China King at 8035 Snouffer School Rd in Gaithersburg has closed. The restaurant opened in 2001 and closed its doors this past April. The owners tell us that difficulty staffing and pandemic woes helped them to decide it was time to retire.
China King was known for its modern interpretation of classic dishes and for using high quality fresh ingredients. The restaurant was located between 7-Eleven and El Salvadoran restaurant El Encanto.
The restaurant that will be opening in the space that was formerly home to Greene Turtle at 19961 Century Blvd in Germantown will be called Four Seas Restaurant.
We received confirmation of the permanent closure of Greene turtle in Germantown back in the summer of 2020. Since then, the building was available for sale and ended up settling back on December 17th, 2021 for $3 million. Jim McGinnis, of Restaurant Brokers & Developers, represented the sale of the building (19961 Century Blvd in Germantown), the former home of the Greene Turtle.
Snow Bots, one of the first places to make snow cream relatively popular in Montgomery County, announced that it closed permanently via social media at the beginning of June.
Located at 1701 Rockville Pike, near Congressional Plaza, since 2014, the snow cream and bubble tea shop was one of the first to bring egg waffles to the area (called puffles). Snow Bots also introduced larger bubble tea cups that were more like soup containers.
The grand opening for Roaming Rooster at 11586 Old Georgetown Road, North Bethesda, is set for June 21st. The 1,843-square-foot restaurant will feature its famous buttermilk fried chicken sandwiches, sides, salads and an all week breakfast menu. A minority- and family-owned business founded in 2015, Roaming Rooster began as a food truck that traveled across the Washington, D.C. metro region. Its popularity grew and today there are several food trucks and multiple storefronts. This will be the first Roaming Rooster in Maryland and Montgomery County and its sixth fast-casual restaurant in the region.
In early 2015, Roaming Rooster was founded in Washington, D.C. by a family with a unique concept. The idea of a food truck with fried chicken that you could feel good about eating: free-range, grain-fed, and antibiotic free chicken served fresh every day. Within months, word got out on social media about the delicious poultry menu and the demand for Roaming Rooster soon called for the expansion from one food truck to three and subsequently, to numerous brick and mortars. Since then, the popularity of the only food truck in D.C. serving tasty free-range chicken has grown massively. Requests for catering, private events, and scheduled food truck visits have been pouring in from D.C. and the surrounding areas of Maryland and Virginia. The fast expansion of Roaming Rooster in just under a year is easy to explain – where your food comes from matters, and we bring that ideal to every meal we serve.
Silver Spring Wings has announced it will be opening up a new location this summer in the Wheaton Urban District. According to owner Evan Walton, Silver Spring Wings will also be sharing a space with its sister brand, District Teriyaki. He plans to announce more information, including the exact location and opening date, in the the next couple of weeks. Walton tells us, “I’m super excited to serve Moco again. It’s been a long stressful year and a half but I’m committed to my work and this community.”
Walton started Silver Spring Wings in 2020 around the start of the pandemic after all of his catering business events were suddenly cancelled. He decided to launch several food concepts out of his catering kitchen to attempt to make up for the loss and keep his employees.
Popular Burmese restaurant Mandalay, which was located at 930 Bonifant Street in Silver Spring, posted a message to its Facebook account on Tuesday stating that the restaurant will be returning to Silver Spring soon.
Mandalay first announced in 2019 that it would be moving to a new location in Washington, DC., but and closed the restaurant in Silver Spring on October 31 of 2021. There have been few updates on the status of that location, but the restaurant did make another Facebook post in February, seeking the public’s opinion on possibly reopening.
The OTC Bar & Grille in Olde Towne Gaithersburg has announced it is now hiring and will be opening this summer. OTC Bar & Grille is being opened by the owners of the Olde Towne Cafe at 226 E Diamond Ave, who have owned the business since 2000. It is located in the former Olde Towne Cafe restaurant space, as well as the adjacent space that was previously home to Diamond Drugs. Last year the owners knocked down the wall that separates the two locations to create the new restaurant/bar space.
BGR, which stands for “Burgers Grilled Right,” will close its Rio location permanently on Saturday, June 11th, according to a representative from the restaurant. BGR opened in Rio approximately 10 years ago at 229 Boardwalk Place, next to Muse Paint Bar, just outside of the building that contains the movie theater.
We were informed of the news by Montgomery County restaurateur, Wesley Yao, who was told of the upcoming closure when employees of the BGR location reached out seeking employment and informed him that they were notified Saturday will be the last day of operations for Rio’s BGR. The news was confirmed via phone call today.
Signage is up at Miss Toya’s at 923 Ellsworth Dr in Silver Spring, the former site of Eggspectation. Eggspectation, a Montreal based breakfast restaurant with locations across the world, closed back in September 2020 after 15 years in that location. Miss Toya’s is a Cajun/Creole restaurant by local chef Jeffeary Miskiri. On Monday the restaurant posted on its Instagram page that they are now hiring and according to an Instagram story by Miskiri Hospitality, the restaurant will be opening in about 30 days.
Miskiri is the founder and owner of Miskiri Hospitality Group, which describes itself as a unique collective of Black, family and woman-owned products and restaurants in the DC area. The group’s restaurants include Creole on 14th and Po Boy Jim’s in DC, as well as Suga & Spice, listed as coming soon to Hyattsville. Miskiri told Source of the Spring last year that “Miss Toya’s is the sister restaurant to my full-service restaurant, Creole on 14th, the reason behind it being to expand on Creole and Cajun food” and “The diversity and the body of language that that cuisine presents is so large that I knew that I could something similar, but totally different at the same time,” and that he’s “just really excited to bring that Cajun-Creole flair and twist to the neighborhood.”
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, according to Chris Wilkinson of JBG Smith. It will be moving to the back side of the shopping center, taking over the old United Bank location at 16268 Frederick Rd. We stopped by on Monday, and construction has moved along quickly (photos below).
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.
Back in February, Shake Shack fenced off the site of its upcoming Kentlands location, next to Starbucks, as it prepared to break ground for its third location in Montgomery County. The fencing came down and then back up before breaking ground a few weeks back. Below you’ll see the ground as crews prepare to begin construction.
Construction is expected to begin soon and could be complete by the end of the year. Shake Shack currently has locations in Cabin John Village (Potomac) and A couple miles away at Montgomery Mall (Bethesda).