“It was always supposed to be Society Fair,” says owner Meshelle Armstrong of the Columbia Pike outpost of Eamonn’s A Dublin Chipper, which will morph into the gourmet market next month. Plus, says Armstrong, “Eammon’s in that neighborhood isn’t doing as well as we had hoped.”
TNT, the cocktail bar run by Todd Thrasher will remain, as the fried sausage, fried burgers and fried candy make way for coffee, pastries and breakfast sandwiches. Armstrong says the change is due to lack of foot traffic, especially during the day. As for the revitalizing Columbia Pike corridor, “When it gets there it’s going to be great, it just needs to develop a little more commercially,” says Armstrong.
The original Society Fair, the two-year-old market, wine bar and restaurant, will remain in Old Town Alexandria and will exist as a hub for mini-satellite locations of Society Fair around the region. Armstrong says she’s already received offers from developers to place mini-Society Fairs in Silver Spring and D.C. “It’s a concept with lots of moving parts and it took us this long to say ‘This is how it works,’” says Armstong.
But Eamonn’s will not stay as a one-shop location for too long: Armstrong says the fish and chip shop, which originated in Old Town, could open in downtown Washington, D.C. in a year.
But for those craving a fried fix, Armstrong says, “We’ll still keep fish and chips. We do have our fryers.”
The story was first reported via tweet by Don Rockwell.
