1504B Mount Vernon Avenue) has been popular since opening last week. The restaurant was well attended this weekend, and according to an application with the City of Alexandria, there could be more space for diners soon.
Benny Diforza’s is part of a Benny’s Pizza chain with locations across Virginia, the Carolinas, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wyoming.
The application said the restaurant is opening to add 8-10 seats out in front of the restaurant.
There’s currently limited seating (15 seats) inside the restaurant; where the kitchen fills most of the building.
The application also noted that the Benny Diforza’s could be selling beer and wine soon, pending an ABC permit.
Washingtonian recently included three Alexandria restaurants in their food critic’s list of 19 favorite pizzas right now.
Washingtonian’s Executive Food Editor Ann Limpert included in her list “Stracci Bianca” at Stracci Pizza (106 Hume Avenue), the vodka pizza at Emmy Squared (124 King Street) and the white clam Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana (3231 Duke Street).
According to the Washingtonian review of Stracci Pizza:
This Del Ray gem makes its own stracciatella cheese—hand-pulled mozzarella soaked in cream—and it’s best shown off on this Roman-style white pizza, simply accented with olive oil and flakes of Maldon salt.
According to the Washingtonian review of Emmy Squared, which also has two locations in D.C.:
The thick, soft, Detroit-style pizzas from this Brooklyn transfer can be a little…extra. This version is relatively straightforward—just sweet, creamy vodka sauce, basil, and pecorino. The sauce is also good on the Big Ang, which adds ricotta, Italian sausage, and banana peppers to the party.
According to the Washingtonian review of Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana:
I’ve lined up outside this century-old New Haven institution for its coal-fired sheet-pan pizza countless times. And now there is one at Westfield Montgomery Mall! And in Old Town! This particular pie—one of their most famous—is thin, crispy, garlicky as hell, and loaded with fresh clams.
Old Town Deli at 109 N. Washington Street will be joining the regional chain Capo Italian Deli sometime over the next month.
A special use permit was filed with the City of Alexandria to rebrand the deli as Capo Deli. The Alexandria location will be the second Capo Deli location in Virginia after one in Tysons.
The application said there will be few other changes at the site, just interior painting and new flooring/tiling.
The Capo Deli menu features a mix of cold and hot subs with a variety of Italian meats, along with salads, Italian pasta dishes and meatballs.
Old Town Deli owner Andrew Seligman told ALXnow the plan is to convert the restaurant to a Capo Deli at some point in the next 30 days or so, depending on when the special use permit is approved.
Photo via Capo Italian Deli/Facebook