China Gourmet, located at 3739 University Blvd for the last 35 years, has announced earlier this month that the restaurant will be closing permanently at the end of December. The restaurant cites the retirement of “key personnel” as the main reason, stating that it “just would not be China Gourmet” without them. What’s next for the space? The owners also announced that they’ll be remodeling and reopening as an “American sports-themed restaurant” in the future. Full message by China Gourmet below:

“To Our Loyal Patrons and Friends,


At the beginning of the year we let you know of Raising Cane’s planned expansion into the D.C. metropolitan region, with the first restaurant planned for Sterling, VA at 45545 Dulles Eastern Plaza. Raising Cane’s officially opened its first Metro area restaurant on Tuesday, December 13th. Raising Cane’s aims to open 14 stores in the next year, stretching from suburban Baltimore to the Richmond area, with more to on tap for 2023 including Bowie, Dumfries, Manassas and Springfield. No Montgomery County locations have been announced yet.

Founded by Todd Graves in 1996 in Baton Rouge, La., Raising Cane’s has more than 460 restaurants in 27 states, Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates with multiple new restaurants under construction. The international expansion began in 2015. The menu is simple and focuses on chicken finger combos , chicken finger sandwiches, crinkle-cut fries, Texas toast, sweet/iced tea, and Cane’s sauce. The menu can be seen below:


Last month we let you know that longtime MoCo restaurant Amalfi Ristorante Italiano at 12307 Wilkins Ave in Rockville was bought by the owners of Chef Tony’s Restaurant in Bethesda. The restaurant has a hearing for a liquor license on Thursday, December 15 at 10:30am and hopes to reopen later in the month. Full statement from Chef Tony’s from last month can be seen below:

“So it’s now official, my wife Sonia, and myself have purchased Amalfi Restaurant and Rockville. We are so excited to get started with this new project, and will explain everything in our email going out today… We will be blending the Chef Tonys brand with the wonderful accolades of Amalfi Restaurant, which is been around 45 years in the Rockville market. We are so excited to get started and will let you know when transitions will happen. To be clear, we are not leaving the promenade, but are adjusting the concept a bit… We can I think all the amazing clients that I’ve gotten us here over the years. And we’re so excited to blend Chef Tonys family with the amalfi family in more ways than one. We hope to reopen in December, in time for the holiday events, and serve you all with pride and honor. Thank you again for all your support… See you soon, and here’s to a grand adventure!”


Jersey Mike’s will be opening a new restaurant in the Northgate Plaza in Aspen Hill. The restaurant, which is currently hiring, will be taking over the  location that was formerly home to Body & Brain Tai Chi– between Dunkin’ and Roy Rogers.

Jersey Mike’s was founded as Mike’s Submarines in Point Pleasant, New Jersey in 1956. Peter Cancro started working at the restaurant in 1968 when he was 14 and the shop was on its third hour. Three years later the shop went up for sale again and with the help of a local high school football coach who was also a banker, Cancro was able to pull together $125,000 to buy it at age 17. He began to franchise the restaurant in 1987 and now has over 2,000 locations with various locations across Montgomery County.


Earlier this 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 four of the top five. Yelp is a popular company that publishes crowd-sourced reviews about businesses with a major focus on restaurants. The Montgomery County restaurants that made the list can be seen below (most pictures courtesy of Taste MoCo):

25. Trattoria Da Lina (7000 Carroll Ave, Takoma Park)


Since Inspire Brands acquired Dunkin’ and Baskin Robbins in late 2020 for $11.3 billion, the company has been opening in former bank locations that allow for easy installation of a drive-thru window. Dunkin’ has also aimed for non-traditional development that includes opening in airports and on college campuses, including the University of Maryland, but the three newest Dunkin’ coffee/donut shops that are coming to MoCo will all be in locations that were formally banks.

One of the latest upcoming Dunkin’ locations is currently under construction at the Layhill Center (14328 Layhill Rd) in Silver Spring. The new location, which will have a drive-thru, will be located next to Sole D’Italia, in the space that was formerly home to Truist and BB&T Bank. Dunkin’ also has an upcoming location coming to the Traville Village Center in Rockville. It will be taking over the former Capital One Bank building at 9761 Traville Gateway Dr. We expect more news coming out of the shopping center regarding the former Nantucket’s Reef location very soon. Dunkin’ is also working on an upcoming location coming to the Goshen Crossing Shopping Center in Gaithersburg/Montgomery Village. It will be taking over the former Capital One Bank building at 20000 Goshen Rd.


