More Pop-up Restaurants in Del Ray?

According to a Northern Virginia Magazine report, the Neighborhood Restaurant Group is considering sprucing up the former Barkley Square patio for a rotating lineup of pop-up restaurants.

Neighborhood Restaurant Group owner Michael Babin is considering hosting month-long pop-up restaurants featuring NRG chefs in the patio space in front of the former Barkley Square building, according to Northern Virginia Magazine. Babin is considering building a utility kitchen “in a small building in the back of the patio” and filling the patio with picnic tables and covering them with a retractable awning, according to the report published Wednesday on the magazine’s Gut Check blog. No word if the “small building” is the Barkley Square space. Babin purchased several of the buildings in the 2000 block of Mt. Vernon Avenue last year, including those that held his Evening Star Cafe and Planet Wine as well as the Barkley Square building and …

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Joseph M.

3:54 pm on Friday, April 27, 2012

It's fine by me, Drew.   more ›

Artley Takes Over at Pizzeria Orso in Falls Church

Former Evening Star Cafe chef now baking authentic Neapolitan pizzas.

Will Artley, the former chef at Evening Star Cafe and purveyor of February’s Project 2312 pop-up restaurant, has landed a new full-time gig in Falls Church. The chef is now making Neapolitan pies at Pizzeria Orso, located just off Route 29 at 400 S. Maple Ave. Tom Sietsema of The Washington Post recently wrote of Artley’s transition to the pizzeria on the newspaper’s Going Out Gurus blog. Monday marked Artley’s first day at Orso, which was named "Best Upscale Pizza" in Washingtonian Magazine's annual "Best of Washington" issue. Orso’s owners recently sent Artley to Marina del Rey, Calif., for instruction on how to make authentic Neapolitan pizza—something that came very naturally to Artley, according to Sietsema’s blog post. After parting …

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Artley Readies Pop-Up Restaurant in Del Ray

Chef expresses excitement over seven-day opportunity to once again cook for his neighbors.

Friendly neighborhood chef Will Artley is opening a new restaurant in Del Ray, but you better get a seat quickly because the doors won’t be open long. In the next few weeks, the former maestro at Evening Star Cafe will open a pop-up restaurant at an undisclosed location. Artley will serve his special brand of contemporary American cuisine for seven days and then—poof!—the restaurant will disappear. “It’ll be there for a week and then it’s gone,” he said. “The space is going to be another restaurant down the road. These people already have a plan, so we can just go in and have a great vibe and good food. … I get to cook for my community again.” Artley is downright giddy over the opportunity. He even admitted losing sleep going over the …

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Village Sprouts

Becoming a Consumer Activist

Every dollar that we spend is a vote on how we want our world to work.

While recently reviewing our budget, I realized that our family checkbook says a lot about who we are and where we stand on issues. I have this drive to be more involved in my community and advocate for causes that I care about, but I have limits when it comes to my time, energy and budget. Luckily there's another way to help. While it's important to donate and volunteer, many causes also need support in the marketplace. It's called consumer activism. The concept makes me think of the Selective Patronage Movement, first made popular by African American civil rights leader Leon Sullivan in the late 1950s and early 1960s.  General idea: Do business with companies that share your priorities. By taking extra steps to be an informed consumer …

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