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Montgomery Village Dunkin’ to Celebrate Grand Opening with Free Coffee for a Year Giveaway for First 100 Guests This Saturday

By Patrick Herron

Dunkin’ Donuts at at 20000 Goshen Rd. (former Capital One Bank building) in the Goshen Crossing Shopping Center, which opened on June 7, will hold its grand opening celebration this Saturday, July 8. Starting at 9, the restaurant will reward the first 100 customers with “Free Coffee for a Year” and from 9-11am, Dunkin’s mascot Cuppy will be on hand to give out free merchandise to guests from the Dunkin’ Prize Wheel.

Additional information courtesy of Dunkin’: At 10:00 a.m., Dunkin’ franchisee network Luis Group will host the store’s official ribbon cutting. Following the ribbon cutting, the Luis Group, in partnership with the Dunkin’ Joy in Childhood Foundation, will award local nonprofit Driven to Cure a $3,000 grant. Based in Silver Spring, Driven to Cure works to raise funds and awareness for children and young adults with rare kidney diseases.

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Permanent Signage Up at Poke Bros in Kentlands

By MCS Staff

In January we let you know that Poke Bros will be opening its first Maryland location in Gaithersburg’s Kentlands neighborhood. The restaurant, which opened its first location in 2016 and has since expanded to over 75 restaurants across the country, will be taking over the space that was previously home to Next Day Blinds at 107 Market St W until 2020. Permanent signage is now up, but there is plenty of work left to do on the interior of the restaurant (photo below). An opening date is not yet available.

More bout Poke Bros: After the founders were introduced to the Hawaiian staple on a trip to California. The appeal of this fast and casual—while healthy—concept immediately inspired the founders to begin thinking how they could bring this unique dish to the midwest. From its inception, we were confident the foodies of Columbus would love the poké concept, but wanted to provide an inexpensive and accessible product in the larger market. After some intense research and trial and error, the Poké Bros founders developed their own brand of poké bowl flavor they are proud to share and call their own. Modeling similar assembly line casual dining concepts, we developed a unique way to build your “sushi in a bowl” and have fun doing so! As the poké movement has caught on, Poké Bros has rapidly expanded into multiple states across the Midwest and East Coast, offering the same fresh and authentic cuisine to a wider range of customers. We will continue to stick to our roots, as Poké Bros continues to grow, and offer only the best fresh ingredients that fill you up but don’t slow you down.

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Last Chance to Own a Piece of Lakeforest Mall: Auction Ends Tomorrow, New Items Just Added

By Patrick Herron

Lakeforest Mall closed permanently to the public on March 31st, after almost 45 years. The mall first opened on September 12, 1978. At that time, the mall’s anchor stores were JCPenney, Sears, Woodward & Lothrop, and Hecht’s. The mall was one of the first in the United States to feature an indoor ice skating rink on the lower level, in the “H section”, along with being the biggest indoor shopping mall in the county at the time of grand opening. The ice skating rink was replaced by a NTI Theaters movie theater in 1984, later renamed Cineplex Odeon Lakeforest 5, then by a food court, which now occupies the space. The mall was built on top of Lake Walker, a park on the property prior. The mall opened with approximately 30-50 stores, with some of the first stores being relocated from the then nearby indoor Village Mall (now an outdoor strip mall called Montgomery Village Center since 1991) and absorbed onto the property.

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Cinnabon/Auntie Anne Appears to be Close to Opening in Rio

By MCS Staff

Last November we let you know of the impending arrival of an Auntie Anne’s/Cinnabon combination restaurant at 220 Boardwalk Place in Rio, set to take over the location that was recently home to Lilly Magilly’s– as the cupcakery is still preparing for a move to a new location. We stopped by earlier this week and saw that interior construction looks to be almost complete (photo below). The location is still awaiting exterior permanent signage.

The two brands, popular for their presence in malls, are co-branding to open locations across the country. In recent years, Cinnabon left then returned to Montgomery Mall. There’s also an existing Cinnabon location in Wheaton Mall. Auntie Anne’s has locations at the outlets in Clarksburg, Ellsworth Place Mall, Montgomery Mall, and Wheaton Mall in MoCo.

