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.”


Per Main Street Takoma: Enjoy cocoa at area restaurants and cafes during the Takoma Cocoa Crawl on Saturday, December 17th between 1pm and 4pm. Make one stop or many. Adult versions available too. This year we will continue to forgo the original cocoa crawl reusable Takoma mugs for health reasons and the businesses will provide single use mugs or to-go cups for your safety and enjoyment! Prices and sizes vary by business, participating businesses below:

COCOA Cielo Rojo, 7056 Carroll Avenue: Mexican Hot Chocolate, Mexican Hot Chocolate with Mezcal


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). Below is the social media post announcing the opening date:


Dunkin’ is continuing its massive expansion across the country and in MoCo, with 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.

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.


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.

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.


Kusshi has opened its first Fairfax County location as Kusshi Ko is currently in its soft opening phase at 8365 Leesburg Pike at Pike 7 Plaza in Tysons. The restaurant opened its first location in Pike & Rose in 2018 as an offshoot of its sister restaurant, Hanaro Sushi in Bethesda. Kusshi Sushi first opened at Bethesda’s Pike & Rose shopping center before expanding to Pentagon City in July and then in Downtown Silver Spring in October. The restaurant group also has Poke Dojo in Bethesda Row, which opened in the summer of 2019.

The Tysons location is named Kusshi Ko because it is smaller version of the current Kusshi restaurants. It is taking over a 1,500 SF location that was previously home to Manhattan Pizza and will not have a full bar, but still still have the sushi favorites offered at other Kusshi locations. For discount promotions you can @KUSSHIKO on Instagram, as they’ll be offering discounted promos for all of December. Kusshi Ko is located at 8365 leesburg pike Vienna VA 22182 571-777-1997


Caruso’s Grocery in Pike and Rose is taking reservations starting this Wednesday, December 7th. The restaurant is located at 11820 Trade St. in the dining room space that was home to Owen’s Ordinary and currently home to the recently rebranded Owen’s Tavern and Beer Garden.

The restaurant has rebranded from Owen’s Ordinary with the bar and patio becoming Owen’s Tavern and Beer Garden (launched last month) and the dining room making the change to Caruso’s Grocery. Both Caruso’s and Owen’s are operated by Neighborhood Restaurant Group.  Chef Matt Adler previously told Washingtonian Magazine that Owen’s dining room was never as busy as its  bar and patio so it made sense to repurpose the underutilized space.


Tacos Don Perez will be taking over the location that was home to K-Town Bistro at 3784 Howard Ave in Kensington for the last 12 years. Tacos Don Perez took over in early November and plan to open to the public late Spring 2023  (possibly sooner) with a taqueria quick-service concept. Photos of the food available below.

Tacos Don Perez started off as a small, family-run catering business back in 2017. It continued that way until may 2020, when it became a once-a-week home-based pop-up when the family was left without work due to Covid-19. The pop-up quickly gained support from the local community, as Tacos Don Perez sold out in a matter of hours every single week. With the support of their customers, the family was able to buy and custom build their own food truck, which is located in the Glenmont shopping center (12321 Georgia Ave). In March 2022 the family opened what they’ve referred to as “the biggest food trailer in Montgomery County” in the same Glenmont location.


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