A Del Ray restaurant is planning on expanding its footprint with a 750-square foot patio addition.
Noe Landini, owner of Junction Bakery & Bistro (1508 Mount Vernon Avenue), wants to build on the northern end of the restaurant on a repurposed area of the parking lot used for outdoor seating the last several years.
Landini is asking the Planning Commission on March 5 to approve his request to increase the restaurant’s floor area ratio.
“Unlike other locations, the sun impacts that particular side of the building, which is the north side, all day,” Landini wrote in his application. “It is extremely uncomfortable and excruciatingly hot for local customers and neighbors in some parts of the spring, summer and fall. A canopy with fans would provide comfort to our guests.”
Landini wrote that the addition will also provide lighting to guests at night.
“(W)e will actually be able to see in the evening, which will enhance our guests’ dinner experience and safety,” Landini wrote.
via City of Alexandria
(Updated 1/9) A set of Complete Streets changes for Mount Vernon Avenue through Arlandria is headed through city review starting later this spring.
The City of Alexandria released a set of ‘preferred alternatives’ for changes to several Mount Vernon intersections. One of the biggest changes will be to the intersection with Glebe Road.
The staff report says the angle of the current intersection encourages drivers to take fast turns and multiple people have been killed walking on those intersections.
The preferred alternative is a roundabout with an odd, elongated shape meant to suit the intersection better.
The roundabout aims to reduce vehicle speeds and reduce the opportunity for crashes, with large pedestrian refuge areas installed at every crossing.
North of the Glebe Road intersection, twelve parking spaces would be removed at the intersection with Russell Road to make way for curb extensions and green space, with a bus shelter on the east side of Mount Vernon Avenue.
Smaller curb extensions would also be installed at the intersections of Four Miles Road and Executive Avenue with Mount Vernon Avenue.
The proposals were scheduled to go to the Traffic and Parking Board for a public hearing on Monday, Jan. 22, but the city said in a release that the consideration was deferred to an unspecified date this spring.
Jafaar Ouardi says his shave ice is like eating fluffy snow.
After launching Le Petit Ananas Hawaiian Shaved Ice two years ago in Fairfax County, Ouardi recently got City Council approval to set up shop in the alleyway outside Bagel Uprising at 2307 A Mount Vernon Avenue. He’s planning on reopening at the new location in March and staying open until November.
“This is like the shaved ice you find in New Orleans,” Ouardi said. “It’s really slushy and fluffy, like snow. It’s so good.”
There’s 14 flavors, including root beer, cherry, cotton candy, mango and pineapple, and the product uses 100% cane sugar from a Hawaiian distributor. Toppings include condensed milk, mochi and fruit purees.
The 12-foot-by-six-foot shave ice trailer will replace the existing tables that were previously used for outdoor dining, according to a city staff report.
A native of Fes, Morocco, Ouardi is also a DJ and IT consultant. He says that if the business is a success that he wants to be open year-round. He was first introduced to Del Ray when he sold shave ice from his trailer at last summer’s Band’s & Brews Bar Crawl.
“It’s going to be good,” Ouardi said. “If I get support from the community, I’ll think about adding things to the menu, like Moroccan hot tea, baklava and Acai bowls.”
A Festivus for the rest of us is coming back to Del Ray this Saturday night.
The secular celebration that started in the 1990s sitcom Seinfeld will be celebrated on Saturday, Jan. 6, at the Joy on the Avenue pop-up at 2312 Mount Vernon Avenue.
It’s the second year in a row that Bill Blackburn and “Mango” Mike Anderson have celebrated Festivus (traditionally held Dec. 23) as an end to the holiday season, and as a way to say goodbye to the holiday pop-up.
“Grievances will be aired,” Blackburn told ALXnow. “We’re ready with a Festivus pole and more.”
On Seinfeld, the character of Frank Costanza (Jerry Stiller) detailed the holiday to Cosmo Kramer (Michael Richards).
“Many Christmases ago, I went to buy a doll for my son,” Costanza said. “I reached for the last one they had, but so did another man. As I rained blows on him I realized there had to be another way… Out of that a new holiday was formed.”
