Cookie Baking in Space — “DoubleTree by Hilton… is partnering with Zero G Kitchen, a company creating appliances for microgravity use in long-duration space flights, and NanoRacks, a provider of commercial access to space,… are using a prototype oven designed for long-duration space flight to bake a cookie in space later this year on a date to be determined.” [Washington Business Journal]
New State Laws Take Effect Today — A new set of laws — like raising the minimum age to purchase tobacco products and allowing certain types of CBD oil use in schools — take effect today (July 1). [Inside NoVa]
Small Fire Broke Out at Vienna Home — On Saturday morning, firefighters extinguished a small basement fire at a home in the 9800 block of Bridleridge Court in Vienna. The fire was caused by an electrical event within a circuit board for the electronic air cleaner. The fire caused about $500 worth of damage. [Fairfax County Fire and Rescue/Twitter]
WeWork Expands Tysons Presence — “WeWork inked a deal Thursday to expand its presence in Lerner Enterprises’ trophy office building to 154,025 square feet, bringing the 17-story, 476,000-square-foot tower to 100% occupancy roughly three and a half years after it delivered.” [Washington Business Journal]
The History of Tysons — The first part of this series gives an overview of Tysons transformed from a farming community into a developing city. [Greater Greater Washington]
Local Real Estate Developer Behind Bars — “Todd Hitt, the CEO of Kiddar Capital, a Falls Church asset management firm, will serve a 6 1/2 year prison sentence for securities fraud.” [Reston Now]
Water, Water Everywhere — “Fairfax Water, the utility provider of drinking water for the Town of Vienna, has released a report on how clean the water was in 2018.” [Vienna Patch]
Tysons may not have the liveliest nightlife at the moment, but that could soon change as more late-night restaurants and places to hang out open. “Tysons After Dark” will highlight a different spot every week.
Tucked away in a strip mall along Leesburg Pike, Roll Play serves up Vietnamese cuisine in a fast-casual restaurant filled with colorful art.
From rolls to bowls, banh-mi sandwiches to pho, Roll Play offers a variety of filling food. For drinks, the menu offers Vietnamese coffee, basil mint limeade, Stubborn Soda, San Pellegrino Water and Fiji Water.
Customers order their food from touch-screen kiosks, which allow for customization. For late-night diners, Roll Play is open until 2 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
A mural on the left wall features the Roll Play logo with a woman with long flowing dark hair, while the right wall has framed pho-themed phrases. Look down and you’ll spot rainbow footprints weaving around the restaurant.
Located at 8150 Leesburg Pike, Roll Play is about a 12-minute walk from the Tysons Corner Metro station.
Roll Play is open from 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-2 a.m. on Friday, noon-2 a.m. on Saturday and 12 p.m.-8 p.m. on Sunday.
After an eight-hour-long search last week, Vienna police tracked down and arrested a man in connection with several crimes around the Town of Vienna, including assault, fraud and burglary.
It all started shortly after midnight last Monday (June 17) when police said a 27-year-old man of no fixed residence tried to pay a cab driver, who had dropped him off in front of the Wolftrap Hotel (430 W. Maple Avenue), with multiple credit cards that were all declined.
“The man began to walk away, and when the cab driver confronted him regarding the payment, the man threatened him with a knife,” according to police. “The man then ran off behind the hotel.”
About four hours later, police said that the man was caught trying to get into a home in the 300 block of Nutley Street and ran off. The resident of the home went out to look for the man, found him and recognized him as an acquaintance, according to police.
When the resident told the man to leave the property, the man threatened the resident with a knife and then ran away, police said.
Shortly before 8:30 a.m., a different resident at a home in the 200 block of Paris Court SW spotted the man on her deck while checking her home’s security cameras.
“Officers located the man and found he was the same person involved in the incidents that had occurred earlier,” according to police.
By that point, the police had warrants charging assault with a weapon, defrauding a cab driver, burglary with a weapon and assault. Once they found the man, police determined that he was also wanted in Fairfax County on warrants charging probation violation and failure to appear in court.
