Color Me Mine at 33 Maryland Ave in Rockville Town Square will shut its door permanently on Sunday, March 13th after over a decade in the location, we confirmed with the store today. The location was formerly home to New Wave Discount Hair Supply and The Papery.
The paint your own pottery (PYOP) chain of studios, Color Me Mine, was created in 1991 and now has over 150 stores nationwide. The family friendly art studio helps you select a ceramics piece for you to paint. You select your paint colors (no limit to how many or how much) and get to work. You can make it your own or check out our projects and technique pages to get some ideas. Workshops and classes are also offered.
Color Me Mine previously had locations in Downtown Silver Spring and Gaithersburg that closed in recent years.
Back in August 2021 we let you know Èkó House would be coming to the space formerly occupied by Bar Louie at 150 Gibbs St. in Rockville Town Square. The restaurant has announced its soft opening for this upcoming week.
Eko House is asking all interested parties to make reservations via its website or resy.com
The full menu can be seen here.
According to Federal Realty, “Èkó House (Èkó), a 6,500-square-foot full-service Nigerian restaurant and will open later this year. The restaurant will offer authentic and delicious fusions of well known and loved Nigerian food. It will have a magnificent ambience, with aesthetics that highlight the rich cultures, people and places of the country. The restaurant will seat 250 people and will include a private room for special events and celebrations.”
Featured photo of catfish pepper soup courtesy of @EkoHouseDMV on Instagram.
This past summer we let you know that El Mercat Bar De Tapas would be taking over the spot that was most recently home to Gumbo Ya Ya, at 101 Gibbs Street Unit C in Rockville Town Square.
The restaurant held a ticketed preview dinner event this weekend, and will be opening for dinner service to the public tomorrow (Monday, January 23) starting at 5pm, with lunch and brunch arriving in the coming weeks.
El Mercat Bar de Tapas is owned by Brazilian chef George Rodrigues, the former chef de cuisine at revered tapas chain Boqueria in Penn Quarter. Rodrigues is a Rockville resident who started cooking in Brazil and has since spent time under various celebrity chefs across the country. Rodrigues even “beat Bobby Flay” on the chef’s television series.
The restaurant features traditional Spanish tapas that will include escalivada, papas bravas, calamares, pulpo con patatas, and pollo rostizado. Four different paellas, Tortilla Española as well as sangria, wines and beer.
The 2,307-square-foot El Mercat will have dining for 60 people and will add patio space in spring
2022.
More on Chef George Rodrigues from the El Mercat Bar de Tapas website and photos/menu below courtesy of @elmercatbdt on Instagram:
Chef George Rodrigues started his culinary journey in Brazil, learning to love food while cooking with his family. He began college with the intention of becoming an engineer, but one year before graduating he gave it up to pursue his culinary passion. After attending culinary school and cooking for a premier hotel in Curitiba, Brazil, George got an offer from a friend to spend some time in Chicago. He began working for Iron Chef Jose Garces at Mercat a la Planxa and quickly became a sous chef.
Inspired by the possibility for growth opportunities, he moved to Boston to work for Chef Michael Schlow at his bold American restaurant influenced by Latin flavors, Tico. George quickly advanced from sous chef to chef, and during his tenure the restaurant won many awards including Esquire Magazine’s Best New Restaurants in America. Due to his incredible success, George was chosen by Schlow to open and run the kitchen at his first DC outpost, Tico. He became an integral member of Schlow Restaurant Group’s culinary team overseeing the group’s tapas pop-up, Calle Cinco. George recently competed on Beat Bobby Flay, Chopped, as well as the 2016 Capital Food Fight hosted by DC Central Kitchen.
George previously worked at Boqueria as Chef of Cuisine from 2018 to 2021. He helped open their Penn Quarter location. While at Boqueria, he worked with Marc Vidal, a Barcelona born Chef who worked for many years in France under the greatest Chefs like Ferran Adrià – elBulli, Alain Passard – L’Arpège, and Alain Ducasse – Alain Ducasse in London.
He lives with his wife, Wanessa, and son, Eduardo, in Rockville, Maryland.
Mr. Smoothie, located at 33 Maryland Ave G in Rockville Town Square, has closed permanently according to Google. The phone number has also been disconnected.
Mr. Smoothie, a smoothie and frozen yogurt bar chain, has most of its locations in New York with additional locations in Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and North Carolina.
The National phone number listed on its website, 1-877-Blend-it, no longer belongs to Mr. Smoothie, as it leads to the directors office for “Loving Care Adult Medical Daycare.”
An additional MoCo Location is listed as being inside LA Fitness in North Bethesda, but a representative from the gym told us that the smoothie bar in the gym is no longer associated with Mr. Smoothie.
Featured photo courtesy of Google.
This past summer we let you know that El Mercat Bar De Tapas will be taking over the spot that was most recently home to Gumbo Ya Ya, at 101 Gibbs Street Unit C in Rockville Town Square.
Now we know the restaurant will hold a special friends & family dinner where guests can purchase $75 tickets to the event.
The restaurant will feature traditional Spanish tapas, paellas, gambas al ajillo, patatas bravas, Tortilla
Española as well as sangria, wines and beer.
The 2,307-square-foot El Mercat will have dining for 60 people and will add patio space in spring
2022.