The party will run from 5 p.m. to midnight, and includes:
- The Festivus pole — A plain aluminum pole (bought at Home Depot — they’re next to the Christmas trees) without decoration will mark the occasion
- The airing of grievances — Customers can write their grievances on slips of paper, and the best will be aired on Homegrown Restaurant Group’s social media pages next week
- Feats of strength — Customers can challenge any bartender to an arm wrestling match, and winners get a free Jello shooter (limited to one per customer)
Blackburn and Anderson plan to reopen the pop-up with a new concept before the end of the month.
A local hardware store in Del Ray that was in danger of closing just got saved by an Alexandria realtor.
Jay Portlance bought Executive Lock and Key Service from Chris Harvey just before Christmas for $150,000 and reopened it as Del Ray Hardware on New Year’s Day. The store at 2003 Mount Vernon Avenue first opened in the mid-1990s, and the former owner told us in October that he was going to close the business unless he found a buyer by the end of the year.
‘We don’t need another restaurant and clothing store,” Portlance said. “This is primo real estate right here. Part of my objective was to protect it, and the only way I can ensure that was by buying it.”
Portlance says he contacted Harvey in November and closed on the deal on Dec. 22. Between then and the day the store reopened, Portlance and his small staff worked 15 hour days cleaning and reorganizing. They ended up freeing up about 450-square-feet of new space, Portlance said.
Portlance wants to add plants and potentially a garden center.
Gary Harvey managed the sale and said that his brother is getting used to a new routine of working as a locksmith from his garage.
“It worked out real well,” Gary Harvey said. “Sure, it hurts when you get rid of something. My brother was there for nearly 30 years. It was a part of his life and it takes a little while to get over that.”
A D.C. native, Portlance has been a realtor for nearly a decade. He got to know Chris Harvey over the last several years while renovating his house in Warwick Village.
“He knew every single time I had a flooded basement or electrocuted myself,” Portlance said.
Portlance spoke to customers during the interview, and said he is in it for the “long haul.”
“I’ll be here as long as the neighborhood wants me,” he told us.
Just then, George Brown, the owner of Probuilders LLC, who was in the ship looking to buy a very particular screw to fix an old cabinet drawer, said: “Well, the neighborhood is going to want you, buddy. I’m going to be here all the time.”
Swung by Del Ray Hardware on Mount Vernon Avenue for a New Year’s browsing visit.
They’re back and they still have absolutely everything you possibly could ever need! pic.twitter.com/dkOSsPOEJu
— Justin Wilson (@justindotnet) January 1, 2024
In case you missed it, the lighting of the Del Ray Christmas tree and menorah was packed last night.
The evening was full of families and friends caroling with hot chocolate with marshmallows.
Former Alexandria Mayor Bill Euille made the countdown to light the 32-foot-tall tree at Pat Miller Neighborhood Square, along with Santa Claus, Kate Moran of the Rainbow Rock Band and members of the City Council. Santa Claus was escorted to the event by the Alexandria Sheriff’s Office.
The holiday season is underway in Del Ray.
Now THAT is a good looking tree! pic.twitter.com/sGbVWyNnQm
— Justin Wilson (@justindotnet) December 3, 2023
Are you ready for it?
5…4…3…2…1
The Del Ray Christmas Tree is officially lit! 🎄 pic.twitter.com/PAOPRnEKPK
— Alyia Gaskins (@Alyia4ALX) December 4, 2023
Get your ballet slippers ready, because a new dance school is soon opening in Del Ray.
Dance Academy of Virginia recently erected a temporary sign and started advertising ballet, point, contemporary, jazz, lyrical, hip-hop, tap and musical theater classes in advance of their January 6 opening at 2402 Mount Vernon Avenue, the former home of Yoga In Daily Life.
The business was founded in McLean during the height of the pandemic in mid-2020, and owner Katherine Horrigan just bought the 4,900-square-foot building in Del Ray. The details of the purchase are not yet publicly available on the city website, but the building was for sale for $2 million.
“This is now our home now,” Horrigan said. “Getting an opportunity to buy this facility and say that we now have dance here and any art programming that may we may pursue in the future is an honor.”
While all ages are welcome, the school focuses on teaching kids.
“Dance is a tool to learn how to learn a lot of things in life,” Horrigan said. “It’s going to be uncomfortable, it’s going to be hard. You’re not always going to want to do it. You’re going to put in literal sweat and a time commitment, but it’s putting in those reps that you actually start to build off of and build a skill. When you have that skill, you can do so much with it.”
