Caboose Commons, the Caboose Brewing Company’s second location, is holding its grand opening celebration in Merrifield (2918 Eskridge Road) this Sunday, Nov. 18.
The grand opening celebrations will run all day, from 6 a.m.-11 p.m., with live music from local band Some People Call Me Maurice from 1-4 p.m.
Breakfast will run from 7 a.m.-11 a.m., then lunch and dinner from 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Caboose Commons’ dining focuses on locally sourced and mostly healthy options. The restaurant offers a variety of dairy free, gluten free, and nut free options, as well as vegetarian options.
Beer, wine, cider, coffee and tea will also be served throughout the day. The Caboose Commons drink menu includes a variety of ales and IPAs.
The cafe and brewery has been open since September 29 for a “house warming” period. The first location, Caboose Brewing, is located in Vienna.
Erin Condren, a stationary and supplies store, had a soft-launch yesterday (Wednesday) for the company’s new Mosaic District location.
The store at 2905 District Ave is the first East Coast location for the chain, which started in 2004 in as a note card business. Since then, the company has expanded to organizers and notebooks and opened brick-and-mortar locations, including a flagship store in Austin, Texas.
“It was great,” said Kelsey Anderson, the manager of the Mosaic District store. “It’s been fun, people have been walking by wondering when it was going to open.”
Anderson said the customers were a mix of those who were fans of the brand and those who were passing by and stopped in to check it out.
The official grand opening of the store won’t be until February when Condren herself — the company’s founder and namesake — will be out to celebrate the store’s opening. Anderson said it was decided to hold the grand opening after the holidays.
The store is currently looking for a part-time sales associate.
🥁Drumroll please…🥁 The #ECMosaicDistric Retail Store is officially OPEN! Come visit our stunning retail space in Fairfax, Virginia for a dose of color, inspiration & of course, ORGANIZATION! Fact: there's no happier place to do your holiday shopping. https://t.co/BDKOrPqWjH pic.twitter.com/3OyOfDCBoR
— Erin Condren Design (@ErinCondren) November 15, 2018
An early morning altercation ended in a homicide on the 2900 block of Charing Cross Road, just east of the Mosaic District, according to Fairfax County Police.
Oscar Daniel Diaz Fuentes, 27, was stabbed in the torso this morning (Wednesday) around 1 a.m. during a domestic dispute. He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The suspect, Jose Adalberto Vasquez Hernandez, lived in the apartment with Fuentes. Hernandez was Fuentes’ mother’s boyfriend and, following an argument, Hernandez left and returned later to stab Fuentes, police said. Hernandez was arrested at the scene.
“It’s still early in the investigation, and detectives from our Major Crimes Bureau and Crime Scene Section continue to process the scene and interview the involved parties,” FCPD noted.
The 27-year-old victim was taken to the hospital w/ a stab wound around one this morning. We’re still working to confirm the suspects identity, he didn’t have an ID on him when he was taken into custody. Both the victim and suspect lived in the apartment. https://t.co/JRpaq0GK9p
— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) November 14, 2018
Photo via Fairfax County Police
The Defense Health Agency (DHA) is looking to expand its Falls Church headquarters.
A zoning application filed with the Department of Planning and Zoning in September says the new facility could potentially bring 300 to 500 uniformed personnel and civilian contractors to Fairfax County.
The application proposes to add a 179,200 square foot office building to the site, near the well-known 2941 restaurant, as well as a 948-space parking deck. This is in addition to the 670,000 square foot building already at 7700 Arlington Blvd.
DHA is the government agency that oversees health care to active duty and retired U.S. military personnel and their families. Included under the DHA is Tricare, which provides health benefits to 9.4 million people.
DHA moved into the site in 2012 after the building’s former occupant, Raytheon, moved out to consolidate its operations. The proposal cites the property’s proximity to Washington, D.C. and the Pentagon as the main reasons for the facility expansion.
The application says the new building on the site will include pedestrian amenities, like an open plaza area with tree cover and cafe tables. While most of the site expansion falls within existing zoning requirements, the new DHA offices will require additional screening and landscaping.
The area adjacent to DHA headquarters is currently under review by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to be turned into a new urban center like the nearby Mosaic District.
(Updated at 3:35 p.m.) The Mosaic District is getting a new restaurant.
Little Dipper Hot Pot is opening at 2985 District Avenue on Monday, Nov. 19. The first 100 guests to the grand opening at 11 a.m. will be treated to a free hot pot.
Hot pots are a traditional Chinese family staple meant to be enjoyed with a group, though Little Dipper says it serves only individual size hot pots. Hot pot varieties range from a tomato dipper with mushrooms and a variety of other garden vegetables to a platter filled with five different types of meat.
