Safeway Demolition Update

The Gazette has posted an update on the anticipated schedule for demolition to start on Safeway.  It sounds like they want to get all of their building permits approved before they start demolition, and right now it's looking like those will come through in April.  So, we're looking at an April or May start for demolition.  So much for my guess of March 7th!

Limerick Pub Review

Apologies for my lack of posting lately.  Life has been busy!  I'm not going to post a clever limerick about it like Good Eatin' did, but I will share my review of our dinner there tonite.

We got there around 7pm and the place was packed.  There were only a handful of tables open and all of the waitstaff was visibly flustered (overwhelmed?) with the turnout.  My initial impression was that the decor was nice, but it lacks the coziness of the Royal Mile.  On the other hand, the bar (toally packed when we were there) certainly has a nice amount of space for both sitting at the bar and standing around behind it.  The flat screen TVs were all tuned to 'footie' and there wasn't any music playing, which made the place seem strangely quiet, considering how many people were in there.  Still, a band was in the process of slooooowly setting up when we got there.  Even when we finished dinner and left, there was no sign of them starting anytime soon, though.

Now, on to our meal!  Mr. WC and I decided to have our usual Royal Mile dishes to compare to those at Limerick - a burger with swiss cheese and mushrooms for me and fish and chips for Mr. WC.  My burger was respectable - the burger had a nice 'charbroiled' taste to it and the bun was toasted.  However, I give Royal Mile the win on this one - their burger is thicker, juicier, and just more tasty in general.  Still, this was a decent burger, especially for their second night open.  We both had some issues with the fries that came with our meals, though.  They were so dark that they almost looked burned, yet we found them soggy without any crispness at all when we started eating them.  They did seem to be fresh cut, so that's good, but the sogginess made these a no-go for me.  The fish and chips came out with a mountain of large, battered chunks of fish.  Mr. WC deemed these the equal of the Royal Mile - the fish was very fresh tasting, and the pieces held together well once you started eating them while the RM version kind of falls to pieces after the first bite.  The sogginess of a few pieces is probably the only thing that prevented Limerick's version of the dish to not surpass the Royal Mile's.

In general, the service was very friendly, even though there were issues caused by how understaffed they were.  That's totally forgiveable, though, on their second night of business.  The list of beers on tap was decent, and they also had a good selection of bottled beer (maybe a few less than Royal Mile) plus all sorts of specialty Irish options like half and half. The entree prices were maybe a little higher than Royal Mile, but not by much.  Royal Mile will be our first choice for pub food in the future, but Limerick Pub is a good backup option and it's worth considering if all you want to do is stand or sit at the bar with a beer.  Just for comparison, we walked by the Royal Mile after dinner and it looked like there was only one table with 2 people seated in the whole place (yikes!).

So, by all means, check out and patronize Limerick, but keep on supporting the Royal Mile too.

Wheaton in the Blogosphere

There have been some interesting Wheaton-related blog posts lately that are definitely worth checking out.  A few weeks ago, the excellent Greater Greater Washington blog recently featured an entry from a Wheaton resident reviewing the new Leesborugh townhouse development.  It got a pretty good review, and it's inspired me to wander through there the next time I'm walking from my house to Wheaton Regional Park.

Just Up The Pike also posts a great summary and analysis of the census news recently released showing that Montgomery County is now a majority-minority county for the first time (kind of, as JUTP points out).  There was actually alot of press about that news release.  For all of us here in Wheaton, this level of diversity is something that we see every day.  Personally, I'm proud that our county has reached this level of diversity while still having a top notch public school system and a generally high standard of living for its residents.

Another Wheaton mention worth sharing is a recent post by Rollin Stanley, who is the director of the MoCo Planning Department.  He provides a good overview of recent development happening in Wheaton, but also starts a discussion about how Viers Mill Rd through Wheaton can be improved.  I'll tell you one thing that won't be improving the Viers Mill Rd 'experience'...B.F. Saul's development plans for the triangle area between Georgia and Viers Mill!  More on that another day...

