It’s been a long time in the making, but Shinsekai Ramen at 234 Maple Avenue E. opens tonight (Wednesday).
Inside, it’s all hands on deck as the kitchen and hospitality crews get the final preparations. Kevin Choe, regional operations manager for the Shinsekai, said he’s excited.
The restaurant is the first of a new brand behind Sushi Jin. While Vienna has other sushi restaurants, Choe said in researching the local market they didn’t find any other ramen-focused locations.
The restaurant opens at 5 p.m. Choe said the restaurant will normally be open for lunch at 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 5-9:30 p.m. for dinner. On weekends, Choe said they close an hour later.
Choe is passionate about ramen; not just the cooking of it, but the culture and the history. Shinsekai is a little different from most ramen restaurants. While pork-based ramen is the most common variety in the United States, Choe said Shinsekai uses a more traditional chicken based broth.
But while much of the menu is traditional, Choe also said the restaurant has some modern and international twists, like Korean kimchi as part of a dish that Choe said pairs well with ramen.
The restaurant also boasts a variety of vegan options, though Choe said those will not be available tonight. Choe said the focus of tonight’s soft opening is on the restaurant’s four main ramens.
Dead Run Stream isn’t the only McLean waterway on the cusp of revitalization.
Bull Neck Run, a stream just north of Tysons, is nearing the end of project construction with completion scheduled for June.
Like the restoration finishing at Dead Run Stream, the Bull Neck Run restoration involves improving the ecological function of the stream and extracting nitrogen and phosphorous from the soil.
The idea is to make the stream valley more sustainable and safer for private property owners along the stream, local wildlife and the public using nearby trails.
The project will reduce flooding from the stream, and stabilize the stream banks. Part of the project involves creating new outlets for stormwater draining into the creek to reduce erosion and tree loss in the nearby forest.
The total cost of the project is $1.6 million, funded through the county’s stormwater service district.
While the project is scheduled to be completed in June, landscaping work at the site could continue through the fall. Visitors to the site are still encouraged to remain outside of active construction areas.
If you want your Starbucks coffee but can’t be bothered to walk into the one on 207 Maple Avenue E., a new drive-through Starbucks is under construction roughly 200 feet away at 362 Maple Avenue E.
The facade of the former Donuts of Vienna, then a Taco Bell post-1997, is currently undergoing renovation. No signs or public information is available on when the new Starbucks will be open.
The new cafe was unanimously approved last April by the Vienna Board of Zoning Appeals.
The alterations to the existing restaurant will include moving the drive-through’s speaker closer to the building and shifting the pick-up window closer to the front. Landscaping will be installed around the perimeter.
Two crosswalks and two bicycle racks are also listed as additions to the site.
The location will have outdoor seating for 20 people and indoor seating for 20 more. The drive-through’s stacking area is expected to hold 12 vehicles.
One Reddit user, “Futhermucker”, posted an elegy to the departed Taco Bell:
I grew up with this Taco Bell. I’ll never forget rolling in squad deep after middle school — mastering the little balance game on the counter to get a free soft taco with every meal. They removed that game because of us. In high school, I got two out of my five first kisses inside that Taco Bell. It was there that I made a beeline towards after smoking my first joint on the WO&D trail. It was on a 90s retro bench seat there that I broke up with my first girlfriend via text. They were so understanding when my first car’s alternator died in their drivethru, shutting it down for me until the tow truck arrived. Once I got to college, it was always a sweet relief from my mom’s cooking when I came to visit. I watched staff come and go, but it was always the same Taco Bell. If my life was a coming-of-age movie, that Starbucks sign going up would be the ending scene, right before the credits roll. RIP Maple Ave Taco Bell, Vienna didn’t deserve you.
Police are searching for a missing, and endangered, 21-year-old McLean man.
According to a press release, Brandon White was last seen getting into an older, dark Mercedes Benz around 11 p.m. on Jan. 31.
Video has been released of two men in a gas station driving the car White was last seen getting into. Police say these could be the last known people to have contacted White and may have information on his whereabouts.
The video was taken in an Exxon gas station (7269 Arlington Blvd.) in Falls Church.
Police are asking anyone with information on the men or White’s disappearance to contact Det. Brian Byerson at [email protected] or the department’s Major Crimes Bureau at 703-246-7800.
Photo via Fairfax County Police
Local Startup Raises $30 Million — “Fairfax-based real estate data and analytics company Remine,” which has offices in Tysons and Dunn Loring, “has closed a $30 million Series A funding round, bringing its total amount raised to $48 million.” [Washington Business Journal]
Officials Hold Meeting on E-Bikes — “The recent popularity [of] e-bikes and the fact they are not allowed on trails in Fairfax County and NOVA Parks prompted NOVA Parks and Fairfax County Park Authority to take steps to understand the issues and then share facts with the public and listen to their comments.” [McLean Connection]
Fairfax Home Market Flat to Start Year — “A modest increase in sales was offset by slightly lower average sales price in the January home-sales report for Fairfax County. And as a result, the total sales volume for the month stood relatively unchanged as the local market began to segue from winter to spring.” [InsideNova]
Falls Church Seeking BZA Member — The Falls Church Board of Zoning Appeals is looking to fill a vacancy for the position of Alternate Member. [City of Falls Church]
A meeting about taxes ended in violence and an arrest on Sunday.
Fairfax County Police say a woman was meeting with a man in Tysons to get her taxes done, but an argument ensued and the man then assaulted her, causing facial lacerations. It’s not clear how the victim knew the suspect nor how the argument started.