After he was arrested, “the man began complaining that he did not feel well and needed medical attention,” according to police. He was taken to a nearby hospital for an evaluation and, once the hospital staff cleared him, to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center.
But that’s not all.
While police were searching for the man, police said they stumbled across several bags of his belongings in the backyard of a home in the 100 block of Mendon Lane SW.
“The resident advised the bags did not belong to him, and he wanted them removed,” according to police. “Officers inventoried the property and found that in addition to personal belongings, the bags contained narcotics and drug paraphernalia.”
Photo via Facebook
Have thoughts about Tysons Reporter’s coverage of Tysons, McLean, Vienna, Falls Church and Merrifield? Want to share your opinions about local issues?
Tysons Reporter welcomes letters to the editors and op-eds of specific interest to the communities in our coverage area.
The key difference is that an op-ed can be an opinion piece about a local issue, while a letter to the editor responds directly to a Tysons Reporter story.
Please email it to [email protected]. You are also welcome to contact us with your idea for feedback before submitting it.
While there is no word limit, we suggest under 1,000 words. Contributions may be edited for length, content and style/grammar.
Tysons Reporter does not publish op-eds relating to a specific candidate running for political office — either from the candidate’s team or opponents.
Warby Parker has set its sights on a new spot in the Mosaic District.
A wraparound outside 2920 District Avenue, Suite 130 says that the prescription designer eyeglass retailer is moving into Northern Outfitter’s former spot.
The store is the latest of several recent newcomers to the Mosaic District, including Barnes and Noble, MacMillan Whisky Room, kids’ clothing boutique Wee Chic and pet store Loyal Companion.
Independence Day is right around the corner, and events all over the Tysons area invite community members to partake in family fun.
Regarding the logistics of transportation to events, local authorities warn of overcrowded parking and suggest that attendees either carpool to events, use public transit or take advantage of ride-sharing apps.
Several companies, including Lyft, offer a promotion to curtail drunk driving on busy holidays. The Washington Regional Alcohol Program announced its SoberRide campaign, which gives users a $15 Lyft promotional code to be used within the D.C. Metro area. The code will be released at 6 p.m on July 4 and will be valid for the first 1,500 users of legal drinking age. It can be found on SoberRide’s website.
Tysons
Tysons Biergarten is set to celebrate America’s Independence Day on July 3 from 11 a.m. until 2 a.m on the Fourth. The beer hall will offer both alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, traditional American food and live music for all to enjoy. Registration is free.
Falls Church
Before the lighthearted celebrations begin in the evening, the Village Preservation and Improvement Society (VIPS) invites everyone to a reading of the nation’s founding documents. The readings begin at 12 p.m. in the Falls Church Episcopal Church (115 E. Fairfax Street). The group hopes it will help people recall the pillars of democracy and freedom.
Entry for the evening’s celebration at George Mason High School (7124 Leesburg Pike) starts at 6 p.m. While guests enjoy music from The Excellent Drivers, locally operated food trucks will also be selling a variety of fare. Fireworks begin at 9:20 p.m., but this time may be updated on the Falls Church social media accounts. All events are free.
On holidays, parking is free at the West Falls Church Metro Parking Garage.
McLean
Doors for the annual community center fireworks display open after 6 p.m. at Langley High School (6520 Georgetown Pike). Guests can expect to be greeted with food trucks and a DJ. This is a family-friendly event. Smoking, pets, fireworks, glass containers, weapons, sparklers, vaping and alcohol will not be allowed.
Entry is free for this event but there is limited parking at the venue. More parking spots are available at McLean Community Center, St. John’s Episcopal Church, and St. Luke Catholic School, where shuttle buses will ferry guests back forth.
Vienna
During the day, Vienna’s Sprinklers & Sparklers event features water slides, snow cones, and food trucks. It takes place at the Vienna Community Center (120 Cherry Street SE) and runs from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.
In the picnic style, Vienna also opens up Yeonas Park (1319 Ross Drive SW) for an evening of family-friendly fun. Fireworks are expected to start at sunset, or roughly 9:30 p.m. The Little League concession stand will serve food as people pile onto the lawn and listen to a live performance from The Josh Christina Band.
