After seven years, Mike Cordero has shut down A-Town, and what was arguably the most insane, riotous Sunday Funday in Northern Virginia. We covered A-Town’s epic brunch (back in 2014 for the Brunch Issue), flush with sparkler-topped magnum Champagne bottles, dudes dressed in head-to-toe bear costumes and little people driving miniature cars around the expansive dining room, all to the background of thumping club music.
A-Town maintained a tenuous relationship with Arlington county and the state’s ABC Board, with incidents where “at an employee-only party, police say one man slashed another with a broken beer bottle in the face and neck,” and at “a wild fight outside” the restaurant, “resulted in two suspects being tased by police, including one man who was brawling while wearing a Pikachu onesie.”
And so A-Town now gives way to what could perhaps be a more genteel atmosphere: Bronson, a 6,000-square-foot German beer hall with “American-German fare, craft beers served in growlers, live entertainment and games,” according to a press release.
This aligns with the recent boom in beer gardens (and yes, there’s a difference between drinking outside and an actual beer garden, and yes, the food matters).
Del Ray’s Hope N’ Shine, from the owners of Tysons Biergarten, is in soft-opening mode; on the other side of Mount Vernon Avenue, Charlie’s On The Avenue will expand with outdoor seating, games and live music; and in Arlington, The Lot is due this spring. Last year Loudoun County restaurateur and German-native Nils Schnibbe talked about opening his own, More Better Restaurant and Beer Hall, in Round Hill. And, though it was reported German restaurants are on the decline nationwide, German-Austrian restaurant Village Brauhaus will open in Old Town Alexandria.
Cordero’s beer garden interpretation, Bronson, is set to open this March. Maybe there will be leprechauns.
News, events, etc.
Bombay Curry Club in Del Ray closes, but will continue “this journey through different ventures such as cooking classes, special dinners at our home, as well as a few surprises up our sleeves.” [Facebook]
George Pagonis, now unleashed from his partnership with Mike Isabella, hopes to reopen multiple Kapnos restaurants, including one in Arlington, under a new brand. Pagonis, and his brother Nick, were also named in the sexual harassment suit that brought down Mike Isabella Concepts. [Washington City Paper]
Farm-to-table French bistro, Sancerre, will open next weekend in Old Town Alexandria. [Alexandria Magazine]
Old Ox Brewery hosts a discussion this Saturday on the intertwined history of beer and art. [Facebook]
Bombay Velvet, from the team behind Punjabi By Nature, will open in Reston Town Center West later this month. [Eater]
How Trump’s trade war “decimated” Catoctin Creek Distilling Company’s plans for European distribution. [Washington Post]
