Friday, May 14, 2010

what's up the pike: mystery time

'Opening in 10 Days'
What's this sign say? And what's in store for those of you who enjoy chicken sandwiches? We'll have the answer for you on Monday, but in the meantime:

- The Post is having a poll of readers' favorite ethnic restaurants! Naturally, I couldn't go without asking you to vote for your favorite East County eats (except in the Chinese category, where Michael's Noodles on Darnestown Road in Rockville is really the only option. Note that their ranking of Peruvian places resembles our largely-abandoned Great Peruvian Taste Test, with the top two going to El Pollo Rico and Crisp & Juicy as of last night.

- If you haven't heard already, this Sunday is the Taste of Wheaton festival, featuring fifteen restaurants and thirty-five other businesses and organizations (PDF!). If you're not interested in experimenting with hole-in-the-wall joints like Dunkin' Donuts, IHOP and Starbucks, you can try food from other Wheaton favorites like the newly-reopened Hollywood East Café and Saigonese Restaurant. The festival runs from 11am to 6pm in Lot 13, located at Grandview Avenue and Reedie Drive.

- Jerry McCoy from the Historical Society decided to end his blog Silver Spring: Then and Again, but didn't give a reason why.

It's equally disappointing that he also took down all of the posts he wrote over the past several years, including one I was about to link to saying the signs were now up at Fire Station 1, the new restaurant/brewpub opening Memorial Day weekend in the old fire station (duh) at Georgia and Silver Spring avenues. "Hopefully this will be enough of a draw to finally wean the public off of Ellsworth Drive and introduce the rest of downtown Silver Spring to a wider audience," he writes.

But wait, there's more:

- People are not happy about what's going inside the new Silver Spring Civic Building.

- There's a sign on the closed Wheaton Safeway, as well, meaning its demolition and eventual return as a Social Safeway with fourteen floors of apartments above is nigh.

4 comments:

Cyndy said...

I'm really going to miss Jerry McCoy's blog. I have bit of a soft spot in my heart for the history of Silver Spring during its formative years.

Casey A said...

What happened to Hook and Ladder? Is this the same company operating under a different name, or did they flip the building when I wasn't paying attention?

Also, on the Roundhouse issue, the Gazette story implies that my beef is that they are not paying rent, but actually what I said was that if they are not paying rent then the county should not sign a lease that fails to ensure that they include very specific and enforceable commitments to programming that will activate the building and surrounding area (instead of simply using the space for back office support for their programming in Bethesda). I think all of us who care about Silver Spring want to see them succeed in doing this.

Dr. F. said...

Chik-Fil-A?! Is that the best we can do with that last remaining vacant lot on Tech Road?

Gonna miss Jerry McCoy's blog, too. Precipitous demise. When will we know 'the rest of the story?'

Unknown said...

Casey:

When I saw that name change I emailed the address listed on the website and it seems like they are a different company and that H&L has pulled out. Pretty disappointing but hopefully it will work out anyway.

Also, great point about Roundhouse, and it's something that has bothered me for some time. I rarely if ever see them put on plays in the Silver Spring space, instead they have meetings/classes. Shouldn't be giving them a break if they're not going to bring theater to Silver Spring, should have been part of the contract.