Last October we let you know that Peet’s Coffee would be closing its Silver Spring location with a Starbucks taking over the storefront at 1316 East-West Highway at The Blair’s Shopping Center in Silver Spring. The store has opened, and Instagram user @nerdysporks has shared some photos on their Instagram story (one photo seen below).

The Berkeley, California-born Peet’s coffee chain that closed, originally planned to open 23 locations in the DC area in 2014/2015, with the first debuting at 1701 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW. MoCo locations included the Silver Spring location and two Bethesda locations– one in Montgomery Mall that closed in 2017 and one at 7629 Old Georgetown Rd that closed in 2020 after 6 years. Featured photo courtesy of Instagram user @_zainyyy_


Gentleman Jim’s Restaurant at 18257 Flower Hill Way in Gaithersburg will be holding its first annual Wing Eating Contest on Saturday, July 29 in honor of National Wing Day. The competition begins at noon and there is a $50 registration fee per contestant. According to the restaurant, “All participants receive a T-Shirt, 1lb of wings per qualified round, and a High Noon to wash it down! Tons of giveaways from suppliers and a Grand Prize of a Yuengling Neon!”

Gentleman Jim’s, one of the pioneers of Maryland Style Pizza, got started in Twinbrook off of Veirs Mill back in 1971, by the gentleman himself – Jim Hance. In its previous incarnation it was known as the Cavalier restaurant, when it was located in Washington D.C. They made the move to 18917 Earhart Ct. in Gaithersburg in 1990 and then relocated down the road to its current Flower Hill location in 2021.


Gordon Ramsay has already opened two restaurants at the Wharf, with his Fish & Chips and Hell’s Kitchen concepts opening within the last year. Last year, he also announced the impending arrival of the his Street Pizza concept– with plans for The Wharf in DC to be the home of the restaurant’s first United States location. BizJournals reports that permits have finally been obtained to move forward with the project.

Per the report, the all-you-can-eat pizza restaurant will move into a location that is “7,100 square feet across two floors and two tenant spaces at 501-507 Seventh St. NW, a block south of Capital One Arena and across the street from José Andrés’ Jaleo.” The restaurant will have over 200 seats and the “layout suggests each level will have its own bar, pool table, lounge, kitchen and dining area.”


Dream on Me, the New Jersey-based company that recently purchased BuyBuy Baby’s brand and digital assets for $15.5 million and was a supplier for the store, was the successful bidder for 11 store leases at a bankruptcy auction for about $1.17 million, according to court records that were filed last week. Buy Buy Baby’s sole Montgomery County location, at 1683 Rockville Pike in Rockville’s Congressional Plaza, will be closing its doors on Sunday, July 30th. According to court documents, the Rockville location, which was the first Buy Buy Baby store to ever open, is included in the eleven leases that were purchased.

Per CNBC, “It is not immediately clear what Dream on Me plans to do with the 11 leases. The retailer does not have a brick and mortar footprint and currently sells its goods through a host of retail partners, including Amazon, Kohl’s, Target, Walmart and Home Depot, according to its website. However, Dream on Me could use the Buy Buy Baby IP assets it already obtained – plus the leases – to reopen the beloved chain.


Doki Toki Dessert is currently closed in Downtown Crown. The bakery and dessert shop, which is located at 202 Ellington Blvd in Gaithersburg’s Downtown Crown, opened in May of 2022. Google currently lists the store as permanently closed and Kite Realty has the space available to lease, but management tells us that they are currently in negotiations with the landlord, so Doki Toki’s future remains to be seen.

Doki Toki offers soft serve ice cream, mochi donuts, bubble tea and more.


Hello Vietnam! a new restaurant by the people who brought Vietfood/Viet Kitchen to Pike Kitchen, is now open at 2200 Veirs Mill Rd in the Twinrbook Center in Rockville. The new restaurant has taken over a 1,500 SF space that was previously occupied by Asia Market and is currently in a soft opening phase. Various pictures and menu items can be seen below.

The Twinbrook Center is located at 1902 Veirs Mill Rd, Rockville, MD 20850, and is currently anchored by Lotte Mart and previously by CVS, which closed last summer. Other tenants include Twinbrook Deli, Don Pollo, Dunkin’, Little Caesars, and more.


Updated to reflect that Kevin Hsieh graduated from Gaithersburg in 2013.

Washingtonian Magazine writes that “Food influencers love to promote restaurants as “hidden gems” to the TikTok and Instagram masses.” so the magazine put together a list of “The DC Area’s Best “Hidden Gem” Restaurants, According to Food Influencers”. Montgomery County’s Bao Bei was the only MoCo restaurant to be listed.


In April it was announced that all 360 Bed Bath & Beyond and all 120 Buy Buy Baby stores will be closing permanently. Buy Buy Baby’s sole Montgomery County location, at 1683 Rockville Pike in Rockville’s Congressional Plaza, will be closing its doors forever on Sunday, July 30th. The Rockville location was the first Buy Buy Baby store to ever open.

Currently, the store is offering major discounts on all products, but is out of furniture, toys, and other items. There is still a high volume of clothes offered with major discounts. An employee let us know that this is changing by the day, so we recommend anyone checking it out to those who are interested and won’t get into specifics on what is available aside from the clothes.


Update: The targeted opening is now by the end of September 

The Heights Food Hall at Wisconsin Place in Chevy Chase is now targeting a late August opening.  The new food hall will be located in the space formerly occupied by Anthropologie and PF Chang’s on the 5400 block of Wisconsin Ave. The Heights will offer both indoor and outdoor patio dining and will be open seven days a week from 11am-Midnight. According to Common Plate Hospitality (CPH) group, the food hall will include: e one full-service restaurant (Urbano), a full-service bar (The Heights Bar), a speakeasy (The Turncoat), and eight local food stalls, including one stall picked from Urbano’s “Stall Wars” competition. We expect the following culinary partners at this anticipated culinary space:


Tom Sietsema, The Washington Post’s food critic since 2000, has just released the latest version of his “6 Favorite Places to Eat Right Now” and the list features one of Montgomery County’s newest restaurants– Charley Prime. “The menu casts a wide net without going all Cheesecake Factory on its audience.” Sietsema wrote.

Charley Prime opened in Gaithersburg’s Rio Lakefront in May and has been generally well-received by the community. The new restaurant from Jackie Greenbaum & Gordon Banks (Little Coco’s, El Chucho, Bar Charley, Quarry House Tavern) replaced Tara Thai on the Rio Lakefront boardwalk at 9811 Washington Blvd. It features an extensive steak menu that includes filet mignon, New York strip, and a 36oz Tomahawk ribeye, as well as house made pastas and sandwiches like the Roasted Lamb French Dip.


Olney Winery has been operating since 2012, initially as The Winery at Olney. The winemaker was located at 18127 Town Center Drive in the Fair Hill shopping center in Olney until September of last year. In 2016, expanded and opened a tasting room in the stone house at 12810 Shank Farm Way in Hagerstown. Last week, Olney Winery opened its new space at 52 Olney Sandy Spring Road in Ashton Market. In addition to wine, they’re also offering pizza at the location.

Per Olney Winery: “Olney Winery employs the unique business model of sourcing our grape product from suppliers and vineyards all over the world to ferment over 34 different varietals of award-winning wines locally. We bring the world of wine to Maryland.


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