NYC’s beloved French Bakery & Café, maman, has announced its expansion to the Washington, DC region with three new locations opening this year. Its first location will be in Bethesda Row at 7140 Bethesda Ln , replacing Le Pain Quotidien.
Per Bethesda Row:
Bangkok Garden announced the loss of longtime owner/employee Ricky Laohapant on Wednesday. Ricky was the owner and operator of longtime Bethesda restaurant Bangkok Garden, which closed permanently last August.
Bangkok Garden opened its Rockville location in 2019. The full statement on Ricky’s passing can be seen below. Our condolences go out to his friends and family.
Amazon announced on Wednesday that it plans to close all 68 of its brick-and-mortar bookstores, pop-ups and shops carrying toys and home goods (including Amazon 4 Star) in the United States and United Kingdom, per Reuters. Amazon has an Amazon 4 Star location in Montgomery Mall in Bethesda and one that was planned for Germantown, with signage at that location recently going up. A call to the Bethesda Amazon 4 Star location led to a message stating the store was temporarily closed until tomorrow. The Germantown location is no longer going to open.
Amazon also has an Amazon Books location in Bethesda, which is closed on Wednesdays. Exact dates for closures will vary by location, and Amazon stated it would help affected employees find roles elsewhere in the company. We will have closing dates for all Montgomery County location as soon as they are available. The company also stated that it would continue its focus on Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market grocery chains. An Amazon Fresh grocery store recently opened in Chevy Chase and one is planned for Gaithersburg. It was recently announced that an Amazon grocery store is in the plans for White Oak Town Center as well.
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Per Marriott:
Frank Pepe’s Pizzeria Napoletana will be opening its long awaited Montgomery Mall location in mid to late March, according to a social media post by WTOP’s Neal Augenstein.
Frank Pepe’s is located in the old Bobby’s Burger Palace location on the lower level across from Cheesecake Factory.
Montgomery County Fire and Rescue units responded to a collision that occurred on Old Georgetown Road and Lincoln Drive at approximately 1:30am on Monday Morning.
We are told minor injuries were sustained in the crash.
Yesterday, Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich released a statement announcing that all products produced in Russia have been removed from the County’s Alcohol Beverage Services (ABS) stores. Last night popular Bethesda bar and restaurant Caddies released a statement announcing that it will no longer purchase or serve Russian Vodka while also changing the name of three of its cocktails in support of Ukraine.
The names of three cocktails, Moscow Mule, White Russian, and Black Russian, have been changed to Kyiv Mule, White Ukrainian, and Black Ukrainian. Caddies also announced that it will be donating a portion of revenue from the sale of those cocktails to the Ukrainian Children’s Emergency Fund.
On Friday, Montgomery County officials dedicated the “MD 355 Crossing Project” in Bethesda. The new underpass provides safe crossing between the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Medical Center Metrorail station.
The underpass is named after the late Phil Alperson, a former MCDOT employee who worked for years to coordinate the project.
Neeta Mayur Promoted to Vice President, Revenue Management and Seon Heo Promoted to Vice President of Sales and Marketing
Thomas Penny, III, President of Donohoe Hospitality Services (DHS), a division of Bethesda-based Donohoe, announced the appointments of two vice presidents. Neeta Mayur has been promoted to vice president, revenue management, and Seon Heo has been promoted to vice president of sales and marketing.
Back in August of 2020 we let you know that HalfSmoke would be opening a Rockville location in Rockville Town Square. Though it hasn’t opened yet, it’s still in the plans for the DC-based restaurant.
Now we know of a new location, HalfSmoke Bethesda, which will be opening in the Montgomery Mall food court, as first reported by The MoCo Source on Instagram. It will be located in the former home of Coldstone Creamery and more recently Gelato Galaxy.
Three fires that have left two separate families displaced occurred overnight, according to MCFRS PIO Pete Piringer. The fires occurred in Takoma Park, Germantown, and a Chevy Chase. There were no injuries reported in any of the fires.
The first was a 2-alarm fire at 7401 New Hampshire Avenue in Takoma Park at the Hampshire Tower apartments. One family consisting of two children and two adults was displaced, and there was approximately $25k in damages. No word on the cause of the fire.