Coming soon signage recently went up at Miss Toya’s Southern Kitchen at 229 Boardwalk Pl. in Rio. The restaurant will be located in the 2,741SF space previously occupied by BGR, which closed back in June. We have been told by Rio Lakefront that the restaurant is currently anticipating an early 2023 opening. Miss Toya’s Southern Kitchen in Rio will be a fast-casual restaurant, while the recently opened Miss Toya’s Creole Kitchen at 923 Ellsworth Dr in Downtown Silver Spring is full-service (wait staff, etc.).

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. Miss Toya’s will serve southern-influenced dishes such as red beans and rice, macaroni and cheese and a southern fried chicken sandwich. It will be joining the recently announced Sportrock Climbing Centers, Charley Prime, Le Macaron, as well as the recently opened Donutchew, as locally-based businesses opening in Gaithersburg’s Rio. Below you’ll see a video of the recently opened full-service Miss Toya’s restaurant in Downtown Silver Spring:


Coming soon signage is now up around the exterior of Charley Prime Foods, the new restaurant from Jackie Greenbaum & Gordon Banks (Little Coco’s, El Chucho, Bar Charley, Quarry House Tavern) that will be replacing Tara Thai on the Rio Lakefront boardwalk at 9811 Washington Blvd in Gaithersburg. Originally aiming for a Fall/Winter 2022 opening, the restaurant had its Class B: Beer, Wine, & Liquor license hearing on August 4th and construction continues as Rio representatives have let us know that the restaurant is now scheduled to open “early 2023”.

According to a press release, the Charley Prime team envisions the restaurant as a mature version of their popular DC restaurant Bar Charley, with an expanded menu, but keeping its lively cocktail forward energy. The broader menu will remain steak focused, but will also feature house made pastas (a la Little Coco’s) as well as other items unique to just this location. The group has tapped Editlab@Streetsense to design the space. Explains Greenbaum, “We can’t wait to do our first suburban project and think the timing is perfect. We’ve always done restaurants that are near and dear to our hearts and that we feel are right or needed in the particular neighborhood. My partners both have young families and Rio has been a frequent destination for them for years, as it is for tons of people in north Montgomery county. This is especially true for our chef and partner in this project, Adam Harvey, who lives nearby. We’re really thrilled to bring something unique to the mix out there.”


Last December we let you know that Kruba Thai would be coming to Park Potomac. Instead, Pama Thai has arrived. The new Thai restaurant comes from the owners of Kruba Thai, which has a location at 301 Water St. near Nationals Park in Washington, DC. Their menu offers traditional Thai dishes, but we are told will not offer sushi like DC”s Kruba Thai (aside from one appetizer roll). Pama Thai had a soft opening earlier in the week and has since listed that it will be open from 11:00am-9:30pm, 7 days a week. It is located at the former Wine Harvest location at 12525 Park Potomac Ave B.

The menu offers a variety of appetizers ranging from $7-$13, that includes chicken satay, chive dumplings, curry puffs, and more. Pama signature dishes range from $18-$20, and include pineapple fried rice (featured photo), clay pot shrimp, crispy eggplant, and more. Entrees, curries, noodles, and fried rice dishes all come in at $15 a piece, and four different desserts are available, ranging from $5.95-$9.95.


Vietfood, a Vietnamnese restaurant that currently operates as a stall called Viet Kitchen in Rockville’s Pike Kitchen, will be moving to a new location at The Twinbrook Center in Rockville. It will be taking over a 1,500 SF space that was previously occupied by Asia Market., according to the brochure for the shopping center by klnb. An opening date is not yet available.

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 this past summer. Other tenants include Twinbrook Deli, Don Pollo, Dunkin’, Little Caesars, and more. Longtime tenant Bamboo Buffet also appears to be leaving, as the space they’re currently operating in is available for lease, according to the property brochure.


On Top, a new restaurant offering Korean and Japanese fusion cuisine, opened its stall earlier this month at Pike Kitchen food hall in Rockville (1066 Rockville Pike).

The restaurant has shared photographs of yubu, which is a fried tofu pocket filled with rice and various toppings “On Top.” Our featured photo, courtesy of @ontop_pike on Instagram, shows Masago, Spicy Crab, Spicy Pork, Spicy Chicken, Unagi (Eel), and Mentaiko Mayo yubu. Donburi, a Japanese rice bowl dish consisting of fish, meat, vegetables or other ingredients served together over rice, is also on the menu. We do not have a website for the restaurant at this moment.


