Back in January we let you know that the Dunkin Donuts that’s currently located in the recently renovated Rock Grove Center on the corner of 355 and Shady Grove will be relocating. Employees have let us know that the move will officially take place at 4:30am on Monday, July 25. At that time the old location will close and the new location on the back side of the shopping center (the old United Bank location at 16268 Frederick Rd) will open.

The bank had a drive-thru, which will be used by Dunkin’. Baskin Robbins has also been added to this location, so customers can get their frozen treats on the go. The shopping center is currently home to Minerva, the newly opened Qdoba, and more, with a few retail locations still available to lease.


Nearly 3,200 restaurants around the world, including five right here in Montgomery County (listed below), have earned honors for their ambitious wine programs, bolstering their lists and cellars now that dining out has resumed. “After two challenging years, during which many customers took a long hiatus from dining out, restaurants are developing innovative ways to attract diners back, no matter their preferences. From wine flights to creative, quality “mocktails” and more, restaurants around the world are pulling out all the stops with their beverage programs to enhance the full dining experience, giving all wine lovers a reason to be excited about going out again.”

This year’s winning restaurants, each offering outstanding wine programs, hail from all 50 states and more than 70 countries and territories. The five from Montgomery County are:


Back in December we let you know that Pizza Hut is moving into the Cloppers Mill shopping center in Germantown. It will be located at 18070 Mateny Rd, between Shoppers and Popeyes. After more than 6 months, construction has started at the restaurant. The location is smaller, so it will likely be similar to the upcoming Pizza Hut location that is taking over part of the former GameStop location in Four Corners, which is also a smaller store.

Last September, David Gibbs (CEO of Pizza Hut parent company Yum Brands), told investors, “We closed a lot of the dine-in stores that didn’t belong on the portfolio over the last 18 months in the United States,” according to a transcript on the financial services site Sentieo. “But for the most part, the stores we have in the portfolio now are good, long-term stores.”


Feasty Crab opened on June 1st at 16811 Crabbs Branch Way (the former location of Red, Hot, & Blue) in Derwood. The seafood restaurant has now applied for a “Class B, Beer, Wine, and Liquor License, On Sale Only.” The restaurant will have its Alcohol Beverage Services (ABS) hearing at 9:30am on Thursday, August 4th.

Red, Hot, & Blue closed permanently back in July of 2019 after serving the Derwood area for 30 years. After almost two years of inactivity at the location, Feasty Crab signage was put up in April 2021. The menu features oysters, snow crabs, scallops, crawfish, mussels, and various Cajun sides and desserts. The restaurant is open Sunday-Thursday 11am-9pm and Friday & Saturday 11am-10pm and is currently hiring.


Olney Crab House opened at 18200 Georgia Avenue, Suite F/G, in May after 2.5 years of challenges that included a change in ownership. The restaurant is now looking to add a liquor license and has applied for a “Class B, Beer, Wine, and Liquor License, On Sale Only.” The hearing is set for Thursday, August 4th at 10:30am.

Per the restaurant’s website: “OLNEY Crab House is a new seafood restaurant located in Olney Maryland. Whether you choose the steamed seafood with the original taste from sea, or Maryland neighbors’ favorite crab cake, or just add some crab meat to a simple dish, we have plenty of options.


Back in March we let you know of a the third Crumbl Cookies location that will be coming to Montgomery County, as a new store signed on at 277 Kentlands Blvd, next to Panera, in the space that was formerly home to TD Ameritrade. This news came about five months after the upcoming Germantown locationwas announced.

Permanent signage went up at the Germantown location back in March and at the Kentlands location a couple weeks back, which led to  many readers asking if the bakery franchise, that offers different freshly baked cookies each week, would be opening soon. We have been told that the Germantown location hopes to open by the end of the summer (August is the goal), but after stopping by the Kentlands location again this week, it looks like there is a lot of work left to be done inside (photo below). We don’t anticipate an opening anytime soon.


Back in late February Baskin Robbins closed its doors at Cabin John Village, announcing plans to return to nearby Potomac Woods Plaza in the spring (it will be replaced by The Scoop). Many fans of the 31 flavors were disappointed that there was no word of a return well into the summer, but Baskin Robbins will be coming to 1079 Seven Locks Rd, in the space that’s currently home to Ibhana Creations.

According to a Store Reporter report, “Ibhana owner Meena Tharmaratnam, who has signed a new lease across from Panera on the back side of Rockville’s Federal Plaza. She hopes to vacate her current space on Aug. 9 and reopen in Rockville by the 15th.” Construction at Baskin Robbins is expected to begin immediately following Ibhana’s exit, but an opening timeframe is not yet available.


Pollo Campero has additional Montgomery County locations in Takoma Park and Wheaton. The Downtown Silver Spring location closed in December, 2021.

The fried chicken chain, which originated in Guatemala, opened its first location in 1971 and has grown to over 400 locations worldwide, including over 70 in the United States.


HalfSmoke is now open in Montgomery Mall. The restaurant is located in a kiosk in the food terrace that was the former home of Coldstone Creamery and more recently Gelato Galaxy. Though there have been separate restaurants off of the food court that served alcohol (ex: Slade’s), this is the first restaurant/bar that’s actually located in the food court to serve alcohol.

The menu consists of the best selling sausages and sides from their DC location, as well as boozy milkshakes and a funnel cake bar. HalfSmokes sister restaurant Butter Me Up opened its Montgomery Mall location in May.


Miss Toya’s Southern Kitchen will be moving in to the 2,741SF space recently occupied by BGR at 229 Boardwalk in Rio. The restaurant is part of Jeffeary Miskiri’s Miskiri Hospitality Group, which describes itself as a unique collective of Black, family and woman-owned products and restaurants in the DC area. The restaurant group will also be opening Miss Toya’s Creole House this summer in Downtown Silver Spring. The group’s restaurants include Creole on 14th (Miss Toya’s Creole Kitchen’s sister restaurant) and Po Boy Jim’s in DC, as well as Suga & Spice, listed as coming soon to Hyattsville.

BGR closed in June and the restaurant was almost immediately cleared out, so construction/renovations for Miss Toya’s could start very soon. An opening date, however, has not been provided. Per the BizJournals article that first reported this news, “The deal with Miskiri is Peterson’s second with the local restaurateur. The other is in Downtown Silver Spring, where Miskiri is close to opening another Miss Toya’s. That one has a special connection for Miskiri, a Takoma Park native who met his wife, Toya, at the Silver Spring Whole Foods Market, according to Weinschenk.” said Paul Weinschenk, president of retail for Peterson.“They’re very much a local story,” he said. “He grew up in the area, they live in Montgomery County, and as they’ve looked to branch out…Silver Spring made a lot of sense.”


Sportrock climbing centers is coming to Rio, taking over part of the space that was previously occupied by Sport & Health (Dave & Buster’s now occupies the other part of the space). Sportrock opened the first commercial climbing gym in the DC metro area approximately 28 years ago in 1994, when it opened its Rockville. That location closed in 2006, but Sportrock has continued to operate successfully in Alexandria, Virginia. Now, it’s bringing rock climbing back to Rio, where many remember the much smaller walls that were a part of Sportland in the 90s.

The Sportrock founders met while training together at Zich’s (pronounced Zeke’s) Garage, a handmade climbing gym in Washington, DC. When Zich was 19 he was looking for a place to train in the wintertime. Zich convinced his supportive parents to let me build a DIY climbing space in their freestanding car garage. When the demand outgrew the space, Sportrock founders broke off and formed Sportrock’s first location in Rockville (14708 Southlawn Ln) so they would continue to have a place to climb and train together.


View More Stories