In addition to hot pots, Little Dipper Hot Pot also offers more individual-focused food choices like ramen or vermicelli. Cocktails, beer and wine are also available.
Little Dipper Hot Pot currently has two other locations, one nearby in Falls Church at 3000 Annandale Road and one in Rockville at 101 Gibbs Street.
Grove, a poke and salad bowl restaurant in Merrifield, may be expanding its health-oriented menu to include wine and beer.
Grove opened this summer at 2673 Avenir Place, in a shopping center just south of the Dunn Loring-Merrifield Metro station.
The menu lists options ranging from Hawaiian-inspired poke bowls to Korean bibimbap. Options are also available for customers to build their own salad, soba noodle or pasta bowls.
At the end of October, Grove filed an application with the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority (ABC) to sell wine and beer on the premises. The status of that application is currently pending.
Currently the only beverages on the menu are a variety of teas and juices.
Photos via Facebook
Sundance, an apparel-home decor retail chain owned by actor-director Robert Redford, opened yesterday (Thursday) in the Mosaic District at 2910 District Ave.
The store sells a mix of higher-end men’s and women’s clothing, as well as home accessories from furniture to coasters. The store specializes in maintaining a rotating seasonal inventory.
A portion of the proceeds raised during the opening weekend will go to the McLean Project for the Arts, a non-profit that promotes local artists.
The Mosaic District location is the 15th store for the national chain. Though the business began in 1983, the number of retail locations remained small until the chain opened ten new locations in 2015.
Fairfax County is looking to turn the forests around the Beltway-Arlington Boulevard interchange into Merrifield’s newest urban center.
The Merrifield Suburban Center Task Force meets for the first time tomorrow (Tuesday) night at 7 p.m. in the Inova Conference Center at 3225 Gallows Road. The group is tasked with developing recommendations for the land surrounding the interchange on three sides.
At the July 31 meeting, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors initiated a process to review land use for 203 acres of land in the vicinity. Mixed-use office, hotel, and residential are all being considered as potential choices for development.
The portion of the site to the northeast of the interchange is Fairview Park North, a parcel of land mostly wooded except for a Northrop Grumman headquarters and a few other office buildings.
Fairview Park South, across Arlington Boulevard, is the smallest parcel of land and is mostly unused land north of the Falls Church Marriott. The southwest parcel is a wooded area surrounding the Inova Center for Personalized Health, which will remain on site.
At tomorrow’s meeting, the Task Force is scheduled to review the existing conditions of the site. Transportation issues is the topic for a subsequent meeting scheduled for Nov. 13. A full schedule meetings is available online.
The group is expected to deliver a final recommendation to the Board of Supervisors on April 23, 2019.
Photos via Fairfax County Department of Planning and Zoning
Bootique will return to Merrifield this Thursday (Oct. 25) night, offering an evening of deals and treats.
The Mosaic District’s annual Halloween event will take place from 5-7 p.m, during which time local stores will be giving out candy to trick-or-treaters. At 7 p.m., attendees are invited to settle in at Strawberry Park for a screening of Monsters Vs. Aliens on the large screen outside the Angelika Film Center.
Maps will be available and stores will have signs saying if they are giving out candy. The following stores are confirmed to be trick-or-treating candy stops:
- Cheestique
- District Dumplings
- Mint Nail Lounge
- Tiny Dancers
- Muse Paint Bar
- Neiman Marcus Last Call
- Caboose
- Scout and Molly
- Undeniable Boutique
- Oath Pizza
- Jinya Ramen
- The Shade Store
- Fair Trade Winds
- lululemon athletica
- Lather
- Nook
- Le Pain Quotidien
- Puree
- Lou Lou
- Matchbox
- Kendra Scott
- Ted’s Bulletin
- Arielle Shoshana
- Williams Sonoma
- 520 Ice Cream
Photo via Facebook
The 14th Annual Merrifield Fall Festival is returning to the Mosaic District this Saturday (Oct. 13).
The festival, original scheduled for Sept. 15, was rescheduled to this weekend amid concerns about Hurricane Florence. The festival will run from 11 a.m.-6 p.m.
Presented by the Greater Merrifield Business Association (GMBA), the festival will spotlight restaurants in the Mosaic District and across Merrifield. A beer garden hosted by the Caboose Brewing Company will be held on the Mosaic lawn, allowing attendees to grab a drink before listening to live music played all day.
Vendors will also give attendees a chance to get started on their holiday shopping in a market focusing on handmade and vintage items. Special deals will also be ongoing in nearby retailers.
For children at the festival, pumpkin and face painting, sack races, karate and more will be available.
Photos via Facebook
