Washington Post food critic Tim Carman cited Del Ray’s Hi/Fi Tex-Mex BBQ (2000 Mount Vernon Avenue) as one of the top ten best casual restaurants in the region.
The restaurant opened in the backyard of Del Ray’s Evening Star Cafe earlier this year. The restaurant later got after-the-fact permission from the City Council to use outdoor smoker grills despite complaints from neighbors.
According to Carman:
The barbecue that [Nathan Anda] and Marvin “Grande” Rivera produce already has identifiable signatures, such as the four-chile rub used for the spare ribs and chopped pork, making for flavor profiles that straddle the increasingly porous border between Tex-Mex and Central Texas barbecue. The barbecue can be ordered as part of a Tex-Mex platter, with housemade flour tortillas, smoked crema and pico de gallo. It can also be ordered by the pound. Most times, I’m going with the latter: I want little to come between me and the terrific barbecue at Hi/Fi.
The restaurant features a variety of Tex-Mex meals, from sandwiches and tacos to full BBQ platters.
Image via Hi/Fi Tex-Mex BBQ/Facebook
Alexandria restaurant Thompson Italian, which also has a location in Falls Church, was voted as the second-best restaurant in Virginia by Washingtonian readers.
Thompson Italian took over 1024 King Street in 2022, formerly Hank’s Oyster Bar. The restaurant features a variety of dishes, from squid ink bucatini to crispy brussel sprouts.
“The newer Old Town location serves carefully crafted pastas, like the Falls Church original, but adds brunch and an attention-getting cacio e pepe gimlet,” Washingtonian wrote.
Thompson Italian beat out classic regional favorites, like three-Michelin-star restaurant The Inn at Little Washington, but couldn’t top Ruthie’s All Day in Arlington.
Andy’s Pizza, which has a location in Old Town, also got a slice of the action as the number one favorite pizza spot.
Image via Thompson Italian/Facebook
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.
Royal Restaurant, now under new ownership, is the latest Alexandria restaurant to seek permission to swap out some of its parking space for more outdoor seating.
The restaurant is hoping to trade 10 parking spaces for 60 outdoor seats. Another 30 seats will be added to an alley on the west side of the building.
The proposal would add an elevated deck outside the building on part of the parking lot.
Royal Restaurant isn’t the first to trade parking space for outdoor seating, several restaurants have turned parking areas into outdoor seating.
Outdoor seating took off in Alexandria during Covid, and the city has been working to make it easier for restaurants to make temporary outdoor seating permanent.
Reception to the change was mixed in the comments and on social media.
“Glad the restaurant is ‘evolving’,” one commenter said. “However I loved the small-town neighborhood feel of the restaurant… The parking really helped us. My parents are in their 80s and look forward to going to Royals. The changes will be hard for them.”
“How unfortunate,” a commenter on Facebook said, “parking was a major perk at the Royal since street parking options are limited.”
But others said the trade-off was a “no-brainer” and noted that there’s often ample street parking on N. St. Asaph Street and nearby streets.
“An additional 90 seats for paying customers at the expense of only a few parking spaces is a no-brainer,” one commenter said.
Image via Google Maps
Royal Restaurant (730 N. St Asaph Street) in Old Town North could swap some parking spots for 90 new outdoor seats.
In an application filed to the City of Alexandria, applicant ARP Royal OPCO LLC said the plan is to convert 10 parking spaces to the west and south of the building into 60 outdoor seats, with another 30 added to an alley on the west side of the building.
“The outdoor seating would be constructed on an elevated deck to maintain the existing surface water drainage pattern,” the staff report said. “A note on the proposed site plan indicates that a five-by-five portion of the decking will be removable to access the drain for maintenance.”
While some restaurants have had a contentious outdoor seating process, the staff report fully supports the application. According to the report:
Staff supports the request to add 90 outdoor seats to the existing restaurant. The indoor restaurant has operated successfully as a neighborhood meeting spot since 1950, and the addition of outdoor dining would enhance the business’s favorable position within the neighborhood. The new business owner, the applicant, has operated the business no violations.
The application is headed to review at the City Council meeting on Saturday, Nov. 18.
Image via Google Maps
The Nightmare on the Avenue is over, so to speak.
The seasonal pop-up bar Nightmare on the Avenue closed after nearly two months of serving Halloween-inspired cocktails and food. Now the team from the Homegrown Restaurant Group will spend the next few weeks transforming the space into the Christmas-themed “Joy On The Avenue.”
“We are pleased to bring the third installment of Joy on the Avenue back to Del Ray, and exited to start spreading cheer sometime around Thanksgiving,” HRG owner Bill Blackburn told ALXnow.
The pop-up is located between HRG’s other Del Ray restaurants Pork Barrel BBQ and Holy Cow Del Ray on Mount Vernon Avenue.
The holiday concept will stay up until New Year’s, and will be transformed for the winter and spring.