Photos courtesy Town of Vienna
Cong Wang really likes bubble tea, and he opened his new Gem Tea at 155 W. Maple Avenue to share that passion with more people.
One of the big things Wang says drives people away from bubble tea is the idea of inflexibility. At Gem Tea, Wang says customers can feel free to adjust the tea as they like, offering non-dairy milk options and a wide variety of fruit flavors.
If enough people request something, Wang said he’s open to adding things to the menu. For instance, yesterday someone came in asking for a protein powder to be added to his tea, so Wang is looking into how to make that work.
The restaurant is open seven days a week, opening at 11 a.m. and closing between 8-9 p.m. The quick-service restaurant had a soft opening on May 16, but held its grand opening on June 1.
Wang said Gem Tea isn’t part of a chain. He’s from Vienna and just wanted to open a tea place in his neighborhood.
As the summer heat wave continues to sizzle this week, locals may be looking for a glass or a pint or a mug of beer.
Here are some breweries and distilleries around the Tysons area for when you want to buy local while wetting your whistle.
- Sweetwater Tavern (3066 Gate House Plaza): One of the three Sweetwater Tavern microbreweries is located in Merrifield. Visitors can find hand-crafted brews and lunch and dinner menus.
- Settle Down Easy Brewing Co. (2822 Fallfax Drive): This Falls Church Nano brewery, which brews beers from IPAs to kolschs, has a taco stand inside and indoor and outdoor seating.
- Audacious Aleworks Brewery and Taproom (110 E. Fairfax Street): Near downtown Falls Church, the small craft brewery specializes in small batch ales, and the taproom has up to 20 beers on tap at any given time along with free popcorn and board games.
- Caboose Brewing Company (Merrifield and Vienna): The 15-barrel-brewhouse is behind both Caboose Commons in Merrifield (2918 Eskridge Road) and Caboose Tavern in Vienna (520 Mill Street NE). Caboose Commons includes a coffeehouse and beer garden behind the Mosaic District, while Caboose Tavern is a brewpub off of the Washington & Old Dominion Trail.
- Mad Fox Brewing Company (444 W. Broad Street): Inspired by Euro gastro brews, Mad Fox Brewing in Falls Church has a brewery and restaurant.
- Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant (7861 Tysons Corner Center): Located in Tysons Corner Center, the Gordon Biersch restaurant brews its beers on site and even offers a view of its brewing facilities and brewery tours.
While not a brewery, the Tysons Biergarten (8346 Leesburg Pike) has more than 100 American craft beers and live music until 2 a.m. daily.
If beer isn’t your thing, the Falls Church Distillers (442 S. Washington Street, Suite A) produces several small-batch spirits including vodkas, gins, rums and whiskeys. In addition to the distillery, there’s a restaurant that serves up Italian fare and a bar.
While life continues on at other parts of Commons of McLean, a residential complex between Tysons East and Pimmit Hills, a collection of buildings at the southernmost point of the property are being reclaimed by nature as they await reconstruction.
The property was separated from the other residences at the Commons of McLean when it was purchased by Toll Brothers.
Mark Simms, the vice president of land development at Toll Brothers, said the property is planned to be converted into 211 townhomes and condominiums. The new properties are planned to be offered for sale starting spring 2020.
Currently, the area is a Chernobyl-like clearing of empty homes and litter dropped by people using the homes as a cut through. Weeds have started growing up to knee or waist height in front of some of the buildings and birds are nested in the cutaways for appliances in the sides of former homes.
Ashley Hopko contributed to this story
The Fairfax County Police Department is seeking the public’s help to identify two men allegedly involved in theft and fraud in Falls Church.
“Officers are asking for the public’s help identifying two men suspected of stealing purses from parked cars in cemeteries in the Falls Church area of the county while victims attended burial services and visited grave sites,” according to a press release from FCPD today (Thursday).
Police said the suspects used credit cards from the purses at Target and Walmart multiple times.
People with information or who recognize the suspects can contact Officer P. King at the McLean District Police Station at 703-556-7750 or submit an anonymous tip.
Photos via FCPD