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New Dunkin’ is Coming to Chevy Chase Metro Building

By MCS Staff

A new Dunkin’ is coming to 2 Wisconsin Circle, the Chevy Chase Metro building in Chevy Chase. It is slated to take over suite 100, which was recently home to Karin’s Cafe (currently listed as temporarily closed on Google).

According to the rendering for the new location (seen below), it appears that it will have electronic ordering boards and a walk-up window for customers to pick up their orders. This is the second announced upcoming Chevy Chase location, with another Dunkin’ coming to 8500 Connecticut Ave. Opening dates for both Chevy Chase locations are not yet available.

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Opening Information for Dalia’s Falafel in Bethesda

By Patrick Herron

Dalia’s Falafel is scheduled to open its first brick and mortar location at 7750 Old Georgetown Road in Bethesda on Tuesday, July 11. Dalia’s opened up as a pop-up restaurant at 4223 Howard Avenue in Kensington back in August 2020 serving falafel pita sandwiches and falafel bowls. New items on the menu will include radishes, french fries, rice,  and Moroccan beef kabobs (full menu below.)

Dalia’s Falafel will be open Tuesday-Saturday 11am-7pm and Sunday 11am-2:30pm. The Kensington pop up will close once the Bethesda location opens. Last year, the local “Yelp MD Burbs” part of Yelp released its list of “Top 25 Places to Eat in MD Burbs” list and 15 of the 25 restaurants on the list are in Montgomery County, including Dalia’s Falafel, which came in at #21. Yelp is a popular company that publishes crowd-sourced reviews about businesses with a major focus on restaurants.

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Akira Ramen & Izakaya to Open Gaithersburg Location

By MCS Staff

Akira Ramen & Izakaya will open a new location next to Ela Mesa Taste of Greece (109 Paramount Park Drive) in the Spectrum Town Center in Gaithersburg. Construction has already started, but there’s plenty of work left to go before there’s a better idea of when the restaurant will open. Akira’s first restaurant opened in 2017 at The Galvan in Rockville.

Per Akira: At Akira Ramen, we specialize in taking the authentic ramen experience to the next level. First, we offer unique in-house broth that would suit everyones’ taste: Tonkatsu salt, Miso, Shoyu and Vegetable broth. With extra toppings as an option, you can customize your ramen anytime. Second, our thin and curly noodles are made in-house daily.

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Food Court Now Open at New Grand Mart in Germantown

By Patrick Herron

Noodles & Friends and Gogi Friends Korean BBQ have opened inside of the food court at New Grand Mart supermarket at 13069 Wisteria Drive in the Germantown Plaza shopping center. Additional vendors, including Tous les Jours (bakery) and Fortune Cha (bubble tea and dessert) are expected to open by the end of July. Menu items at Noodles & Friends include JjaJang (noodles with blackbean sauce), Jjampong (seafood soup), KimChi fried rice, and Shrimp Tangsu. Menu items at Gogi Friends includes BulGogi, Bibim Bap, Ramyeon noodles, and dumpling soup.

New Grand Mart opened in the space previously occupied by Lotte Plaza on June 8th. According to its website, “New Grand Mart carries a variety of fresh produce, fish, meats, and ethnic specialty items that is hard for other markets to match.”

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Charleys Cheeseteaks & Wings Opens Today in Germantown

By Patrick Herron

Charleys Cheesesteaks & Wings opens today, Friday, June 30, at 19877 Century Blvd in Germantown. Charleys is taking over the location that was previously home to Roll by Goodyear and Yogi Castle in the Shops at Town Center & Century Station shopping center. The restaurant is being opened by the same franchise group that owns the location at 405 N Frederick Ave in Gaithersburg. Unlike most mall food court locations, this Charleys will also serve wings and milkshakes.

In March, we reported that signage went up for Charleys Philly Steaks inside of the Germantown Walmart at 20910 Frederick Rd, taking over the space formerly occupied by McDonald’s. No opening date for the Wal-Mart Charleys has been announced but it is expected to open this summer.

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