While all eyes were on Denver last night, The Penguin newsroom scurried around Silver Spring for the local scoop. Here’s the deal:
Coming soon: Qdoba Mexican Grill
Credit: J. Deseo/SSP
The former Colesville Road home of the Carolina Kitchen scores this fast-food franchise, as evident by a twisted “Coming soon” banner hung on the building’s Ramsey Avenue side. The restaurant will sit down the block from another Tex-Mex joint — Mi Rancho.
One Qdoba franchise already sits in southern Rockville (or is that North Bethesda?) and operates much like Chipotle. Customers pick basics off the wall-mounted menu, then order extra fixings from behind the sneeze guard. It’s unknown when the Silver Spring restaurant will open.
Coming soon: M&T Bank
Credit: J. Deseo/SSP
The same building on Colesville and Ramsey also gets an M&T Bank, which will occupy a ground-floor retail slot and office space on the second floor. Another bank branch sits on Colesville at Spring Street, though it’s unclear if that branch will remain.
Going (though not far): The Pyramid Atlantic community-arts store
The gallery, which opened this summer on Ellsworth Drive in Downtown Silver Spring, gets booted from its rent-free slot for a paying customer. (A volunteer with the arts organization told The Penguin that a Halloween shop would be opening there.)
But don’t sweat things too much. The store will move to a space formerly occupied by Moto Photo, in the Whole Foods Market shopping center, said Sarah Levine, a Pyramid Atlantic spokesperson. Of course, this raises another question ….
Coming (or what?): Donuts
According to Laurie Yankowski, spokesperson for the Downtown Silver Spring shopping center, talks are still in the works to bring The Fractured Prune to town. “There has been a delay due to location-of-store issues,” she told The Penguin. “While, there’s no lease signed just yet, we still plan on having them as a merchant at the center.”
And there are still no signs that a Dunkin Donuts will be moving to the area, despite the company’s recent announcement that it would hit parts of Silver Spring with fatty, sugary goodness. Nonetheless, The Penguin newsroom will continue its vigil.
Gone: The Turf
Courtesy of Flickr user Wombat
Stick a fork in it — downtown’s artificial grassy knoll is done. Penguin reader Wombat captured photos of its demise on Tuesday, on track with the county’s promise to trash the carpet once public schools reopened. (Tuesday was the first day of school.)
Crews also have erected a chain-link fence along Fenton Street and Ellsworth Drive, where construction on Silver Spring’s civic center and veterans plaza should start any day now.
Lead photo and tip courtesy of Penguin reader Wombat.
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I don’t remember which blog, but a few weeks ago in the comments section of a story there was a link to the brochure for the building. The company that owns the building was advertising that the bank, the tex mex joint and a Dunkin’ Donuts were already scheduled to be put in.
I will kinda miss the turf. The families lounging on the turf. The kids doing street dances. Impromptu soccer matches and football games. The different languages spoken by visitors to the turf. The cheezy musical performances. It was COMMUNITY!
I still think the civic center is a waste of taxpayer money. The Turf allowed many people to hang out and enjoy themselves outdoors. What can the civic center accomplish? Do you really think the locals will be using this facility?
Then we still have this issue with the Lee family and The Fillmore. If Silver Spring were a stock…I would start selling right now. Really down on the SS right now.
And when the hell is the Hook & Ladder place going to open in the firehouse????? IHateYuppies wants his beer and a place to rant about socio-economic inequality.
Minor quibble — Mi Rancho isn’t Tex-Mex. It’s just Mexican. (Very tasty Mexican, too.) Austin Grill is sort of Tex-Mex. I’ve never been to Qdoba, so I have no idea what IT is. But I’m happy to see *something* go into the burned out wreck of a building. Sheesh, what an eyesore it was.
Hi Mimi. I would agree Mi Rancho isn’t strictly Tex-Mex but it sure ain’t authentically Mexican. I have never been any place in Mexico where they make food in that style. If I had to venture a guess, I would call it Salvadoran-style Mexican food as 99.9% of the cooks are from El Salvador. Tasty? sure. Mexican? not really.
On the one hand I am sad to see the turf go, it really was a phenomenon. On the other hand, if they replace it with a plaza where people can hang out without frisbees and soccer balls being flung at their heads, well, I am kind of in favor of that, actually. So I am keeping an open mind.
Guess I’ll have to disagree with everyone (almost).
1. Mi Rancho is certainly Tex-Mex, Austin Grill is Tejano.
2. The turf was horrible, I never understood why that eye-sore went in, though an outdoor area would be nice, plazas are good, no?
3. Qdoba is the bomb. I’ve enjoyed the one in Rockville, Columbia, and now at Montgomery Mall (or Westfield Shopping Zone/City/Village/Whatever, Montgomery) and welcome more locations to MoCo (Yes I know Columbia is in Howard…)
Just what we need…another tex-mex place and another bank. Of course, this is still better than an ugly burned out building that used to occupy that spot.
I’ve eaten at Qdoba and it’s just OK…a different iteration of Moe’s, California Tortilla, Baja Fresh…they are all clones of each other. I didn’t include Chipotle because I am addicted to them. Trying to get off with a 12 step program but never can make it past step 6.
Qdoba is much better than Chipotle. All you need to prove this is the taste of the 3-cheese queso, which none of the others have.