Restaurants

Japong Bakery to Hold Soft Reopening on Sunday, July 16

By MCS Staff

Japong Bakery, which opened at 785 Rockville Pike in the Ritchie Center nearly five years ago in October 2018, closed temporarily on April 17th with a plan to reopen  approximately three weeks later at its new location at 765 A Rockville Pike within the same shopping center. After a bit of a delay, the bakery has announced it will hold its soft opening on Sunday, July 16th from 9am-8pm.

The message on social media read, “We are extremely happy and proud to announce that we will be opening our doors again to our amazing customers. we are excited to share our new shop with you, so please come to visit us soon! The soft re-opening is: Sunday, July 16, 9:00am – 8:00pm. Let’s Japong!”

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Stella Pointe Grille Will Hold its Grand Opening on Monday, July 17 in Kensington

By MCS Staff

Stella Point Grille has announced it will hold its grand opening this coming Monday, July 17th at 3739 University Blvd in Kensington– the former home of China Gourmet. They’ll be open from 11am until 2am, the restaurant’s regular weekday hours. Graham Gursky, joined in ownership with Stephen Lee, the principal owner of China Gourmet, have rebranded as Stella Point Grille and will offer what they call “elevated American bar fare.”

Gursky let us know the food will be competitively priced, “We won’t be selling $20 chicken wings or $10 Miller Lites.” he said. Gursky also praised local Kensington restaurants Knowles Station and Talia’s Cuzina, telling us that there are great restaurants in Kensington but that he hopes to fill the void of something lacking in the area. Stella Point Grille will be a restaurant where you can enjoy a nice meal and is also a sports bar with 17 televisions ranging 55 to 85 inches. They’ll offer event nights like karaoke, trivia, etc. along with signature food specials created by Chef Leonel Merlos throughout most of the week.

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Update: Auntie Anne’s/Cinnabon is Open in Rio, But Only Serving Cinnabon For Now

By MCS Staff

Auntie Anne’s/Cinnabon combination restaurant opened last week at 220 Boardwalk Place in Rio, taking 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 have received an update that only Cinnabon is available for now with Auntie Anne’s items coming soon.

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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Guapo’s Bethesda Temporarily Closed for Renovations; Aiming to Reopen This Weekend

By MCS Staff

Popular local restaurant chain Guapo’s has temporarily closed its Bethesda location at 8130 Wisconsin Avenue for renovations. A representative from the restaurant let us know that they hope to reopen on Saturday, but to call ahead to make sure. Guapo’s has a second Montgomery County location in Gaithersburg at Rio Lakefront.

Late owner Hector Rincón, originally from Colombia, opened the original Guapo’s in Tenleytown in DC in the early 90s. Per Guapo’s, the Rincon family arrived in Virginia in the late 1970’s. All four children graduated from Fairfax County schools and universities and continued to invest in their community. They believed that their businesses should provide opportunity and pride to demonstrate the dedication to their hometown and the metropolitan area. Now their children continue the same aspirations as their grandparents did when they arrived over 30 years ago. Featured photo courtesy of Google Maps.

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La Casita to Open New Location in Laurel

By MCS Staff

La Casita, founded in Montgomery County when the Silver Spring location opened in 2002, has announced an upcoming location in nearby Laurel. La Casita Pupuseria currently has locations serving Germantown, Gaithersburg, Nationals Park & Union Market District.

Per La Casita on social media, “We have a very special announcement to make (and please pardon our dust 👷🏽‍♂️)…a brand new La Casita Pupuseria is coming to Laurel, MD! Yes, we are super excited to finally be able to reveal after a long project that hopefully by Fall 2023 we will be able to serve the greater Laurel area right on Baltimore Ave.”

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McDonald’s to Give Away Free Fries on Thursday, July 13

By Patrick Herron

Fast food chain McDonald’s will be offering free fries of any size on Thursday, July 13. The deal is only available through the McDonald’s app and no additional purchase is necessary. The promotion is a part of National Fry Day, which technically falls on Friday, July 14. According to nationaldaycalendar.com, “In 2022, Checkers and Rally’s fast food restaurants went on a mission to petition National Day Calendar to change the date of National French Fry Day. Their goal was to change the July 13 date to the second Friday in July. Under advisement of Cal our Calendar Mascot, National Day Calendar changed the date. National French Fry Day would be celebrated each year on a Friday!”