There are also some new restaurants coming to Wheaton.  According to the Washington City Paper and Eatin in Wheaton, Ren's Ramen will be moving into one of the storefronts in the strip where Ruan Thai is located.  Apparently they're aiming for an early spring opening, but based on how things seem to go with restaurants opening in MoCo, I guess we'll have to see.  I'm just hoping that they open while the weather is still cool and cravings for awesome noodle soup are high!  EIW and the Gazette also mention a new organic burger joint that is coming to Westfield Mall, Elevation Burger.  The burger at the Royal Mile has been my top favorite for a while now (medium well with swiss cheese and mushrooms), but I'll be looking forward to trying out the burgers at Elevation.  This is in addition to the Panera that is also planning an opening at the mall.  Even though I'm not crazy about the Costco going in at Westfield (especially not crazy about the $4m they got from MoCo), I'm not going to pretend that I won't enjoy the extra businesses that seem to be opening at the mall because of it.

Safeway Demolition Starting Soon?

Sorry to have been in hibernation for a while!  While walking around last weekend, I noticed a backhoe and a hole in the ground next to Safeway along Reedie Drive.  It looked like there were digging up the incoming gas line.  I'm guessing that they're cutting off all the existing services to the building so that demolition can safely start.  I may need to start a pool to guess when the first real demolition gets started.  I'm going to pick March 7th, a little less than 4 weeks away.  What's your guess?

Water Main Break at Prichard Road

No water this morning?  According to the WSSC, there's a water main break on Prichard Road that they're working to repair.  They estimate an outage of 5-6 hours, so water *should* be available around dinnertime tonite.

Still parking at Zombie Safeway?

Sorry for the lag in posting lately.  I've had another stretch of 12-14 hour days at my job, which leaves me with very little energy left to post.  But, with two deadlines out of the way this week, things are looking up for my schedule!

So, word on the street is that within the next day or two, the Zombie Safeway parking lot will be chained off and any cars parked there will be towed.  If you've been using that lot to park in, I recommend finding an alternate parking location.

Also, in case you haven't noticed, there have been a few Wheaton metro station mentions in the news lately.  The first comes from the announcement that WMATA is considering selling naming rights to its stations to raise income.  According to a blurb on WAMU, one of the funny naming opportunities people came up was 'Cream of Wheaton' station.  I like it!  Also, an amusing Washington Post article suggests that the strange whale-like groans and moans that metro's escalators make could actually be a modern jazz soundtrack to our daily commutes.  At the end of the article, the writer advises the true 'elevator jazz' connoiseur to check Wheaton's escalators, which give you a ride of '2 minutes and 44 seconds'.  The article also has a link to a contest they're holding for people to remix audio tracks of escalator noise into audio tracks.  I'm looking forward to checking them out.  It certainly gives me something to think about as I make my daily commute.

New Year's Resolution for WC - Yoga!

Happy new year, Wheaton!  Ohhmmmmmm....After a year-long hiatus, I've decided that starting this year, I'll get back into practicing yoga.  I've signed up for a class at Willow Street Yoga, located both in Silver Spring and Takoma Park (both metro accessible).  I'm a big fan of Willow Street, and I've taken classes there off and on since I moved to Silver Spring in 2005.

For any wanna-be yogis out there, Willow Street is offering free classes all this week at both of their locations.  I went to one free class last night and I'm hitting another today after work.  I also saw that Unity Woods is offering free classes this week.  For you Wheatonites who want to stay local, Wheaton Patch reported that a yoga class is being offered at Arcola elementary on Monday nights.

I'm catching up on some things after being out of town for the holidays, but look for an upcoming post on Costco's application for a special exemption that would allow them build an 8-pump gas station.  Yep, after the public outcry against the zoning text amendment (which ultimately was rejected by the county council), it's time for round 2 on this issue.  Wheaton Patch posted a short blurb on it this morning.  It's a good thing I'm heading back to the yoga studio, because I'm going to need those deep breathing exerecises with this issue!