Per the restaurant’s Instagram account:
“It will be a great pleasure to welcome our Rockville community to El Mercat for our Friends & Family Dinner on January 21st & 22nd! Guests can purchase tickets to this event for $75
RSVP link in our Bio
YOUR TICKET INCLUDES
2 glasses of sangria
2 vegetarian tapas
1 meat tapa
1 fish tapa
1 seafood or meat paella
1 dessert and celebratory glass of sparkling wine
El Mercat Bar de Tapas 101 Gibbs St. Unit C, Rockville, MD 20850
240-403-7436”
Update: Finnegan’s Wake has reopened. “We are back and HEALTHY! Thank you for your patience while we tested our staff to ensure everyones safety. We will be open today(Wednesday) for our normal hours.”
Finnegan’s Wake has announced a temporary closure via its social media, for the safety of staff and patrons
In a message via social media, owner Vanessa Laurin told us, “Due to multiple staff members being sick we felt it necessary to take precautions. Our staff is small and our customers are very important to us. We want to keep everyone healthy. We will reopen shortly as soon as everyone is 100%.”
The Irish Pub features traditional Irish cuisine and bar food, as well as a vast menu of alcoholic beverages.
The pub opened in mid-2016 at 100-F Gibbs Street, the former location of Carbon Peruvian Chicken and is owned by Terry and Vanessa Laurin.
“The Laurins, who live in North Bethesda, have years of experience in the restaurant industry. Vanessa Laurin is a former manager at Fado Irish Pub in Washington, D.C. and the two met while working at Montgomery’s Grille in Bethesda in 2000.” according to a 2016 Bethesda Beat article.
Finnegan’s Wake let’s patrons know that updates will be provided via its social media pages.
In August we let you know Èkó House would be coming to the space formerly occupied by Bar Louie at 150 Gibbs St. in Rockville Town Square.
The restaurant was granted its beer, wine, and liquor license hearing with Montgomery County on November 4th, and now signage is up and work is ongoing inside the restaurant.
No opening date has been set for the restaurant.
According to Federal Realty, “Èkó House (Èkó), a 6,500-square-foot full-service Nigerian restaurant and will open later this year. The restaurant will offer authentic and delicious fusions of well known and loved Nigerian food. It will have a magnificent ambience, with aesthetics that highlight the rich cultures, people and places of the country. The restaurant will seat 250 people and will include a private room for special events and celebrations.”
Èkó House joins Kumbia and El Mercat Bar de Tapas as restaurants coming soon to Rockville Town Square.
Updated on 11/17 to reflect that ice skating will not be available at the event.
Light up the holiday season at the Rockville Town Square’s annual neighborhood tree lighting with non-profit partners Big Brothers, Big Sisters, Friday, November 19th from 6:00-8:30 p.m.
The festive and fun evening will include:
- 6:00 p.m. – Music from King Teddy, selfies with Santa, merchant tents open and strolling entertainment
- 6:45 p.m. – Countdown to tree lighting begins
- 7:00 p.m. – Dance performance by Dawn Crafton Dance Connection
- 7:30 p.m. – Music from King Teddy continues until end of event, at 8:30 p.m.
Ice skating will not be available.
- Dawsons: $4 draft beer, $2 off any sandwiches, $2 hot chocolate
- Cottage Monet: Free ornament with every purchase over $20
- Color Me Mine: Register to win a $50 gift card
Per the Rockville Town Square website, Rockville Ice Skating Rink is open November 11th, 2021 through March 20th, 2022
- Saturday: 10am – 11pm
- Sunday: 10am – 10pm
- Monday: Noon – 10pm
- Tuesday: Noon – 10pm
- Wednesday: Noon – 10pm
- Thursday: Noon – 10pm
Click here for more information on pricing, holiday hours, group rates, events and lessons.
For more information visit https://rockvilletownsquare.com/or https://www.facebook.com/RockvilleTownSq
This past summer we let you know that El Mercat Bar De Tapas will be taking over the spot that was most recently home to Gumbo Ya Ya, at 101 Gibbs Street Unit C in Rockville Town Square.
Signage is now up in the windows as the restaurant moves closer towards opening, though an opening date has not yet been provided.
The restaurant will feature traditional Spanish tapas, paellas, gambas al ajillo, patatas bravas, Tortilla
Española as well as sangria, wines and beer.
The 2,307-square-foot El Mercat will have dining for 60 people and will add patio space in spring
2022.
Friendship BBQ, at 33 E Maryland Ave in Rockville Town Square has posted a hand-written sign on the door stating they are closed.
We are told that it is a “temporary suspension of operations.”
Friendship BBQ is a fast-casual Asian BBQ restaurant, that opened in Rockville in September 2019, skewered meats and seafoods using wood imported from the Xinjiang region of China giving it a unique flavor.
Owner James Du brought the concept from New York to Rockville paying tribute to the Big Apple via a pop graffiti mural on the wall.
“This type of BBQ is one surrounded and shared by friends. That’s how I envision this restaurant. We have designed it to incorporate art and environment into your dining experience,” Du said.
The restaurant seats seventy-four people and has been open for both lunch and dinner. Most entrees are portioned to share.
Vie De France in Rockville Town Square will close permanently on October 23, according to a representative we spoke to on the phone this morning.
The French bakery chain, owned by Yamazaki Baking of Chiyoda, Japan with its US division headquartered in Tyson’s Corner, has put up a sign in front of the Rockville Town Square location announcing they will be “moving operations to their other locations in White Flint and Potomac.”
The bakery has been in Rockville Town Square for approximately ten years. Addresses of remaining MoCo locations can be seen below:
White Flint Plaza
5218 Nicholson Lane
Kensington, MD 20895
Potomac Village Center
10146 River Road
Potomac, MD 20854