The owner of a number of coffee shops in and around Alexandria just got into the pizza business.
Last month, Nga Ho submitted paperwork with the city requesting a change in ownership after buying RedRocks Old Town (904 King Street) from Firebrick Food Group, Inc., which opened the 2,400-square-foot, 98-seat restaurant in 2009.
Staff at RedRocks Old Town say that the restaurant will continue as-is, just under new ownership.
Ho also owns four Java Loco & Bubble Tea locations in the area, one of which is in Alexandria (289 S. Van Dorn Street), as well as Ocha Tea in Annandale.
Firebrick Food Group still owns its Columbia Heights location in D.C.
The details of the sale were not publicly disclosed. ALXnow has reached out to the new owner for comment.
Good Thursday morning, Alexandria!
☀️ Today’s weather: Frost will clear by 10 a.m., making way for a sunny day with a high near 51. A northwest wind will shift to a westerly direction at approximately 6 mph in the afternoon. The night will be clear, with temperatures dropping to around 34 and a south wind at 5 mph.
🚨 You need to know
Dog-friendly bar Barkhaus (529 E. Howell Avenue) has been a lone wolf since opening just off Route 1 in 2020, but the Washington Business Journal reported the restaurant is joining the Bark Social pack.
Bark Social is a budding chain with three locations across Bethesda, Baltimore and Philadelphia. Barkhaus will be converted to the fourth Bark Social, with more planned in Maryland and California.
Washington Business Journal said that while Barkhaus will rebrand as Bark Social and gain some of that chain’s services, Barkhaus’ full kitchen will remain in place and possibly be added to other Bark Social locations.
The change is planned to happen over time, the Washington Business Journal reported, rather than an abrupt overnight rebranding.
Photo via Barkhaus/Facebook
📈 Wednesday’s most read
The following are the most-read ALXnow articles for Nov 1, 2023.
- UPDATED: Alexandria City High School students dismissed early due to possible bomb threat (6930 views)
- Alexandria man allegedly beaten, robbed and forced to strip naked at knifepoint in West End (6075 views)
- Former manager of Hanks Oyster Bar in Old Town pleads guilty to embezzling $680K (4420 views)
🗞 Other local coverage
- November 2023
Alexandria Times (Wednesday @ 4:23 pm)
- Alexandria Fall Festival Returns In 2023 At River Farm
Patch (Wednesday @ 4:15 pm)
- Bomb Threat Investigated At Alexandria City High School
Patch (Wednesday @ 12:31 pm)
- Virginia is 4th Likely State to Go Cashless First According to Survey
Zebra (Wednesday @ 10:25 am)
- Children, Seniors Share Halloween Fun At Retirement Community
Patch (Wednesday @ 9:43 am)
- SIGN UP: Accupuncturists Without Borders Offering Free Community Healing Event November 10
Zebra (Wednesday @ 8:56 am)
📅 Upcoming events
Here is what’s going on today in Alexandria, from our event calendar.
The former manager of Hank’s Oyster Bar faces years in prison after pleading guilty to embezzling $680,000 from the restaurant.
Claude Ibrahim, 53, pleaded guilty in the Alexandria Circuit Court to nine counts of felony embezzlement and eight counts of misdemeanor embezzlement.
Ibrahim, who was released on bond, was indicted in May on 17 counts of felony embezzlement after creating “biographical and deposit information for five fictitious employees at Hank’s Oyster Bar and submitted biweekly timesheets for them while receiving their pay,” according to Commonwealth’s Attorney Bryan Porter.
Porter continued, “The first false employee account was set up in June 2014 and the embezzlement scheme continued until the Defendant’s termination in November 2022. When confronted about the false employees, the Defendant admitted her actions.”
Ibrahim will be sentenced on March 21, 2024, and faces a maximum of up to 20 years for each felony embezzlement count, and a maximum of one year per count of misdemeanor embezzlement. The maximum penalty for all of the counts combined is 188 years in prison.
Image via Hank’s Oyster Bar/Facebook
While most of Washingtonian’s Best Brunch Spots in the region are on the wrong side of the Potomac, one Alexandria location made the cut.
Matt & Tony’s All Day Kitchen + Bar (1501 Mount Vernon Avenue) is the sole Alexandria location on the list, which lauds its dog-friendly patio and upscale versions of brunch classics.
According to Washingtonian:
This family-friendly Del Ray joint with a dog-friendly patio offers slightly cheffed-up versions of brunch classics all day long. Crisp-edged masa pancakes come with a mole syrup, and scallion-cheddar biscuits are smothered in chicken-chorizo gravy. Bloody Marys are available three ways, including a green version with poblano-infused tequila and wasabi.
The restaurant opened last year at the former Charlie’s On the Avenue location and specializes in all-day brunch.
“We’re pretty excited about being included,” the restaurant said on social media. “Thank you to our guests, staff and neighborhood for all of the support since opening.”
