After a slew of restaurant closures in Shirlington, here’s what owners say about leaving and what new restaurants have planned.
By Emily Cook
DAK Chicken OPENED AUGUST
Shirlington’s Korean void—left by Bonsai Grill’s closure this May—is now filled by DAK Chicken. Drawn to Shirlington Village’s many events and festivals, owner Joohyun Gil wanted to open his first restaurant here, serving chef Jae Kim’s (formerly of Annandale’s Palace Restaurant) twice-fried chicken wings and strips with soy garlic, spicy soy garlic and honey glazed sauces, plus other Korean-fusion items like seafood pancakes, bulgogi over rice and soju cocktails—and, of course, K-pop music videos. / 4040 Campbell Ave., Arlington
Bungalow Sports Grill CLOSED JUNE 2015
“Ultimately we looked at the current location versus other opportunities, and we compared that to what Federal [Realty] wanted for the space, and we just concluded that, with the amount of work that space needed and the amount of competition and the location and the lack of parking, there were better investments. [Our new restaurant] Chop’s: A Craft House should be open this month in Fairfax, and then we’re also working on a potential location in Tysons Corner.” –Win Froelich, owner
Extra Virgin CLOSED MARCH 2013
“I live in Florida half the time, and it’s really hard to run a restaurant as an absentee owner. If I did [open a new restaurant], it would have to be on a smaller scale, and I would have partners that were there.” –Shary Thur, owner
Hula Girl Bar & Grill EXPECTED OCTOBER
After five years spent operating a food truck, Oahu native Mikala Brennan will bring her Hawaiian dishes to the former Aladdin’s Eatery space, which closed October 2014.
For the interior, think throwback to the ’60s. “My mom was a Pan-American stewardess, and that’s how she ended up in Hawaii,” says Brennan. “A lot of what I did with the truck and now with the restaurant is based on that time frame in Hawaii when it had just become a state.”
Dishes include poke (a raw fish salad), huli-huli (a rotisserie chicken; the translation means turn-turn) and loco moco (two hamburger patties, two scoops of rice and two fried eggs smothered in gravy and topped with macaroni salad). Desserts include malasadas (housemade Portuguese-inspired donuts) and toasted coconut ice cream dipped in dark chocolate and rolled in macadamia nuts. Mai tais will get an upgrade with housemade macadamia nut syrup. For the opening celebration later this month, expect live music and fire dancers. / 4044 Campbell Ave., Arlington
Cakelove CLOSED DECEMBER 2014
“We’re working on our Cake in a Jar concept. We’re really positioning to move away from the retail brick-and-mortar stores entirely and toward wholesale. We’ll let other people focus on the retail.” –Warren Brown, owner
The Curious Grape CLOSED MARCH 2015
“The Grape was just a 24/7 kind of a thing as you can imagine. I wound up spending more time managing the restaurant and not enough time doing the wine education. I’d like to teach classes at a winery so that I can get students into the vineyards, into the winery room and actually be able to have people see right on site what we’re talking about.” –Suzanne McGrath, owner
Palette 22 EXPECTED DECEMBER
“Palette 22 is [the] next generation of our concept called Cafe Tu Tu Tango [based in Orlando],” says David Clapp. Clapp, of Alexandria Restaurant Partners (Virtue Feed & Grain, The Majestic Cafe and Lena’s Wood Fired Pizza and Tap, expected to open this month) creates a space for artists to paint and sculpt during restaurant hours, and every piece is for sale. “We’ve had some great success with artists that have started out with us [and] gone on to national prominence, so it’s kind of cool,” Clapp says.
In the space formerly occupied by Extra Virgin, which has been vacant since March 2013, a seasonally driven menu of international small plates will feature jerk marinated alligator tail with mango and scotch bonnet salsa, harissa-seasoned Colorado lamb and roasted pork belly with a Korean barbecue glaze. / 4053 Campbell Ave., Arlington
IN OUT OUT
DAK Chicken Aladdin’s Eatery
Hula Girl Bar & Grill Bonsai Grill
Metropole Brewing Comapany* Bungalow Sports Grill
Osteria da Nino Cucina Italiana & Bar Cakelove
Palette 22 The Curious Grape
Extra Virgin
Johnny Rockets