The suspect, 28-year-old [Redacted], was arrested and charged with malicious wounding.
More from FCPD:
ASSAULT: 1600 block of International Drive, 02/10/19, 7:23 p.m. Officers responded to the location for an altercation between a man and a woman. Officers located the victim in the lobby with cuts to her face. The victim stated she was at the location to have her taxes done when she got into an argument with the man she was meeting. He assaulted her and she was transported to the hospital with minor injuries. [Redacted], 28, of McLean was arrested for malicious wounding.
For Valentine’s Day, you could take your partner to one of the several restaurants and bars offering special deals, but there’s another outside-the-box option: a Vienna singing quartet.
On Thursday (Feb. 14), the Vienna-Falls Chorus will be traveling the Northern Virginia area delivering singing valentines. The in-person deliveries include two songs, a box of chocolates and a personalized card for $50.
The quartet can be sent to an office, restaurant, home or any other location.
Singing valentines can also be sent by phone for $10.
Four songs are available for selection and audio samples are available online.
Photo via Facebook
Nature is at a premium in Tysons.
The area is surrounded by beautiful natural preserves, for example at Wolf Trap, Raglan Road Park and all along the banks of the Potomac River. Within Tysons itself, though, there is more concrete and asphalt than grass and trees.
Where there is grass, it’s often in the form of a manicured but empty lawn. These lawns represent space that has been ecologically, socially and environmentally wasted, but they could easily be repurposed.
Fairfax County has an ambitious plan for the future of the area’s parks, calling for a network of parks and urban oases connected by a recreational trail. This plan is long-term, looking forward to 2050, hoping to bring 1.5 acres of green space for every 1,000 residents. It won’t be completed easily, although at least one new park has opened recently.
Though nature might be rare in Tysons, that doesn’t mean that green space is. In fact, Tysons boasts a large number of lawns and fields of varying sizes. The problem is that these spaces are green in color only. They don’t contribute anything to the Tysons community: lawns are neither parks nor plazas nor natural preserve.
Environmental scientists find that lawns of this kind aren’t at all ‘green’ in the ecological sense. Because of the fertilizers and pesticides used to maintain them they produce more chemical runoff than they absorb. They also consume an enormous amount of water and gasoline for the mowers that keep them trim.
Socially, these lawns don’t satisfy a community’s need for open space.
Though they are literally open, they don’t provide space for recreation, gathering, or even peaceful contemplation of nature. Often, the property owner forbids play or dog-walking on the lawns. They don’t contribute to property values or provide any economically productive resource. Urban economics commentator Andrew Price calls such lawns “dead greenspace, consuming labor, money, and oil to keep manicured.”
Take a closer look at two spaces along the north side of Westpark Drive, near Route 7. These sites are only about two blocks from a Metro station and are directly across from The Boro development expected to bring many new residents and new street-level pedestrian and retail activity.
These lawns are associated with buildings that are 20 and 45 years old, and are likely the result of zoning regulations that called for deep setbacks between the streets and the buildings, but didn’t dictate what the developer should do with the space in those setbacks. As Price writes, “When we force a private owner to use their land in a very unproductive manner, they do a mediocre job of it.”
But, recently, Fairfax County has been embracing more effective regulation.
In 2010, Fairfax adopted a Zoning Ordinance Amendment that enables a more urban and denser form for new construction in Tysons. This amendment is governing the development taking place across the street from these two lawns, and will hopefully result in a much more economically and ecologically efficient use of space.
The Park System Concept Plan emphasizes the specific advantages to be gained from well-designed green space, rather than simply encouraging open space without regard for its design. It focuses on “a need for gathering spaces, off-leash dog parks, garden plots, ornamental gardens, water features, tot lots and playgrounds, skate parks, open lawns for picnicking and unstructured play, shade structures, fitness courses and trails, multi-use courts, athletic fields, amphitheaters and space for public art.”
Green lawns are on that list — but only as one item, and only because of their use to the community.
D. Taylor Reich is a freelance journalist who writes about urbanism and development. They are a Fulbright scholar, a 2017 graduate of Brown University and a proud alum of Arlington Public Schools.
Police say a bomb threat last Friday (Feb. 8) came from a man working at the Westin Hotel next door.
Police swarmed the Provident Bank at 7799 Leesburg Pike, in the southeast corner of the Leesburg Pike-Beltway interchange near Tysons, after they say a man called the front desk of the bank saying there was a bomb in the building.
Police say the threat was vague with little credible information offered. A search of the building turned up no suspicious objects and the bank quickly resumed normal operations.
Police stayed on the scene and moved to the Westin Hotel as they investigated the source of the call.
“With assistance from hotel security, Jonathan Ramos, 30, of Lorton was identified and charged with making a bomb threat,” police said in a crime report.
Photo via Fairfax County Police
School Board Advertises $3 Billion Budget — “The Fairfax County School Board has adopted the FY 2020 Advertised Budget of $3.0 billion, an increase of 4.1 percent, or $117.4 million, over the FY 2019 Approved Budget. The FY 2020 budget prioritizes employee compensation with a $55.2 million investment in teacher salary scales that includes a 1.0 percent market scale adjustment.” [Connection Newspapers]
Auditions for Vienna Theater — The Vienna Theatre Company is holding auditions tonight for its upcoming production of “Ripcord.” [Facebook]
Author Talk at Tysons Book Store — Bestselling fantasy novelist Larry Correia will be holding a book discussion and signing tonight at the Barnes & Noble store in Tysons. [Instagram]