McDonald’s currently runs a “Free Fries Friday” deal where customers get a free medium fries with any $1 minimum purchase when using McDonald’s app. On Friday, July 14, Burger King is offering free fries of any size with any purchase to its Royal Perks loyalty program members, Wendy’s is offering free fries of any size with any purchase made using the Wendy’s app, and Checkers is offering a free XL fries to Checkers Rewards app members.

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Maryland is “State with the 7th Least At-Risk Youth” Per Study

By MCS Staff

With 16% of young Americans neither working nor in school, exposing them to greater risk of poverty and violence, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2023’s States with the Most At-Risk Youth, with Maryland coming in as the state with the 7th least at-risk youth.

To determine where young Americans are not faring as well as others in their age group, especially in a year made extremely stressful by inflation, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 15 key indicators of youth risk. The data set ranges from the share of disconnected youth to the labor force participation rate among youth to the youth poverty rate. At-Risk Youth in Maryland (1=Most at Risk; 25=Avg.):

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MoCo’s Black Viking Brewing is a Finalist For USA Today’s Best New Brewery in the U.S.

By MCS Staff

Black Viking Brewing (BVB) was founded in August 2020 over coffee and pastries at the Black Lion Cafe in North Potomac by former Montgomery County basketball players turned beer lovers, Jamil Raoof (Wootton ’08; the brewer) and Shaun Taylor (Magruder ’99; the marketer). Now, the brewery is a finalist for a reader’s choice award for USA Today’s Best New Brewery (click the link to vote). Black Viking expects to open their own physical location by Summer 2024.

The co-founders first met while Jamil was a player at Wootton and Shaun was an assistant varsity basketball coach. Since they launched their first beer back in October 2021, Black Viking Brewing has shaken up the beer world with their ‘Zingabier’ aka “The World’s Most Drinkable Beer” (a deliciously drinkable golden ale, brewed with the perfect blend of zesty ginger and sweet, wildflower honey), their ability to build community through both beer and social media (Black Viking TV), and their strategic collaboration projects (most notably with Samuel Adams in April 2023).

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Update on Margarita Bar & Grill in Germantown

By Patrick Herron

Margarita Bar & Grill at 19201 Frederick Rd in Germantown has its beer, wine, and liquor license hearing with the Montgomery County ABS scheduled for August 3. The restaurant is taking over the space that was previously occupied by the Fraternal Order of Eagle #3509 and Captain Mori’s Seafood House. Seafood in the Buff, a mobile steamed crab business, operates out of the parking lot of this location in the summer months.  Signage for Margarita Bar & Grill went up back in March. No additional information is known about the new restaurant at this time.

There are two Margaritas Bar & Grill locations in Georgia that use the same logo but it is unclear if the restaurants are related. Margaritas will join Mi Rancho (19725 Germantown Rd), Señor Tequila’s (20021 Century Blvd), La Gula (21030 Frederick Rd), Abi Azteca (11514 Middlebrook Rd), La Mexicana (13016 Middlebrook Rd), and Rio Grande (13541 Clopper Rd) as places to grab a margarita in Germantown.

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Maryland/Virginia Ice Cream Shop Named “Best Indie Ice Cream Shop in the U.S.”

By MCS Staff

USA Today recently released its “10 Best Indie Ice Cream Shops in the U.S.” list and Island Creamery, located in Maryland and Virginia, took the number 1 spot. Island Creamery opened up shop on Chincoteague Island in Virginia in 1975.l, where they still make all of the ice cream. They have since opened locations in Berlin, MD (Worcester County) and Salisbury, MD (Wicomico County)– both detours many here in MoCo can make on the way to the beach this summer.

Per the article, “Churning an all-natural premium ice cream mix from local cows, Island Creamery’s flavors are inspired by local fruit farmers. Some of the most popular homemade small-batch treats include Bourbon Caramel Crunch, Java Jolt, super rich double chocolate Marsh Mud and Cotton Candy Party.” Additional information can be found on the Island Creamery website.

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