Back in May we let you know about ‘That Smoothie Place’ coming to Damascus, taking over the location that was formerly home to Sprint in the Damascus shopping center at 9815 Main Street, suite 106. The store is soft opening starting today, Friday, December 9th, and it’s not just about healthy snacks at That Smoothie Place, where an inclusive workplace is prioritized.

Per That Smoothie Place: “Our store started as a small dream, a small food truck with big ideas and a focus on inclusivity. Only a year into opening our tiny smoothie truck, it gained popularity as word spread that our employees were indeed the center of our positive vibes. That began our journey to search for a storefront to expand and spread love and smoothies.


Back in August we let you know that La Catrina Bar & Lounge is coming to 4935 Cordell Avenue in Bethesda, taking over the location that was formerly home to George’s Chophouse, 4935 Bar & Kitchen, The Loft at 4935, Tragara’s, and others. The has pushed back the opening date a couple times, but has now announced that it will be opening on Friday, December 9th. The dining room will be open at 5pm and the dance floor will open at 10pm, according to the latest social media post by La Catrina (available below).

La Catrina boasts “the true Mexican experience” and “tacos, tequila, and party”, as the space consists of two levels that can be used for dining, dancing, and more, which allows for a different experience from the other recently opened restaurants in Bethesda that offer Mexican cuisine (Chaia, Mexicue, Tacombi).


At the beginning of the year we let you know of Raising Cane’s planned expansion into the D.C. metropolitan region, with the first restaurant planned for Sterling, VA at 45545 Dulles Eastern Plaza. Raising Cane’s has announced that the restaurant will officially open on Tuesday, December 13th. Raising Cane’s aims to open 14 stores in the next year, stretching from suburban Baltimore to the Richmond area, with more to on tap for 2023 including Bowie, Dumfries, Manassas and Springfield. No Montgomery County locations have been announced yet.

Founded by Todd Graves in 1996 in Baton Rouge, La., Raising Cane’s has more than 460 restaurants in 27 states, Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates with multiple new restaurants under construction. The international expansion began in 2015. The menu is simple and focuses on chicken finger combos , chicken finger sandwiches, crinkle-cut fries, Texas toast, sweet/iced tea, and Cane’s sauce. The menu can be seen below:


Fryer’s Roadside first opened in 2021, serving fried chicken, sides, soft-serve ice cream and snowballs to the Montgomery County community. After a year, previous ownership announced that the eatery was available for sale, prompting Chef Reavis and Meltzer to purchase the restaurant in September 2022. Chef Reavis, who grew up eating Southern cooking in a small southeastern Virginia town, has thoughtfully overhauled the menu which now features reimagined versions of some Fryer’s favorites alongside unique new additions. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cl14E4Pu1yn/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link


The Muoi Tieu food truck, serving Vietnamese cuisine, is set to debut on Dec. 9 at the Takoma Park Gift(ing) Market and will also participate in the Market at the Bank event on December 18. The official soft opening and grand opening is coming in January 2023. So far, the menu consists of Cuon (Rice Paper Rolls) and Banh Mi (Vietnamese Sandwiches) and will be serving the Takoma Park area.

Per the Muoi Tieu website: “Muoi Tieu, which means “salt” and “pepper” in Vietnamese, is a Vietnamese food truck in Takoma Park, MD. Like our name, our philosophy is simple – we want to bring classic, savory Vietnamese dishes (with some fun twists) to our vibrant community. Muoi Tieu is Vietnamese-owned, woman-owned, and family run. The Muoi Tieu logo is a tribute to the owner’s late grandmother, an amazing cook, mother, and grandmother, who expressed her generosity and love through her cooking. The words “muoi” and “tieu” in our logo were extracted from the personal accounting books she kept when she first came to the U.S. Though she never wrote down a recipe, her dishes always turned out consistent and delicious and never failed to delight us. It is that level of care, meticulousness, and delight that we hope to carry on through Muoi Tieu.”


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