Way back in July 2021 we let you know that Wayback Burgers, a fast-casual burger chain based out of Connecticut, is coming to Montgomery County with a new location in Gaithersburg. Permanent signage has now been erected, and though there is a tarp partially covering the sign, it’s evident that it says “Wayback Burgers”.

Construction on the restaurant began a while ago, but there have been plenty of delay before recent progress. The restaurant  will be located at The Shops of Potomac Valley shopping center at 12121 Darnestown Rd. in the location that was formerly home to an AT&T store and a tanning salon before that.


BB.Q Chicken is now open at 2235 Bel Pre Rd in Plaza Del Mercado (Silver Spring).  It has been over a year and a half since we announced that it would replace Fu Lin Restaurant, which closed on February 21st, 2021. BB.Q Chicken, a global chain of restaurants offering Korean fried chicken and more, has another Montgomery County location at 9712 Traville Gateway Dr in Rockville.

The “BB.Q” stands for “Best of the Best Quality”. The restaurant’s menu offers a wide variety of starters, including waffle fries with nacho cheese, kimchi chicken sliders, and many different flavors of their olive chicken strips. Entrees include half/whole chicken, boneless chicken, garlic chicken, and many different flavors of wings. They also have sandwiches, soups, salads, and plenty of homemade sides. Below you’ll see a picture of the interior, courtesy of Dean Themis.


Mashed is a global, multi-platform food brand with an audience of 25 million monthly readers and over 1 million subscribers on YouTube. They recently released a list of the “absolute best nachos in every state” and Glenmont’s very own Trippy Tacos earned the nod for Maryland.

Per the article, “Maryland’s Trippy Tacos crowns each platter of tasty nachos with Trippy Sauce, a complex yet mild sauce that perks up the layers of pico de gallo, tender meat, and satiny crema. With several varieties of meat-based nachos like steak, el pastor, and chicken, Trippy Tacos has the carnivores covered. They’ll also keep vegetarians happy with stacked veggie nachos. Yelp reviews laud the fresh combos, creativity, and convenience, all topped with a hearty dose of Trippy Sauce.


Gordon Ramsay’s Fish & Chips has soft opened at 665 Water Street at the base of the Williams & Connolly building The Wharf in DC.  Originally, Ramsay planned on opening his Fish & Chips restaurant at 501 Seventh Street, Northwest, DC, but decided he would open a bottomless pizza restaurant there instead (coming soon). Gordon Ramsay Fish & Chips was the second of his restaurants announced for The Wharf as the Michelin-starred Chef is also bringing his Hell’s Kitchen concept to The Wharf.

The fast casual Gordon Ramsay Fish & Chips menu offers six different types of combos, including a fish, shrimp, and chicken combo, as well as fishwich, chickenwich, and fish & shrimp combo, ranging in price from $14.99-$18.99. You have the option to “hook it up” by adding either extra fish, shrimp or chicken ($3.99-$5.99). Each combo comes with your choice of two sauces, and you can choose between Gordon’s tartar, curry & mango, sriracha aioli, southwest ranch, dijon mayo, and cocktail sauce. Chips are also available on their own, either plain or in three different versions of “dirty chips.” For dessert you can choose either a sticky toffee shake or a biscoff shake. Alcoholic beverages (beer and wine) are also available for those 21+.


Things have been quiet at 1701 Rockville Pike # B1 in The Shops at Congressional Village (which was recently auctioned for $44 million), the site of Eerkin’s Uygher Cuisine, and that may be because the restaurant has signed on to open up down the street at the former Amici Miei location at 6 N Washington Street in the Courthouse Center in Rockville, according to the Federal Realty website. Eerkin’s is no longer listed as a tenant at The Shops at Congressional Village.

Courthouse Center, where Eerkin’s has signed on to open, was home to the recently closed Woodside Deli, and is currently home to East Dumpling House and Subway. An opening date is not currently available. Photo of Federal Realty’s site plan below. The news was first mentioned by The MoCo Source on Instagram.


Back in January 2021, we let you know of site plans that were being developed for Kensington Crossing, a new retail development that will be located at 10619 Connecticut Avenue (at Plyers Mill Road) in Kensington. In May 2022, Montgomery Planning staff recommended approval (with conditions) for the project. Though it may take some time until construction begins after final approval, Kensington Crossing has already signed it’s first three tenants– M&T Bank, Buffalo Wild Wings GO, and Mezeh.

M&T Bank, which currently has a Kensington location on Howard Avenue, signed on as its first tenant to take over its largest space (2,635 SF). A representative from the Howard Avenue location has told us that the plan is for the branch to relocate to the new space once it’s ready to go.


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