Horrigan, who is also an adjunct professor of dance at George Mason University, has a bachelor’s degree in dance from Fordham University and a master’s degree in arts management from George Mason University. After graduating from Fordham, she embarked on a decade-long dance career with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Knee injuries prompted her retirement, after which she started teaching at GMU and became the director of the Adagio Ballet School of Dance in Arlington.
The pandemic upended the dancing business, providing Horrigan an opportunity to create her own school.
“Covid was an opportunity for me to open my own school because students were displaced,” she said. “I was able to bring dance teachers together and administrators and immediately bring the team together to build the company and we’ve just been growing ever since. We’re in our fourth year now and ready to expand into Del Ray.”
Horrigan said that the school acts as a second home for many of her students.
“Kids have their birthday parties together and they becomes friends,” she said. “They’ll have their school friends, but then they also have their dance friends.”
Dance Academy of Virginia dancers can be next seen at the Del Ray Christmas Tree and menorah lightings this Sunday at 6 p.m.
A portion of Mount Vernon Avenue in Arlandria is shut down after a crash involving the drivers of a car and a motorcycle.
Mount Vernon Avenue is closed from the Birchmere (3701 Mt Vernon Avenue) to The Waffle Shop (3864 Mt Vernon Avenue).
Scanner traffic indicated one motorcycle and one car were involved in the crash, two people involved in the crash may have been transported to hospitals.
Vernon Miles and James Cullum contributed to this story
Image via Google Maps
After a flurry of activity, the Del Ray Christmas tree is finally at home at Pat Miller Neighborhood Square.
The 32-foot-tall Fraser fir was lifted by a crane and installed on Tuesday afternoon. It’s the 13th straight year that Bill Blackburn of the Homegrown Restaurant Group selected and cut down the tree at the Naughty Pines Nursery in Maryland.
Blackburn, who owns the Christmas-themed Joy on the Avenue pop-up bar, picked the tree the day after Thanksgiving with his family. The tree is not as tall as the 40-foot-tall Christmas tree in front of City Hall in Old Town, and won’t have 40,000 lights, but Blackburn said that the neighborhood-feel of a real tree is better.
“It’s not perfectly shaped,” Blackburn said. “But it’s a real tree for kids and the community to enjoy.”
The Del Ray Christmas tree and menorah lightings are this Sunday at 6 p.m. The free event is held at Pat Miller Square (Mount Vernon and E. Oxford Avenues) and includes singing, hot chocolate, and visits from Santa and city leaders.
BMC Builder’s Choice provided the flatbed truck to and driver to haul the 30-foot-tall tree to Del Ray, and Mike Dameron of Windmill Hill donated his cherry picker crane to put it in place.
“I think the Del Ray Christmas tree is a good snapshot of the community and small businesses coming together,” Dameron said. “We’re getting no city funds to procure this and it’s a real tree.”
Pat Miller bought a new star this year for the treetop, and the tree will be decorated on Wednesday.
“We’ve always put red ribbon on top of the tree and everyone says we needed a star,” Miller said. “So Maureen Schweers and I went to a local store and right there staring in front of us was our star, so we got it. Now we have a star.”
Joy on the Avenue is officially open to the public in Del Ray.
The Christmas-themed pop-up bar at 2312 Mount Vernon Avenue softly opened on Tuesday night, just in time for the long holiday weekend.
Owner Bill Blackburn said that the restaurant bar is the most festively decorated of its kind in Alexandria.
“It’s the same formula with the pop-up that we’ve followed the last two holiday seasons,” Blackburn said. “We have a very creative cocktail menu with some familiar favorites, some new creations this year and some nibbles to spread some holiday cheer.”
The menu (in the photo gallery above) includes concoctions like “We Forgot Kevin!” with Tito’s vodka, St. Germaine, cranberry juice, lemon, bitters, jalapeno honey, syrup and ginger beer.
It took nearly two weeks to get the annual pop-up ready, since Blackburn and staff had to pack away all of the Halloween decorations from the bar’s previous iteration as Nightmare on the Avenue.
Blackburn said that Joy on the Avenue will stay up until the first week in January, when it will wrap with the annual Festivus party.
